Trying to be objective (or at least non-partisan) in my writing about politics this term has led me to some interesting discoveries.
For one, no matter how appalling the government's treatment of Afghan detainees, or Canadian citizens abroad, or the Canadian public's intellect, may seem at any one moment, these charges will slide off the government like so much Teflon within a few weeks (at the most). They might be - and in my opinion, are - legitimate grievances, but there are simply too many of them, and the opposition transitions from one to the next so quickly, to create any sort of public stir.
Contrast this to Ontario's provincial government, where the opposition seems to have a one-note tune with the HST. While the HST is good policy which many assume PC leader Tim Hudak would even support if he viewed it through conservative (rather than Conservative) eyes, the Ontario opposition has been enormously effective at mobilizing public support in opposition to the HST.
A tax change that will save the majority of Ontarians money overall is meeting vocal opposition, but a government that is quite transparently doing nothing but looking out for itself (and, when necessary, its supporters) raises barely a peep.
Funny, that.
I don't know if the problem is that the Conservatives are too good at spinning their message or that the opposition isn't good enough at spinning theirs. In either case, it's a horrible reason - politics have become more about managing public opinion than about any actual governance.
Journalists aren't helping. If a newspaper reporter interviews a Liberal about something, he is pressured into interviewing a Conservative for 'balance'. Could you imagine this applying to any other type of journalism? "I'm going to interview this executive from a company, but I'd better talk to an executive from their chief rival too." "It's not enough to talk to these people who had their house burn down, I'd better talk to some people who didn't have their house burn down."
Even worse is the acceptance and complicity of journalists who know they are being spun - it's okay to report political spin even if it didn't answer your question in the least. It's better than nothing. There have been a few instances of reporters fighting back and demanding that politicians actually answer the questions asked, but these show up rarely and don't make any tangible difference.
The political talk shows on CBC and CTV's cable news networks aren't any better - they're so afraid of being accused of bias that they have panels of an MP from each major party, a Senator from each major party, a strategist from each major party. These panels are more theatre than journalism - everybody involved and everybody watching knows that nothing will come out other than the party lines, but they do them anyhow.
And to those who say 'the people are too smart to fall for spin'? They're not. I've been following the current CRTC hearings related to the relationship between TV networks and cable service providers for another class. The CRTC recently opened up a website to solicit public opinion on the matter.
The result is extremely disappointing - form letters copied and pasted directly from the pages of the interested parties, and people whose understanding of the issue seems to be solely either the 'Stop the TV Tax' commercial or the 'Local TV Matters' commercial (whichever they saw first) - neither of which, of course, are about public good or anything other than making more money for the people behind them.
I have my doubts that the CRTC will even bother to sift through all the spin to find the handful of insightful, worthwhile, intelligent comments. Won't be much longer until politics goes the same way.
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So what's next for this blog? My class requirements are done - with one extra post because this and a couple of others have skirted the bounds of what I was supposed to be doing. Also finished is my latest "hey guys, here's the music I'm listening to aren't I all hipster and awesome?!?" series.
The blog will probably slow down over Christmas, as it always does. Maybe worse, because The Sputnik is my first priority this year. Plus Dan has a job now, so he'll be posting even less than usual.
But we'll carry on, with a mix of news commentary, pop culture analysis, and cool/bizarre things we found on the Internet.
In that spirit, this lady is painting herself having sex with every American president, chronologically. (Not safe for work, obviously.)
--Ryan
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