“Like-minded” equals “contempt”

In Canada’s court system what Trump said would be considered contempt and prosecutable.

Outside his residence in Florida, several weeks ago, a former United States president made sure the cameras were running, raised his fist in the air and then verbally slammed Judge Arthur Engoron. The justice of the Supreme Court of New York had just handed down his ruling in the civil business-fraud trial against Donald Trump. The former president reacted.

“A crooked New York State judge has just ruled that I have to pay a fine of $355 million for having built a perfect company,” Trump said, and he went on to call New York Attorney General Letitia James, who initiated the case, “totally corrupt.”

If any politician, no, make that if any individual had said that in Canada, she or he would have been charged with contempt. (more…)

Anger with no clear target

In 1976, the movie character Howard Beale epitomized society’s rage.

I had just finished one of my anti-technology rants. I’d complained about something my computer had lost. I was angry that our television service provider had updated all of our access to programming such that I needed an electronics degree just to tune in the news. And I hated the way some of the on-air newscasters mispronounced names and places. My wife patiently waited for me to take a breath.

“Is there anything that made you happy today?” she asked.

And I smiled sheepishly back at her. Then, apologized. (more…)

Line in the sand

Carolyn Dunn felt the pressure of convoy demonstrators’ threats.

Until last weekend, I’d become kind of blasé to the words of protest and counter-protest. Every day, I’d read the latest on the demonstrations at Parliament Hill and the border crossings and winced at the deadlock and rhetoric. And, as I pointed out last week, I feared for wider freedom being trampled.

But a TV news story the other night stopped me in my tracks. Carolyn Dunn, CBC’s Alberta reporter, stood adjacent to flashing police cruiser lights, and parked semi-trailer trucks near Coutts, Alta., reporting but also looking over her shoulder anxiously.

Some Freedom Convoy truckers at Coutts, Alta., putting limits on freedom with their taunts.

“Things remain tense for citizens and the media,” Dunn said in her report. She went on to say that some of the demonstrators had directed abusive language at her and other reporters. In other words, in a weirdly Trumpian way, media not just mandates, had become the enemy. And Dunn said she felt uncomfortable having to hide who she was from strangers. “We’ve been told to be careful.” (more…)

Thinking in herds

Gatherings such as the Jan. 6, 2021,  insurrection on U.S. Capitol building illustrated all that’s wrong with herd thinking.

It’s human science. We are a species that gathers. We must gather, connect communicate and socialize. It’s quite simply in our DNA. And to our detriment, it’s our gathering in these two years of the pandemic that has been our undoing. And now it’s the fifth wave, the Omicron wave. The number of COVID-19 patients in Canadian hospitals rose 67 per cent last week over the week before, and Ontario is leading the way in high case numbers. So, once again, the Ontario government has decided to lock everything down to prevent us from gathering.

“We face a tsunami of new cases in the coming days and weeks,” Premier Doug Ford told reporters at a news conference on Monday. “The math isn’t on our side.”

But there are, I think, much more dangerous aspects to our species’ gatherings these days than just pandemic viruses. (more…)

Can we all just get along?

Rodney King asking what seemed the impossible in May 1992.

It goes back 30 years, but I remember this solemn-faced man stepping toward a news camera in May 1992. He was neatly dressed in a jacket and tie. But he looked drawn, upset and extremely nervous. The man chose his words carefully. He looked into the lens and in the most genuine of expressions offered a simple statement and an even simpler question:

“It’s not right. And it’s not going to change anything. Can we all just get along?” he asked.

The man was Rodney King, the African-American construction worker who’d been beaten by four Los Angeles police officers in what they called an arrest for a suspected drunk driving offence in March 1991. (more…)

Paying tax with glee

Spiro Agnew, former vice-president in Nixon administration. New Yorker magazine.

I have a memory from the fall of 1973. At the time I was working part-time as a professor’s assistant in the broadcast faculty at Ryerson University. I had one eye on the students’ work I was editing, and the other on a TV monitor of the news. Suddenly, I saw the face of U.S. Vice-President Spiro Agnew. Of all things he was standing with Frank Sinatra at a golf course in Los Angeles. A member of the media scrum asked Agnew about charges of tax fraud recently levelled at him.

“Malicious leaks,” Agnew spewed. “I will not resign if indicted,” and he repeated it. And the audience of well-wishers applauded. (more…)

With title comes responsibility

Gen. Eisenhower encourages U.S. airborne members on eve of D-Day, June 5, 1944.

Conditions gave him little cause for optimism. A large low-pressure weather cell had socked-in England and occupied France. Low clouds and high winds portended the worst circumstances for a crossing of the English Channel. The Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces commander chain-smoked his Camel cigarettes and shared stiff drinks with other SHAEF members at the back of the Red Lion public house in Southwick, England, waiting for better news.

It came on June 5, 1944. The rain let up. Winds abated. The Channel calmed. And Gen. Dwight Eisenhower reclaimed the element of surprise and unleashed “Operation Overlord” against Nazi-occupied Europe on June 6, 1944.

“You are about to embark upon a great crusade,” he wrote to Allied troops on the eve of D-Day. “The eyes of the world are upon you…” (more…)

Keeping our wits about us

Lucille Ball in her famous “I Love Lucy” chocolate factory episode (1952).

I’d waited patiently – keeping my two metres of distance. Then, I was next in line to cash out at Zehrs. I started placing groceries on the conveyor, and the young cashier began processing my purchases. Problem was, the sensor that stopped the conveyer automatically at the cash register, suddenly failed. My bananas, sour cream, chips and meats all tumbled together onto her code-reader. She couldn’t scan the barcodes fast enough. We both shrugged and took advantage of the moment to smile at the jumble of food. And I couldn’t resist.

“Have you ever heard of Lucille Ball?” I asked, thinking she was far too young to know.

She looked skyward for a second, “Oh, yeah. Sure,” she said. (more…)

Culture of daring

As a diplomat in the 1950s, Lester Pearson earned the Nobel Peace Prize for a unique response to conflict.

On Feb. 24, after he learned that Teck Resources Ltd. had decided to withdraw its application to build a multi-billion-dollar oil-sands development project in northern Alberta, the premier of that province stepped to a microphone in Edmonton to express his displeasure with Ottawa.

“The federal government’s inability … let us down,” Jason Kenney told the audience. Then, the premier continued with an oft-employed threat he’s used lately, that he will now seek “greater autonomy for Alberta (using) every tool available.” (more…)