Ignatieff is once again under attack by the mainstream media - as was Dion before him, and Martin before him (actually, to say 'once again' gives a bit of a false picture - he has been under more or less constant attack since assuming the leadership of the Libs after the Dion massacre). I am surprised noone on 'progressive' sites like Rabble is taking any note of this. Media manipulation of public opinion is one of the main things we need to counteract, if we are ever to awaken enough Canadians to what is really going on in our country and world. (for the record, I am a supporter of neither the Libs nor the Cons, I just watch the media, and think we need to be aware of stuff like this - I know for many Rabble members who support the NDP it would be easy just to get onboard the 'pathetic Iggy' bandwagon - but it is never a good idea to be a pawn of your enemy - and I would suggest that the people controlling the media are not your friends, they're just using you to whatever extent you allow them to do this.)
The last few days I note this story - <A HREF="http://www.leaderpost.com/news/Fate+gifts+Harper+another+Dion+Ignatieff+...">Fate gifts Harper another 'Dion' as Ignatieff's blunders pile up</A> ) - look at the pics - Harper, as he has always been portrayed, looking very statesmanlike, calm demeanor, good background, and the Lib currently being attacked is ungroomed, somewhat maniacal expression, common background. This has been the pattern - they did the same thing to Martin (as PM - he was God as Chretien's finance minister, when he was dismantling our social programs and the Libs were the media good guys and the Cons the 'bad guys') - remember Mr Dithers? - or Dion, the flustered loser (as portrayed by the media, although of course he is normally quite articulate and highly intelligent - probably much too intelligent for the average media flack to tolerate...). Going back further, as perspective, we can remember the last Mulroney years, and early Chretien years, when the reverse was the situation - the loser Cons, and the make-no-mistake Libs, etc - it's all just spin - you can make anybody look bad, or good, depending on the spin.. Here the game is just herding the Cdn public - run with one party as far as you can, and then as soon as enough Canadians are thoroughly pissed off at what is happening, do the tweedledee-dum shuffle, condemn the unloved to the wilderness for a few years and bring in the other party to continue the charade - and when Cdns have had enough of them, switcheroo again. With the NDP as a permanent location for those who dislike both (or the Bloq in Quebec, of course, for now).
- or the Star, from one of their best, Jim Travers - <A HREF="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/703677">Deluded Grits fail to see faults in their leaders</A> - insightful, with some true stuff no doubt, but still getting the main message of 'ineffectual Libs, not fit to run a country like this..' out -
Or the CBC report yesterday about some Libs complaining th Canadian Olympic logo was the PC logo in disguise - arguments can be made on either side, but the early radio reports were blatantly mocking the Libs for doing this, and explaining to the radio listener who did not have the logos to look at on the radio that really, the logos were nothing alike at all, just the Libs looking stupid again haha - blatantly anything-but-impartial 'reporting' (which, I have sadly come to understand over the last couple of years when my internet connection has been good enough for me to listen regularly again, is very much the norm with the CBC when they want to spin something a certain way - the ongoing pogrom against China is quite disgusting, or Iran, or Afghanistan, or the 'look at wonderful Obama, we poor sad Canucks with no real leaders!!' crap they've been doing this year, and etc). (I have noticed a lack of any of the far rightwing columns (NP etc) whining about the terrible lefty media of Canada lately - I guess this ongoing persecution of the Libs by both the CBC and Star would make such a column pretty blatantly stupid, and they wouldn't want to remind their readers that such accusations are always blatantly stupid...)
The only reason I can figure for this ongoing demonisation of any Liberal leader of the last few years is that there is some kind of behind the scenes program here, wherein, I suspect, the plan is for the Cons to get their "majority" government, after which they will have 4-5 years (obviously Harper has no intention of keeping to any legislated 4-year election cycle if it inconveniences him or when other things take priority, with the approval of the courts of Canada so no way short of open revolution to do anything about it, it seems..) to more or less put the coup de grace to this once-meant-to-be-great-social-democracy experiment called Canada - after which, of course, he will suffer a Mulroney fate as Canadians protest what has been done, but the Libs will then, as did Martin before, claim their hands are tied by the existing circumstances, with the backing of the media to prevent any serious consequences to the rulers or their frontline puppets, and continue the destruction. I suspect the behind-the-scenes organisers are getting a bit frustrated at this stage, after two elections in the last two years designed to get the Harper majority, and desperate, as even the normally malleable Canadian voters-at-large are still resisting this drive to empower Harper with no even tiny encumbrances to do as he will, thus this ongoing attack on Ignatieff and the Libs, and attendant 'hmm, them cons don't seem that bad..' theme of so many other things we have been seeing, in the runup to the soon-to-be election, hoping to persuade enough people to either come over to the Cons, or at least stay at home.
So what's to be done? Obviously, the NDP are more part of the problem than the solution, as they are not talking about anything realistic such as serious democratic or economic reform (which probably explains, in part, their continued lack of support - why vote for Lib Light when the real Libs are more likely to get into power?) - so if the Rabble Readers are serious about change in the country, it is up to them to take action independently, hold meetings in their ridings, spread some truth around, start some movements to elect independent candidates, etc and etc - and one of the central messages of everything has to be that the mainstream media in this country is NOT a reliable source of anything important - their entire purpose is manipulation, and they are very, very good at it.
