Wednesday, October 05, 2011

The Dhimmis of the CBC

Shahada Canada

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is the state television service in Canada. It’s the Canadian equivalent of the BBC — and some Canadians say it is even worse than the Beeb.

In a guest post on Vlad Tepes a couple of days ago, J Practical took a look at how Multiculturalism is practiced in Canada, noting that as far as the CBC is concerned, there is really only one cult worth looking at:

Is the CBC Prying Tiles off the Canadian Cultural Mosaic?

by J Practical

As a Canadian Jew, I make a habit of always booking vacations on certain Jewish holidays. Last week’s Rosh Hashanah is one that I always book well in advance, and take vacation days to celebrate. Every year I’m asked by a few colleagues what Rosh Hashanah is about. This year, for some reason, the questions kept coming in.

I thought it was strange, because just a month earlier, those very same colleagues seemed to have a great grasp of the meaning and customs of Ramadan and Eid.

So I tried an interesting exercise. I Googled ‘Rosh Hashanah’ on CBC.ca, just to find out what CBC had reported about this major Jewish holiday in the past year.

Would you believe that this year, CBC didn’t publish a single report describing Rosh Hashanah?

In fact, the only CBC stories that mentioned ‘Rosh Hashanah’, were the ones reporting how residents of Hampstead Quebec are irritated because of a bylaw that prevents them from making noise on Rosh Hashanah. While I agree with the irritated residents of Hampstead, I’m curious how CBC doesn’t have a single report describing what Rosh Hashanah is all about, or when it starts and ends. That’s a peculiar omission.

Then I did the same Google search for ‘Ramadan’ and ‘Eid’, the recent Muslim holidays that people seem to know quite a bit about.

Ramadan and Eid are reported richly — great detail. Not only does CBC describe the meaning of these holidays, but it also published slideshows that show the Muslim community celebrating across Canada and around the world. The CBC coverage brings home to Canadians what these holidays mean, with featured anecdotes, like the story of two young American-born Muslims who completed a road trip, crossing the U.S. in a quest to worship at 30 mosques, in 30 states, in the 30 days of Ramadan.

Great coverage, human interest stories, lots of square feet of colourful Canadian cultural mosaic. The stuff that we Canadians love to see and read about — proof of our diverse, yet inclusive Canadian culture.

Now let’s step back and recap, to compare how CBC treats recent major ethnic holidays:

1. Ramadan and Eid — Muslim holidays that are engaging, culturally enriching, human interest holidays.
2. Rosh Hashanah — a Jewish holiday, an irritating event that inexplicably forced an intrusive bylaw in Hampstead Quebec.

Now what’s that about?

We live in a country that prides itself on its multiculturalism, and its implementation of the cultural mosaic that respects, protects and celebrates diversity. Yet our national broadcaster shines a warm spotlight on one community and their major holidays (positive, interesting and engaging), and purposely presents another community’s holiday as nothing but an irritant.

In effect, the CBC’s editorial and journalistic practices are deliberately removing or painting over selected tiles from the Canadian Cultural Mosaic — those specific tiles that portray Jewish life in Canada. CBC devalued and dismissed the meaning, cultural richness, and human interest of Rosh Hashanah, by ignoring its existence as something other than a nuisance.

Am I really the only one who noticed the tiles that CBC pried off our mosaic?

7 comments:

Dymphna said...

Hmm...I googled on CBC.ca for "Lenten observance". Got one Easter hit, and one documentary on the Pagan Christ, evidently a Big Deal when it came out.

You're right they're squishy for Islam...

otoh, Christians and Jews are famous for their indifference, and Muslims are not.

Lawrence said...

Indifference in making a public spectacle out of our religious observations? Yeah, that's true.

Islamists were very restrained in their public spectacles also, until it suddenly became reportable by the media to the exclusion of others.

Now, public spectacles promoting Islam are all the rage.

But that has little to do with Jews and Christians seeking to keep their observations from becoming media spectacles.

lastgleaming said...

The left - progressive - multiculturalists prove their cred by fixating and turning themselves inside out for anything non-Western including religion. Whether it is guilt or whatever they do not seem to realize or understand they and their silly point of view would be history in an Islamic world. I read once that one of the main reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire was because Rome and Romans no longer believed in themselves, their history, their ability to thrive and innovate. They got tired and allowed the barbarians privileges once meant only for Romans. They paid barbarians to keep other barbarians at bay .. eventually those same barbarians combined to destroy what was left of the great and powerful Rome. The modern day multiculturalist has twisted a version of Christianity and 'charity' and 'tolerance' into something insane and sick.

lastgleaming said...

One reason Rome fell was because it lost confidence and faith in itself. it tolerated and bribed it's way to dissolution. Rome's corruption was as much because it gave up on its own ability to build and maintain as it tolerated and gave into massive invasion of barbarians which it bribed or bought in various ways. Eventually it was destroyed -- Rome just got tired of trying and so is the West .. at least for now. Maybe until it is face with annihilation it will come back or defend itself.

gama said...

Slightly off topic yet relevant to the discussion.
The Globe and Mail and it's ' inclusive ' mantra is in full display with their annual Christmas eve edition which will not even whisper the word ' Christmas' where their front page displays a Canadian winter scene with an anaesthetized "' happy holiday '" !
Their edition on the eve of Ramadan and Eid , the front page pictures are meant to convey a deep spiritual manifestation, Where Islam and Ramadan is emblazoned on the Globe's front page and is meant to bedazzle~!?!

Anonymous said...

The CBC is in no respect a “state” broadcaster, a right-wing falsehood. It is not a propaganda arm of an autocratic government. Tokyo Rose does not read the news on CBC Radio One.

CBC, like the BBC, is a public broadcaster.

Anonymous said...

Just because the BBC and CBC claim to be public broadcasters, does not make them so. The Nazis described themselves as socialists, but I'm sure our illogical defender of CBC would agree that the National Socialists were socialists.

Here is Ezra Levant proving exactly how the CBC (like the BBC) in no way represents the views of the public, but does represent the views of the power elite (who control government and the media).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_nKJRHRI7w

Incidentally, the "power elite" is the name of a book from 1956 by the American sociologist C.Wright Mills. It seems that people are far too ready to observe just how unrepresentative our democratic processes are.