tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777096.post111463503745384358..comments2023-11-02T05:16:59.191-04:00Comments on Briques du Neige: The pernicious influence of the CBCOlmanFeelyushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521657876810568251noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777096.post-1116780216476491232005-05-22T12:43:00.000-04:002005-05-22T12:43:00.000-04:00My husband and I own "Odyssey Books" on Stanley st...My husband and I own "Odyssey Books" on Stanley street and your mom, who recently purchased a book from us via our website, just gave me your blogsite's address thinking I would be interested to read of your experience in our fair city. <BR/>As you correctly assume I am a French Canadian and yes!, unlike most of my compatriots, I am Canadian first which makes me a true oddity in Quebec. It is definetely due to the fact that I was raised with both languages and cultures and in my home we were taught to keep a wide open mind to the world, and also to the fact that I lived in B.C., in the U.S. and have travelled extensively in my life. So I was pleased to see that you have, right from the get go, perceived certain truisms that escape many 'pure laine' people. You have wondered in your post of Oct 22nd./04:"What combination of ignorance & bad experience caused such a level of resentment in someone who had abeautiful house in a beautiful neighbourhood in one of the wealthiest & most comfortable countries of the world?"<BR/>Answer: Ignorance and the cynical & constant rehashing of deformed bits of Quebec history by politicians and nationalists to foster their ideology and bid for power. Not unlike the American evangelical & extreme right's current discourse that is now shaping our southern neighbours's weltangshauung. In my own interpretation of your statement/question: People complaining on a full stomach.<BR/>Politics are of necessity perversions of the rational needs and ambitions of a people, and in Quebec have been successfully used to gain a lot of freedoms and control over social and cultural agendas; which was a good thing. What most Quebecers do though, is inject feelings into all national debates, and with the manipulations of the past, constantly transformed into a tale of victimization, they are quite easily maintained into permanent resentment. <BR/>One the other hand, as you so right point out: Thanksgiving /04"Cultural ignorance towards Western Canada". Which by the way goes both ways, as you no doubt very well know. <BR/>It is amazing to me that so far noone at our much beloved CBC has managed to amalgamate in a program the two cultures for the two audiences to be shown simultaniously, something that I have been dreaming of for the past 30 years. To create a cultural bridge over the divide that would explicate people to people, getting them in their own enviroment with their own words, venting all feelings positive and otherwise...<BR/>We have yet to communicate amongst ourselves, and you are a very poignant example (one of many) of desire to connect, eagerness to learn, enthusiasm for cultural discoveries, in short you exemplify what I have encountered in many places in Canada but have yet to see reflected in our medias. You also mentioned in one of your mails the Quebecois honoring the Patriots of 1838, did you know that this rebellion was a tax revolt and its participants were equally English farmers as French ones? You would never know this hearing the discourse of nationalists on this issue, would you? This is what is soooo frustrating for me, every way that the past can be skewed to maintain the ignorance level is permissible. A clean-up is needed! A massive undertaking to demystify, demythologize and clarify, a task best left to young and bright educated people like you.<BR/>Rock on!!! Looking forward to more musings.<BR/>Marie ClaireAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777096.post-1115064842828099342005-05-02T16:14:00.000-04:002005-05-02T16:14:00.000-04:00It takes me about an hour and half a day. I read ...It takes me about an hour and half a day. I read the Economist once a week as well.Buzbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10910617923053008744noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777096.post-1114912874768016972005-04-30T22:01:00.000-04:002005-04-30T22:01:00.000-04:00Damn! That does sound like a good plan. How long...Damn! That does sound like a good plan. How long does that take you each day? Also, though it keeps you up to date, it still seems like one isn't getting a whole lot of depth from the dailies. I guess you read books for that. What about the Economist?OlmanFeelyushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17521657876810568251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777096.post-1114760938221664332005-04-29T03:48:00.000-04:002005-04-29T03:48:00.000-04:00I am off all broadcast news media - radio or telev...I am off all broadcast news media - radio or television - all together. I don't trust the CBC because I think that their persective is automatically liberal and skews their reporting. I don't trust CNN, FOX et al. for the same reason except that I think that they are too conservative.<BR/><BR/>And, I don't think that the broadcast medium is appropriate for the kind of in depth reporting that we are after - there just isn't eniugh time on the air.<BR/><BR/>I wish their was just objective news radio - no political biases, no axes to grined, no agendas to put forth.<BR/><BR/>I have settled on a prgram of reading 5 news papers each day instead. I read the Globe for Canadian news, Wall Street Journal and Financial Times for business news, the New York Times for US domestic and international news (although the NYT has become annoyinly slanted in its reporting too) and the Washington Post for polticial news (I think that if I read a DC based paper I am somehow an insider).<BR/><BR/>The program seems to be working in that I am up to date on at least the important topics that I am interested in.Buzbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10910617923053008744noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777096.post-1114720490014549382005-04-28T16:34:00.000-04:002005-04-28T16:34:00.000-04:00That's a good suggestion. I agree with you very m...That's a good suggestion. I agree with you very much about the "depressing" argument. Personally, I want to know what's going on. It's just that the filtering has become so biased and pointed. It seems that most of the news is someone trying to sell you on a position and make you feel a certain way rather than just giving you the information. It makes me crazy with rage (that's where the domestic disturbance comes from-I start throwing things at the tv). I do stream the BBC a lot, which is better. It's at least intelligent and much more international.<BR/><BR/>There are some really good shows on the CBC. Ideas is excellent and the Current is pretty solid too. But their general news coverage has really started to slip.<BR/><BR/>I don't know if I've got the time to suck in as much currrent event info as possible. That's where these news outlets have us. They know we have to choose.OlmanFeelyushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17521657876810568251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777096.post-1114705154342306892005-04-28T12:19:00.000-04:002005-04-28T12:19:00.000-04:00My dad is one of those CBC 'backgrounders' and has...My dad is one of those CBC 'backgrounders' and has been for forever. (He even leaves it on in the house when he goes out <I>for the dog</I>). It is amazing how someone who is as critical of the overall media culture as he is can be so uncritical of the CBC. <BR/><BR/>Living in the US now, I realize that the CBC does give you excellent international news and local coverage. But they are just another outlet like any other. If your philosophy is not one of media avoidance (it sounds as though this is the case chez toi) then I believe you should take in as wide a range as possible. Then try to form your own opinion. Nothing pisses me off more than the line, "I don't watch/read/listen to the news. It's too depressing".Jason Lhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03669997643023511165noreply@blogger.com