Sunday, April 11, 2010

What Are The Kids Learnin' at Carlelton?

Ottawa's other university, the one that's the provenance of the "Zionists" who met up with some Bytown Janjaweed the other day, held an edifying panel discusion recently. The subject was how the media deals with Muslims, and the featured speaker was Maher Arar. I'm sure you won't be surprised to learn that Arar is concerned about the media's approach to his co-religionists, as per this report in the university's rag (which, oddly enough, is called the Charlatan):
...Let me be very clear. Investigative, independent, responsible news media is perhaps our public’s best defense against corruption and abuses,” Arar says.

“However, the media is a powerful institution, especially if it has you fixed in its sights. It has the power of defending, but also the power of destroying.”

He says he believes his entire experience has shown him Canadian media are corrupt and too easily influenced by the government and other political factors.

“My personal experience in particular has shown me that there are serious problems with the practice of journalism in Canada, especially in the context of covering terrorism-related stories,” Arar said.

His coverage was highly dependent on anonymous sources, he says, who were considered legitimate at the time. It seems, however, that the press made many mistakes while covering Arar’s case, and printed various counts of false information by these sources.

“Many reporters have admitted to learning from what happened to me,” he says, “But others have unfortunately claimed publicly that they would do it the same way again.”
“I wonder why some continue to refuse to admit that there may have been errors made, that a broader discussion about sources is needed. I wonder if it is it a legal issue or an attempt to avoid liability? In my opinion this is not a legal issue, it is a moral, human issue,” he says...
Right you are, Maher. Now, undergrad Janjaweed menacing Zionists--that's a legal issue. Whereas Israel-loathers holding an annual campus agit-prop fiesta of Zionhass in the name of "social justice" for Palestinians--that's a moral, human issue. You can bet, though, there will be no panel discussion on that any time soon at either Ottawa university--the Janjaweed one and the A-Houle one.

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