Justin Trudeau and the Humiliation of Postmedia

Ever since Justin Trudeau defeated Stephen Harper, and sent him and his Cons packing, the mood in this country has improved beyond anything I have ever seen, or ever could have imagined.

The totalitarian grimness of the Harper years has been replaced with a new mood of hope and optimism. 

But unfortunately that new and hopeful mood is seen as threatening by the powerful interests that control the MSM, who would rather have us ground down by the lack of hope or the darkness of perpetual pessimism. 

And are doing their best to bury our hopes and expectations under a stinking heap of cynicism.

With articles like this one.

Where Justin Trudeau's cool reply to a question about gender parity...

Why was [gender balance in your new cabinet] so important to you? "Because it's 2015." --Canadian PM @justintrudeau https://t.co/4mQbnVcqJN

— Audra Jenkins (@audrajenkins) November 6, 2015

Is compared to a Dove commercial or pop feminism.

The slow, subtle melding of shrewd advertising into the political sphere is hardly new — and if you want more on that long history, Susan Delacourt has an excellent book on the topic. What is new about Trudeau’s approach is that he’s the first Canadian politician to so successfully tap into the pop commercial feminism that has begun to dominate both advertising and politics.

Whether it’s Mattel pumping out maudlin ads about dolls inspiring girls to be whatever they want — socioeconomic, racial and other barriers be damned — or Dove’s saccharin bits of self-esteem boosting sap that, in the end, still hawk “beauty” products, commercial pop feminism sells. So much so it’s now the stuff of parody.

Or articles like this one.

Some folks figure I’ve been unfair and unkind to our wunderkind PM. They think me churlish for describing how Justin keeps putting his hand on his heart and batting his eyes and other huggy-kissy stuff.

From now on, I promise to be more sympathetic to Prime Minister Trudeau. I will treat him with love and respect. I will adopt his “sunny ways.” I might even try to out-touchy-feely him. I will studiously avoid mention of his hair or the way he makes virtual love to everyone he meets, even his own cabinet ministers.

Where a brutish third rate hack goes after Justin Trudeau's sunny manner to the point of questioning his masculinity. 

Even though Justin's warm and friendly nature is one of his most commendable qualities...



But then both reporters work for Postmedia, the media conglomerate whose CEO Paul Godfrey, as Michael Harris points out, not only disgraced himself, he humiliated his organization.

The company’s CEO, Paul Godfrey, violated the core principle on which journalism is built: free speech. His offenses were multiple. The National Post spiked a piece from columnist and then-editorial page editor Andrew Coyne, presumably for writing something that didn’t conform to the Post’s program.

By suppressing opinion, ordering all his papers to endorse the Harper Cons, and turning their front pages into political pamphlets...




Godfrey committed what the late senator and Globe and Mail editor Richard Doyle said was the unpardonable sin of the industry: he held up the newspapers he runs and got a reflection of himself. And remember how this was done. On the weekend before the election, Godfrey disfigured the front pages of all his newspapers with a full-page attack ad in support of the Harper Conservatives.

Which couldn't have been more outrageous, or more of an assault on our democracy.

But the good news as Harris points out, is that Postmedia like other MSM organizations, is economically vulnerable 

Godfrey’s forced march of Postmedia editors through the swamps of political partisanship could cost the chain dearly. The National Post is already floundering under a $650 million debtload, kept afloat by U.S. hedge funds that extract big interest returns on their “investment.” No one is happy about that and many others in this besieged industry are taking on water.

In the meantime, Godfrey is totally out of touch with the people who hold the chain’s fate in their hands — his dwindling band of subscribers.

And we can use that to exert pressure on it and the others. By supporting independent publications like this one or this one.

And others I will list and promote on this blog.

And of course by using our social media, which played such a big role in defeating Stephen Harper...



To go after the deathly media barons who would condemn us to cynicism and despair.

And teach them a lesson they'll never forget...



You know when I was younger I used to think cynicism was funny. But now I see it as corrosive as cancer.

And after almost ten years of living in the Stephen Harper's grim Harperland, where hope went to die, I'm really enjoying this new mood of optimism.

So if those media barons want a war.

Then that's what they're going to get...

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