Toronto Star, CJC in homophobic gay panic

How about for next year's Pride fest Bernie simply wears a rainbow t-shirt that says "Nobody Knows I'm Stupid"?

Perhaps the saddest thing about this chilling, over the top attack on journalistic autonomy and free expression is the fact that Zerbisias has been spanked–publicly–for violating an as-yet unwritten policy.

Sadly, though, Kathy, you were played for a sucker and you played your part beautifully. I'm guessing that, the next time Bernie Farber comes calling, it will be just that much easier to give him whatever he wants. I'm betting he's counting on it.

English and Cruickshank have just allowed themselves to be had by Farber. He clearly didn't like what Zerb had written in her post, and was looking for a way in. He found it; he trolled it; and English and Cruickshank took the bait.

This is not a story about homophobia or anti-semitism (although that implied charge is the second level down). It is a story about brute power, the future Orwell warned us about: "If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face -- forever." And its coming is always facilitated by amoral little note-takers like the public editor of the Toronto Star.

Only an idiot (and in my opinion, a homophobe) would interpret her comment as an insult — either that or Farber didn’t like some of the other things Zerb had to say, and saw the comment as an opportunity to stop her from saying them.  Pick one, there’s no “neither of the above” option.  That’s called “censorship”, so maybe Zerb should be thanking Farber for making her point.

And then a Star editor and the publisher go into full damage-control mode--except that I can't, as noted, discern any damage. Not, in any case, unless Farber, despite his protestations, thinks that the "gay" label is a stigma, and the Star brass agrees with him. Blogs by Star journalists, says English, "may not put the Star in a negative light." An ironic comment about someone being gay does that?

I guess when you wear a T shirt in a gay pride parade that says  "Nobody knows I am Gay"it means the opposite. Better mentally file that away! Who knew?

In one way, it’s about a tempest in a teapot, as Dawg says.  That is, if it’s really about whether Antonia Zerbisias called Bernie Farber “gay”.  On the other hand, it’s not, because it’s about trying to intimidate a journalist (believe me, it won’t work!) and access to media – that is, Bernie Farber’s got it and I don’t.

If this article at Rabble about this article in the Toronto Star that was further blogged about here is correct then I believe it can be safely said that someone is trying to shut someone up about discussing activities designed to shut people up.

Right now Zerbisias is under attack by her employer, because she had the nerve to speak her mind about Bernie Farber and the Canadian Jewish Congress.

There's even a PHOTO! Then I went and read the full comment thread on Antonia's post (go see for yourself) and found that instead of failing to "abide by the professional and journalistic standards the Star has long strived to uphold", Antonia was there in the thick of her comments section moderating a really tough thread. She was actually doing her job and was smacked down for it

Farber had his say. That could have been the end of it had the Star's Public Editor not felt called upon to publicly kiss Farber's hiney at the expense of one of her own colleagues. In doing so, she has made laughing stocks of both the Star and the CJC.

Nothing in Antonia Zerbisias’ blog or comments breached any journalistic ethics. The only column that requires a retraction and apology from the Star is English’s. English catered to an oversensitive, high-profile individual — Farber — at the expense of the paper’s journalists and its reputation.

Good lord, Star editor and your pompous publisher Cruikshank too, who previously trashed Heather Mallick at CBC for her piece on Sarah Palin, how stupid do you want to look? Get a fucking grip. You think this is about teh gay, or in this case, teh obvious-to-everyone-else not gay? It's about what she wrote in her original post. You got pwned and blindsided by the CJC and you panicked and threw your columist under a gay bus to prove it. Shame on you.

There are so many problems with all of this, not the least of which is why an apology was needed at all. Suppose for a second that Zerbisias wasn't talking tongue-in-cheek. Suppose she really was saying she didn't know he was gay. Why would that require an apology? He was at a Pride parade wearing a shirt that said he was gay! He was photographed wearing it. She wasn't outting someone who wanted to keep his homosexuality a secret. Farber's complaint that she was misrepresenting him as gay is clearly bullshit. Clearly.

Quote:If this article at Rabble about this article in the Toronto Star that was further blogged about here is correct then I believe it can be safely said that someone is trying to shut someone up about discussing activities designed to shut people up.

I have no opinion on whether the Star should have written their editorial but I do wonder about the fuss made regarding the "Nobody Knows I'm gay" t-shirt.