Toronto Star, CJC in homophobic gay panic

Have written a letter of objection to the Star, at the link contained in the linked article above.

Holy crap, Mark Steyn wrote something I agree with.  And it's funny too!

I'm rooting for a "Nobody knows I'm a self-hating Palestinian" T-shirt, worn at a Zionist meeting - these folks don't have to march, they give marching orders to the likes of Iggy.

Maysie wrote:

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

Hahaha!

There is nothing more heartwarming than when a prejudice is overcome with an even deeper prejudice.

Way to go, Bernie! You've managed to alienate the left and the right with a single stupid action! Mazel tov!!

Is Bernie going to Caribana?

What not to wear: "Nobody knows I'm Black"

Another T-shirt suggestion for Farber: "I got Zionist settlers 1,000 square miles of Palestinian land, and all I got back was this lousy T-shirt!"

Not unlike the men who try to shoehorn themselves into women's resources, e.g. batterers who claim to be "men in distress" and therefore entitled to crash women's DV shelters, get half of any funds alloted to women, derail realistic public service announcements, etc. Guilting political minorities and scuttling their resources seems to be becoming the flavour of the year.

It doesn't look like Toronto Star public editor Kathy English or publisher John Cruickshank have many friends in the blogosphere.

Bastard Logic:

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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.

Canadian Cynic:

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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.

The Galloping Beaver:

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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.

POGGE:

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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.

Unrepentant Old Hippie:

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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.

Dawg's Blog:

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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?

A Creative Revolution:

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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?

Mirabile Dictu:

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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.

Stageleft:

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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.

We Move to Canada:

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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.

Blamblog:

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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

YayaCanada:

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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.

Canadian Dimension:

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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.

Creekside:

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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.

Feminist Christian Socialist:

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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.

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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.

Something's wrong with post #11.

Gus Williams wrote:

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.

Zerbisias made an ironic crack about it, and your buddy Farber freaks out, raises it at a CJC executive committee meeting, and launches a crusade against her. The root of the whole thing, of course, is Farber's terror that Israeli apartheid is being exposed in one more venue - the Pride parade. So you should tell the thug-like humourless champions of Israel at the CJC (your friends) not to make such a "fuss", because no one else did. The current fuss is in response to Farber donning, not a T-shirt, but his favourite duds: the robes of Torquemada.

T-shirt for Bernie

"Zionist Orientation"

The Star always bends over backwards to avoid pissing off the Zionists. They do it again this time and you wonder what their motive is? Get a grip.

Zerbisias' mistreatment by The Star is in itself more than a little, er, "suspicious".  She's a feminist, a high number of her columns and blogs address feminist issues and pull not a single punch and, of course, she's a woman.  It's not often that such a journalist attracts this kind of high level attention and warrants the publication of a full column because of a brief comment she made in the comments section of a blog on a post written five days earlier.  So the conspiracy is ... ?

johnpauljones wrote:

and M Spector it is funny to hear that the star bends over backwards to zionists because it is the very zionists that for years have called for a boycott of what they percieve to be the anti-israel star.

Zionists don't like shades of grey. Some of them even purport to consider Obama as anti-Israel. Attack everyone, and you keep them in line. Think Torquemada.

• JohnPaulJones, until you said the words "spousal abuse and violence against women", no one did.

Remind, the Star isn't afraid of the Israel lobby. They just share common interests with them.

Toronto Star public editor Kathy English says Canadian Jewish Congress CEO Bernie Farber deceived her in making complaint about columnist Antonia Zerbisias:

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In complaining to the Star, neither did Farber think to tell me that he, along with dozens of others who marched with the Kulanu group, had worn a T-shirt that made its own ironic quip. That's context I sure wish I had known.

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To be fair to Zerbisias, it should be made clear, though, that she did not "make things up," as Farber interpreted it. "I don't `make things up' – ever," she said, adding that there "is a lot of space between publishing falsehoods and spouting irony."

Wow, the hypocrisy in English"s article is astounding.

The Star's "journalistic standards" are a bunch of propaganda  nonsense.

And she continued to  bash Zerbisias the whole way through, even though she was the one in the wrong.

spatrioter wrote:

Toronto Star public editor Kathy English says Canadian Jewish Congress CEO Bernie Farber deceived her in making complaint about columnist Antonia Zerbisias:

Zerbisias also didn't tell English about the T-Shirt. Did she deceive the public editor as well? Ms. English doesn't come close to accusing Farber of deception. You do and in my books that's pretty close to libel.

One more thing, I noticed everyone seemed to miss this letter to the editor from the director of the Jewish LGBTQ group that sold the T-shirt.

http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/668141

It puts things in proper perspective.

Gus Williams wrote:

Zerbisias also didn't tell English about the T-Shirt. Did she deceive the public editor as well?

The deception took place when Farber pretended to be offended that Zerbisias had supposedly outed him, when he knew she was referencing a t-shirt he had worn.

Zerbisias is not the one who asked English to write a public editorial, so your suggestion that she deceived English is weak.

GW: I noticed everyone seemed to miss this letter to the editor from the director of the Jewish LGBTQ group that sold the T-shirt.

http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/668141

In this letter, Justine Apple claims that Farber "outed himself" on that day...

Hmmm... smells just a little a bit fishy to me, esp. given Farber's faux-outraged response to the article.

Everyone who has evenr gone Yessss!!! reading a Zerbisias column should write in and protest her shoddy treatment at the hands of the Star.

Absolutely. I am encouraged by the fact that Zerbisias is being vindicated and The Star system being voted down by a tremendous majority of commenters.