The Respectable Biases of the Canadian Left- reponse to J.S.

Submitted by Aidan Maconachy (Canada), Sep 9, 2005 at 14:52

J.S. makes some very accurate observations about the bias in the Canadian media. He is absolutely right when he refers to the double standard exercised by the CBC and newspapers such as the Toronto Star, which always seem eager to give a pass to virulent expressions of anti-Semitism expressed by mainstream Islamic spokespersons such as Elmasry (notwithstanding the fleeting storm-in-a-tea-cup that followed the Elmasry's endorsement of the killing of Israeli civilians). On the other hand attacks on Israel and the U.S. (as represented by G.W.) are dished out with almost knee jerk predictability.

This bias is demonstrated on a weekly basis in the Toronto Star. They offer a high pulpit to journalists such as Haroon Siddiqui, who artfully couches his rhetoric in the language of the intellectual, while routinely bashing US policies with the mono-minded ardor of a soap box rabble rouser. While ready and willing to host the biases of Siddiqui, The Star makes no effort to offer any column space to a pro American/pro Israel writer capable of offering an alternative point of view. Occasionally, the extreme views of a Siddiqui are mitigated by the more objective rationales of other scribes on the Star such as Richard Gwyn and Rosie DiManno, but by and large the bias is clear and unmistakable.

While the planned attacks on Jewish synagogues in the US is certainly a source of deep concern, the plotters were very much on the fringes of society ... desperadoes with a fanatical agenda. What is more worrisome, is the incursion of extremist Islamic thinking into the cultural arena in Canada. Of course it is never presented as "extremist" per se. Intellectuals such as Siddiqui take care to package extremism in the language of liberal persuasiveness.

The plan to introduce Sharia law provisions in Ontario, is being greeted with horror by western based Islamic women who see this move as a betrayal of their trust. Many of these women came to countries like Canada precisely to escape from the type of draconian justice represented by Sharia, which also shows a powerful anti-woman bias in its provisions. The willingness of Ontario to support this move was recently given added weight by an editorial in the Globe and Mail that came out in favor of this oddball legal direction.

I agree with J.S. - these developments in Canada pose a much greater threat to any "golden age" for Jews here in Canada, if indeed such ever existed. This statement is not an attempt to exclude muslims from entering fully into Canadian life, rather it seeks to draw attention to the type of Islamic voice that is being empowered in Canada, and this voice is not in concert with the Canadian way, and most certainly out of synch with mainstream Jewish Canadian opinion.

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