Margaret Wente criticizes John Greyson saying he is a radical grandstander

19 posts / 0 new

Tue, 2013-10-08 15:47

terrytowel

I was really shocked when I read her column. Here are the highlights

"They’re lucky, and I hope they’re grateful – although I doubt it.

John Greyson and Tarek Loubani have been portrayed as innocents abroad, humanitarian do-gooders who were caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. This picture is inaccurate and incomplete. The two are hard-core anti-Israel activists who’ve been mixed up in Middle East politics for years. They should have known what they were getting into.

The two have a history of grandstanding. Mr. Greyson, 53, is a leader of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, a noxious group that authorities tried to ban from Toronto’s Pride Parade. His gay-themed films, financed with government handouts, have been commercial flops.

In 2009, he withdrew a film from the Toronto International Film Festival because TIFF was going to show some Israeli films. His protest was widely denounced by other film makers. Robert Lantos called it a self-serving stunt, designed to “garner more attention for his film than it would have ever received had it played at the festival.” In 2011, Mr. Greyson boarded the Gaza flotilla, another stunt designed to publicize the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip. In his spare time, he is employed as a film professor at York University.

Many of the media haven’t mentioned that Mr. Greyson is gay for fear that it would go worse for him in homophobic Egypt. But it’s no secret; his sexual orientation is very public. The real mystery is how anyone concerned with gay rights could support a viciously homophobic movement like Hamas.

My read is that these two were troublemakers who knowingly stepped into a volatile situation. They’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of their incarceration. That doesn’t mean they deserved to be in jail, or that the government shouldn’t have intervened on their behalf. Its job is to advocate for any citizen who is denied due process by a foreign government – no matter how foolish, reckless or disagreeable that citizen may be.

In this case, the government – one that Mr. Greyson and Mr. Loubani viscerally despise – applied the heat at the highest level. Foreign Minister John Baird even met with his Egyptian counterpart. These two should kiss Mr. Baird’s feet. But I wouldn’t hold my breath."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/freed-canadians-are-radical-gr...

Issues Pages:

LGBTIQ

Tue, 2013-10-08 17:10

lagatta

I already mentioned her vicious screed in the thread about their jailing.

Tue, 2013-10-08 17:45

Sineed

Her article makes no sense. The very concept of opposing unjust detention is based upon the right to freedom of speech, something you'd think a journalist would care about.

Tue, 2013-10-08 17:52

Unionist

Thanks, terrytowel.

Got any more good articles for us?

This offensive disgusting thread should be closed.

Censorship has its place. Close this shit please.

Tue, 2013-10-08 19:28

terrytowel

Unionist if have a problem with what Margaret Wente wrote, take it up with her. As she is the one who wrote the article.

Tue, 2013-10-08 19:35

Unionist

I have a problem with those who do free advertising for homophobia and zionism on babble - in the LGBTQ thread, in fact. My problem is with you, and I've taken it up with the mods. I just hope that honest well-meaning babblers don't feed this trolling in the meantime.

Tue, 2013-10-08 19:40

terrytowel

Well Unionist I wasn't trolling. In fact I'm gay myself and met John on numerous occasions. I was quite shocked by Ms. Wente piece and I thought this would be a good discussion piece.

I personally don't see anything trolling about this thread, but if the mods think so well then c'est la vie.

Tue, 2013-10-08 20:47

Sineed

I don't see how it's trolling, U; we are frequently discussing various articles exhorting repugnant viewpoints, like anything written by Rosie Dimanno, or anybody who works for Sun Media or Faux News.

Do we really think M. Wente is being homophobic? True, she is harshly critical of Greyson, a gay activist, but the one fair point she makes in an otherwise ridiculous article regards the homophobia of Hamas. And the article is ridiculous - basically, she is tacitly supporting unwarranted detention if the targeted persons are "activists" whose politics contradict hers. If they were rabidly pro-Israeli and were being held by the Palestinians, we'd hear her singing a different song. It's journalistic integrity by Rush Limbaugh.

BTW, I heard an interview with an Egyptian lawyer, who suggested that they weren't targeted at all, but were swept up in a mass arrest, and were experiencing no more than due process Egyptian-style.

Tue, 2013-10-08 20:53

Unionist

Sineed wrote:

I don't see how it's trolling, U; we are frequently discussing various articles exhorting repugnant viewpoints, like anything written by Rosie Dimanno, or anybody who works for Sun Media or Faux News.

I'm not going to discuss this further, other than to point out that there's a [url=http://rabble.ca/babble/activism/free-dr-tarek-loubani-and-prof-john-gre... on the subject that any honest interested person would have posted to.

Tue, 2013-10-08 23:37

#10

6079_Smith_W

Holy cow, what a pitiful hatchet job of an article. I especially like the part about his films.

By the by, there was a bit on the CBC business news about the globe offering bonuses to some of its' writers who attract lots of attention. I also notice that some of the comments are pretty short, and seem almost made up. Given that, I wonder if there is more to this than meets the eye.

Tue, 2013-10-08 23:52

#11

cco

Smith, could you please link to that article? I'd be interested to read it.

Wed, 2013-10-09 00:17

#12

6079_Smith_W

It's in the first post.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/freed-canadians-are-radical-gr...

It is just embarrasingly bad.

Wed, 2013-10-09 08:22

#13

terrytowel

Unionist wrote:
I'm not going to discuss this further, other than to point out that there's a [url=http://rabble.ca/babble/activism/free-dr-tarek-loubani-and-prof-john-gre... on the subject that any honest interested person would have posted to.

Yes but I created this thread so we could discuss it from the LGBT persepctive.

Wed, 2013-10-09 10:07

#14

lagatta

No question but that her screed is homophobic. It is also anti-Palestinian, and anti-Arab.

Wed, 2013-10-09 17:13

#15

terrytowel

John & Tarek just released this YouTube video to thank their supporters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx19rY7xxME

Wed, 2013-10-09 20:27

#16

arielc

Sineed wrote:

but the one fair point she makes in an otherwise ridiculous article regards the homophobia of Hamas.

It's just another slam in a slam article, sliding in the allegation that anyone who supports the people of Gaza is automatically a supporter of Hamas. Are all Canadians automatically supporters of Harper?

I agree that this discussion doesn't need a separate thread. I don't think 'gay' is the issue, except to aho's like Wente.

Thu, 2013-10-10 14:19

#17

MegB

Good suggestion FA. I've edited the OP accordingly.

Thu, 2013-10-10 14:51

#18

terrytowel

My apologies, I’ll remember to do that the next time.

Thu, 2013-10-10 22:01

#19

Francesca Allan

I always check into any thread that has Ms. Wente in the subject line. She invariably brings me back down to earth whenever my exuberant optimism for the world is getting out of control. I have nothing to say about the article except that terrytowel should have put the quote in quotes. If someone scanned the thread very, very quickly, it would look like those were his own words.