Posts with the Republican tag

Barris Beat

Anger with no clear target

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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…)

Barris Beat

From isolation can come greatness

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Composer Viktor Ullmann, imprisoned but not silenced.

Imagine a curfew keeping you inside your home. You can. Imagine quarantine as if it were imprisonment. You can. Then, imagine coming up with a unique way to deal with your isolation by turning to one of your life skills. I imagine that you can do that too.

That’s what Victor Ullmann did, in 1942. Imprisoned at a place called Terezin, a concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Bohemia, Ullmann, a music composer by profession, wrote an opera inside the prison depicting his predicament. It was called The Emperor of Atlantis.

“It’s a (musical) parable about a mad, murderous ruler,” wrote a reviewer years later, “who proclaims universal war.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Anger not allowed, Ladies

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Broadcasting Centre building in Toronto, where the CBC radio program “Q” is produced.

It struck me the moment the Jian Ghomeshi allegations became public. It was 2014, when the CBC relieved the host of his duties on his daily show, “Q.” I contacted a young woman who had attended my journalism classes and who had then completed a placement (unpaid employment) at the same radio show. I wondered whether any of the horror stories going public about Ghomeshi’s alleged treatment of women might have included her.

“The truth of the matter is that I did feel threatened during my time at ‘Q,’” she wrote in a note to me. “He would flirt with me … This always happened when I was the only person in the office.” (more…)

Barris Beat

The U.S. war chest

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Flag-draped casket of Sen. John McCain at Washington’s National Cathedral.

About halfway through Meghan McCain’s tribute to her father last Saturday in Washington, D.C, the director of TV coverage of Sen. John McCain’s funeral cut away to a shot of the middle rows of mourners in the National Cathedral.

Beyond the three former U.S. presidents – Obama, Bush and Clinton – and past the Republicans who wereinvited, sat row on row of American military people. They didn’t appear to be military brass, but relatively young Marine, Army, Navy and Air Force veterans seated in solemn tribute to their hero.

“Look at the military ribbons across those chests,” I thought, and then mused, “what a powerful statement of the man, the politician, the real state of America.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Truth in the eye of the beholder

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World Daily News Report photograph, which the source readily admits is fictitious.

I think it was sometime last winter when one of my hockey buddies and I got talking about one of my favourite topics – history and history-making. He knew that I’ve always been curious to check out different, off-the-beaten-path stories. Suddenly, the latest one on his mind came to him and he blurted out the gist of it.

“Did you see the latest World War II story?” he asked. “They found a U-boat up the Niagara River near the Falls.”

I thought about it for a second, then said quietly, “I’ll bet you read that on the internet.”

“Yup. And there were pictures,” he added for verification. (more…)

Barris Beat

Sounds like discrimination

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Frank Shuster, left, and Johnny Wayne were comedy stars on CBC Radio during the golden age of radio. Women singers, dancers and comedians shared the limelight on their shows as equals. And audiences – rich and poor – could enjoy their weekly shows.

Earlier this fall, I challenged students in my college History of Broadcasting course. I asked them to find elderly residents in the GTA to talk about their memories of what is known as “the golden age of radio.” Not surprisingly, some of them went to seniors’ residences to find their sources. Others called on grandparents who had grown up in the 1930s and ’40s to recall the radio broadcasts that shaped their childhood. What I didn’t expect was a history lesson back from my own students. One group played a recording of their interview with an immigrant woman who was 90 years old.

“When I was a girl of 17 in Afghanistan,” the woman on the recording said, “I was never allowed to listen to the radio. It was something only men could hear.”

(more…)