I Amuse Myself

11 Replies to “I Amuse Myself”

1. “Journalists worldwide are notorious for inbreeding…”
   Well yes, and who would know better than you, Jesse? But it would appear to the rest of us plebs that either your or your Walrus editor are just as inbred and overly sensitive to jeers from the cheapseats as the media ponces you complain of.
   “Our duty is to inquire, provoke, and irritate without reverence.”
   Ah me, where to start? Were you doing this duty during the past year and a half of buffing Shiny Pony’s shoes? Were you doing this duty when you were ignoring Joe Fontana’s little pecadilloes in the interest of going after Wallin, Duffy, Brazeau? Were you doing this duty when ignoring the Dippers’ parliamentary expense scandal until it exploded wide open?
   Instead it seems Jesse wants a new standard. “Inquiring, provoking and irritating” are just fine for the Canadian media propaganda machine, but never when the Left could be the targets.

2. La la la la la la la la …

3. // overly sensitive to jeers from the cheapseats //
   The article is a self-critical one & laments the incestuous small-town nature of the media, the tendancy to cosy up to corporate of government power, & the lack of either internal or external critical examination [apart from self-congratulation].
   There are four comments. All four are on the “examine the media” theme, one offers an example, one says that blogs are part of the solution.
   Kate hasn’t offered her comments so we don’t know if they fit the topic as tightly as the published ones. Yours certainly wouldn’t make the grade on that account.
   // Were you doing this duty during the past year and a half of […] ignoring Joe Fontana’s little pecadilloes in the interest of going after Wallin, Duffy, Brazeau? //
   Are you criticising Jessie or the Walrus? Jessie left the CBC in 2008 & mentions a failed media critical attempt at Macleans. She only started her blog last October, and it’s critical of the media, like her article, which criticises the CBC, The Toronto Star & the Globe [actually Margaret Wente] & CTV She only mentions the Senate as a place where tame media types can find a home, & mentions no names.
   Duffy is mentioned in a podcast on satire. [And how reality has made it impossible]
   She does have one podcast on how the press has mishandled the Senate coverage http://canadalandshow.com/podcast/susan-delacourt
   She claims that her blog broke the CBC “speech-fee” affair — I liked this bit “The CBC was stonewalling the CBC.”
   As for the Walrus, a search brings up two archived items. One consists of a lament for the Senate failing to live up to its potential. It mentions none of the names you don’t want or want mentioned. Not surprizing, considering that it consists entirely of a 1907 quote from Robert Borden.
   The other item is a cartoon.

4. “The article is a self-critical one”
   Oh please. Jessie is mounting the holier-than-thou rostrum pretending that he alone sees the truth. As for the rest of your drivel, yes, Jessie left the CBC in 2008. Has she been writing and reporting nowhere else since?
   As for who I’m criticising, it’s both. Jessie for a career of leftist slant and Walrus for a history illustrated in specific here of suppressing right wing comment critical of their positions.

5. They don’t want to hear from the person who’s doing their job for them, Kate. And doing it better too.

6. Canada needs a Jon Stewart?
   But he would need Mulcair AND Trudeau kneepads not just one set of Obama kneepads.

7. Crimethink doubleplusungood.

8. // and Walrus for a history illustrated in specific here of suppressing right wing comment critical of their positions. //
   +
   Which is not the same as your original complaint of
   // ignoring Joe Fontana’s little pecadilloes [sic] in the interest of going after Wallin, Duffy, Brazeau? //
   Which they haven’t done.
   And your “illustration in specific here” doesn’t seem to apply anymore — they printed a comment by Phantom [which recommends SDA & SunTV] and a couple by someone named “walrus sucks like the rest”.
   Incidently, Jesse is a he, which I only found out on listening to one of the podcasts.

9. When Walrus was starting up in 2002 they advertised with a mass mailing explaining what they were going to do. The letter with the appeal was so childish and sophomoric that I had to reply. I told them that I would not be subscribing since there was lots of material around that was of a similar slant.
   Google their list of contributors, lefties all.
   Incidentally the name Walrus was chosen because ‘nobody ignores a walrus’. Wanna bet?

10. I thought Walrus was an acronym for We’re all leftist Russians.

11. I second that.