To help you understand the origin of this journalistic nut, stupidity, I need to explain the circumstances surrounding my March 11 blog.
As a student of English language, I am always fascinated by words or phrases with multiple meanings. For example, I disclosed, for the first time, that there was an important connection between my case and Cecilia Zhang case in my
blog on August 15, 2004.
Competing headlines
Granted, it's not easy to be a news producer, especially when there are competing headlines on the same day.
Of course, moving the date to compete is another matter.
I'm not trying to be self-important, but I will do my part to promote the Olympic Spirit.
There are indeed three cases of "moving the date to compete" that I wanted to tell in the blog:
Bourque NewsWatch;
Warren Kinsella;
The motive for the abduction of Cecilia Zhang, which the police failed to provide.
The most important meaning was, of course, the last one, which was also the one most pundits failed to grapple with right away. For example, it took Mr. Warren Kinsella four days to respond. Follow this link to read his August 19 blog.
[The ever-so-wise Jim Travers saw it right away, of course. -- Edited June 11.]
"
Liberals ape the Olympian follies" (Title of Jim Travers'
column, August 17, 2004)
"Along with being odious, comparisons are usually misleading and sometimes simply mischievous. Nevertheless, the parallels between the spectacle unfolding in Athens and our very own ruling party are too
delicious to resist." (Opening paragraph)
As for my
March 11 blog, there were also three meanings that I wished to convey.
It was not easy to fast.
It was not easy to stop fasting.
It was not an easy decision to stop fasting.
Indeed, I struggled for a whole week to come to my decision before eating a (big) lunch that day.
My health was in a very precarious state at that time. I came down to 150 pounds and lost almost 20% of my weight. My immune system was very week as evidenced by the
constant colds I caught. And what's worse, I was about to embark on a
TB treatment.
What was especially dispiriting for me was the realization that nobody cared what I had gone through, ever since October 20, 2004, the first day of my fast.
I got this
feeling that the Chretienites had been trying to use my story to crash Gomery inquiry if I kept on fighting to bring my story to light, although I do not know how it might have played out by those pros.
Again, for journalists, with only very rare exceptions, they failed to see the second meaning, let along the third one.
Those would be the same journalists who bullied me and smeared my reputation on our national newspapers, using shady information obtained through illegal means. Having known me so well, they should have been able to judge me correctly. -- I guess their problem was that they tended to use their experiences to judge other people's character.
Let's take a look at the reactions from MSM.
Within minutes: Pat MacAdam
Mr. Pat MacAdam phoned me within half an hour of my posting the blog, saying that he would like to meet me. We later met on March 17.
March 20: Pat MacAdam (Ottawa Sun)
"Fun times with Finlay" (Title of the column)
"Finlay MacDonald was one of few who made life in political backrooms rewarding ? and fun." (Opening paragraph)
"Finlay MacDonald's style, class and sense of humour made him charming to work with." (Caption of photo)
I don't know why Mr. MacAdam reported the good news. I was not impressed at all after our meeting (another blog entry to come), although I was very polite to him as I would be to anyone who was in a position to help get my story published.
However, some journalists immediately concluded that I had "sold my soul", or that I did not have a character.
March 21: Adam Radwanski (www.adamradwanski.com)
"Look who hasn't sold his soul..." (Title of the blog)
March 23: Andrew Coyne (National Post)
"Amid balloons, a white flag" (Title of the column)
March 24: William Watson (National Post)
"[R]acism is a hard problem. We at the National Post are actually against racism. We want people judged, not by the colour of their skin, not even by the content of their character, character being so hard to judge, but by the calibre of their contribution."
March 24: John Ivison (National Post)
"Martin offered an awkward wave before turning tail and ?. It must have been like this on the Long March, although Mao was probably more relenting than Martin."
April 1: Adam Radwanski (National Post)
"Toronto's imaginary crime wave" (Title of the column)
Mr. Radwanski was so convinced that I had given up that he even went on to consul his colleagues on the way to deal with their conscience.
It is worth noting that, between the time I published my report last September and the lifting of publication ban for Brault testimony, he only wrote one column which was mildly positive on the Conservatives. (He
mongered the fear of the prospect of the Conservatives in power withing hours of the
publishing of my partial report on September 22, 2004.) However, during the several weeks when the Liberals were in crisis in April and May, he suddenly warmed up to the Conservatives until, of course, the Liberals won the crucial confidence vote on May 19, using all sorts of unethical, even allegedly criminal tactics.
That said so much of the convictions with which Mr. Radwanski wrote his columns, which is, not very much.
It was the testimony of Jean Brault at Gomery in early April that changed the political landscape because of the possibility of an imminent fall of the Martin Liberal government.
April 2: Jim Travers (Toronto Star)
"For more than 30 years, Robert Stanfield has been consistently viewed as the best prime minister Canada never had. That deliciously ambiguous title role could soon belong to Paul Martin." (Opening paragraph)
[Memo to Jim Travers: Ambiguity is in the eyes of beholder.]
April 4: Norman Spector (Globe and Mail)
"Mr. Harper's principal problem is that he's brighter than most of the journalists who cover him, and he doesn't always find it easy to hide it. Mr. Martin is, too, but you'll never hear him criticizing the media publicly. In private, Mr. Martin has perfected the strategy of seducing journalists by asking for advice and feigning interest."
[Memo to Norman Spector: Please, I am not brighter. I am just not good at explaining details.]
[Considering that pompousness is such an unforgivable sin as reminded lately by this
twin of foes,
Pat MacAdam and
Warren Kinsella (June 10), I feel absolutely ashamed by having quoted Jim Travers and Norman Spector. -- Edited June 11.]
April 9: Peter C. Newman (National Post)
"Mr. Martin's first priority must be to isolate himself from his ethically challenged predecessor. The PM's most incomprehensible -- OK, stupid -- act was to stand before his caucus and cheer Jean Chr?tien's childish performance before Judge Gomery. It was, after all, a Martin-led coup d'etat that allowed the former finance minister to grab power in the first place."
April 9: Andrew Coyne (National Post)
"Thanks to Jean Brault, a great many things have become clearer. It is now clear, for example --assuming his testimony is to be believed -- that we have been governed for more than a decade by a criminal organization....
Some other points of clarity:..."
April 10: Pat MacAdam (Ottawa Sun)
"My mantra these days is: Stupidity is not contagious, stupidity is not contagious, stupidity is not contagious ?" (Opening paragraph)
MacAdam is very nervous of the prospect of an election. Why is that?
Update June 20:
The following quotes from the columns of John Ivison and Greg Weston were apparently in reference to my story. These pundits were afraid that in case of an election, my story would break and thus expose the darkness of Canadian MSM. Their reference of "picture" and "no clothes on" was intended to bully me.
April 6, 2005: John Ivison (National Post)
"Stephen Harper looked yesterday like he was having as much fun as it's possible to have in politics while keeping your clothes on."
April 5, 2005: Greg Weston (Ottawa Sun)
"Election isn't the only way out" (Title of the column)
"Unless Paul Martin and Stephen Harper has a sudden urge to commit political suicide, or someone has pictures that include a goat, there will be no call to the polls anytime soon."
