There Is Nothing Undemocratic In Trying To Get Margaret Wente Sacked

Cries of "political correctness gone wild!" once again ring out through the blogosphere, this time over the Fire Margaret Wente Facebook Group, the goal of which is to have the G&M dismiss Ms. Wente over her October 25th column "What Dick Pound said was really dumb - and also true".

Trying to deny a columnist an outlet for her controversial opinions? Oh my, how Fascist!!

But wait, what are the people behind Fire Margaret Wente" actually asking people to do? From the Facebook page:

1. Send a letter to the Globe and Mail:

To: Letters@globeandmail.com, egreenspon@globeandmail.com, sstead@globeandmail.com, nacampbell@globeandmail.com, pmartin@globeandmail.com, nhassan@globeandmail.com
Cc: mwente@globeandmail.com

2. Call the Globe and Mail
416-585-5000
Find Patrick Martin and Edward Greenspon in the directory, and demand Wente be dismissed.

3. Cancel your Globe subscription, or call someone you know who subscribes and encourage them to cancel.

4. Educate yourself about the real history of Indigenous peoples on this land, and share accurate information about what went on, and what's going on, with your friends and colleagues.

Well, it sounds like they are asking folks to use their powers of persuasion on the Globe's editorial staff. Scary shit! And it also sounds like their asking people to exercise their rights as a consumer to withdraw the money they send every year to the paper and use it to purchase other goods and services. Can you not just feel the Totalitarianism oozing off your computer screen?

And lets imagine for a moment that they succeed: the G&M looks to its bottom line and, weighing subscriptions lost vs. losses it might take were Ms. Wente to write for some other publication (maybe these guys), they decide to throw her overboard.

Has something undemocratic happened? Hardly, I would argue. In fact I would even go further: something wonderfully Capitalist has happened. The Market responded to the desires of the marketplace. Carry on Capitalism!

The Problem With C-10

Should Bill C-10 become law, a committee of Heritage Ministry’s smut-, hate- and violence-hunters could deny tax credits to a completed film, even one in which the government had invested up front. From that day, no fiscally responsible institution would feel comfortable offering interim financing to any film. Imagine a charity trying to raise funds with tax receipts that may or may not be valid.

The Heritage Ministry can renege on its previous commitments mid-process, in other words.

Good piece from George Jonas.

BigCityLib BANNED By Federal Government!

OhMyGawd, I'm in tears! I feel like I've won an Oscar, and the wife is saying I've finally made the Big Time! As reported at The Galloping Beaver, BigCityLib Strikes Back and several other illustrious progblogs have been blocked on staff computers at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada:

Not sure if anyone else has reported on this: I am a federal civil servant and (while on a break!) noticed that the Galloping Beaver, Calgary Grit and BigCityLiberal are all now blocked from government desktops (at least in my Dept - AAFC). This wasn't the case 2 wks ago.

And a bit lower down:

A quick survey around some of the other Internet comment sites and forums suggests that other progressive sites and blogs are also blocked on some government computers. The coincidence of discovering that TGB, Calgary Grit, BigCityLiberal and Bread and Roses are blocked on computers at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (and some other federal government locations) is just too much to let slide by without a few words.

I agree that it can't be "adult content" that triggered the block. While B&R and this blog sometimes "work blue", and B&R is just packed with raunchy feminists (visit the site and you can almost hear Patti Smith playing in the background), Calgary Grit is probably one of the nicest guys in the sphere.

In any case, you can run but you can't hide, Stephen Harper! When this blog is finished with you, your government will be in ruins, and your philosophy in disgrace!

Update: National Newswatch has picked up the story. He's running it as a question "Grit blogs banned...?" so we look less silly if its nothing more than an IT snafu.