FOX NORTH is outraged, OUTRAGED I tell you!! And it's all your fault!

Ever since SUN TV (AKA FOX North) went on the air smack in the middle of the last election FOX North has been searching for a wedge issue comparable to the anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, anti-gay hysteria that their American mentors have used so successfully. Not that they haven't also pushed those buttons as well, but they must sense that that sort of thing will exclude them forever from mainstream Canadian society.

That brings us to the arts, yeah that's the ticket. Attacking "elitists" is the new black. The poisonous idea that anybody who makes the mistake of actually treasuring arts, culture, education, science or the environment over greed, guns and god is naturally an "elitist".

Never mind that those who scream this the loudest are always rich and powerful media types and politicians who get out of their limos long enough to plant themselves in front of another microphone and complain about how they are once again being silenced and victimized for their "patriotism" by "the elite".

Of course they are utterly shameless and cynical hypocrites who deserve to be treated with the utter disdain usually reserved for those wingnuts who walk around with their sandwich boards warning us about the end of the world. Combined with the contempt given to telemarketers who scam us while we are trying to have dinner, with perhaps a touch of the "shut the fuck up" we save for those ignorant louts at hockey games screaming at the ref and cheering the most concussion inducing body checks with all too revealing glee. (Significant aside; I can't help but noticing that these types usually don't actually play hockey themselves). I seriously doubt these soulless opportunists have any actual beliefs other than lust for power, greed and attention who will not only yell fire in a crowed theatre, but then blame the resulting stampede on those damn liberal elitists. And the artists on stage of course, let us not forget the real enemy.

In the recent (and ongoing) budget debate in the U.S.A. the Republicans have used deficit hysteria to once again demand the cutting off of such perennial straw men as the National Endowment for the Arts, PBS and NPR. Hey it almost make sense to ask about taxpayer funding during a recession and budget cuts right? Until you realize that arts funding in the USA counts for less than one tenth of one percent of the entire U.S. budget. That's right, you read that correctly. Less than one tenth of one percent. Mind you most Americans think it's more like ten percent. Gee, I wonder how they got that idea? Could it be that Republicans find it useful to attack the arts so as to distract voters away from the cost of the massive tax cuts and giveaways Republicans have pledged to protect even at the cost of total economic collapse? What a cynical elitist idea and you should be ashamed of yourself for even thinking that. GET A JOB YOU STONERS!!!

And yet; I can't help but remember in the previous election Stephen Harper's speech attacking the "cultural elites" in Quebec which cost him the lead in the polls there and which he has never recovered from. After that he kind of backed of a bit. But now the election is over and he has his "More centrist" (remember when they promised that?) majority promising massive cuts to deal with the deficit they would like us to forget they did not in fact inherit from the previously Liberal government. I can't help but noticing SUN TV, AKA FOX North's new fixation on attacking the arts in Canada, especially those artists that most of us have frankly never heard of.

First there was Ezra Levant attacking some band B.C. called "Living With Lions" for accepting a FACTOR grant. We had the spectacle of this comically smug tightass proclaiming his love for The Clash and punk rock and demanding that the band return the money and demanding that “public funding” to be cut to “so called musicians", "a bunch of losers" and a “crummy band". He also brayed his outrage of their "anti-christian" message calling them "Christophobic", which is a little rich coming from a blowhard who made his bones by attacking Islam on a regular basis.

He demanded that the band "return the money" to the taxpayers. Which the shell shocked band then did. Clearly the band should be renamed "Living With Pussies" All of which proves by the way that punk is truly dead. And so is satire.

Then enjoying the taste of easy blood FOX North picked another easy target. An award winning interpretive dancer who I am apparently not elite enough to have ever hard of named Margie Gillis.



The resulting ambush interview between SUN TV's mini-skirted attack bunny Krista Erickson and the almost comically soft spoken and polite Gillis has become a much re-posted horror show of an absurdly uniformed and arrogant host alternating between rank sycophancy of the most cloying sort and text book bullying tactics borrowed from FOX and every other talk radio dick with delusions of grandeur. Constant interruptions, blanket assertions, manufactured outrage, faux working class self pity, bizarre digressions and non-sequitors, oh and of course a completely gratuitous invoking of "Our Troops". It has to be seen to be believed.




(aside update; It turns out you can't actually see it after all since SUN TV regularly uses bullshit copyright complaints to ban any and all embarrassing clips from Youtube. They have had to do this quite a lot lately given the tendency of SUN TV's "Flagship Show" host Ezra Levant to engage in the sort of vitriolic race-baiting that actually got them on the receiving end of a police investigation for violating the country's hate laws, seriously, he's that disgusting. For months the response from the SUN Bunker was to defiantly state that they would never, ever, apologize or cave in to "political correctness" so there, take that. Until the police paid a polite call, then SUN fired off a hurried and half-assed apology. Then they had all the numerous Youtube evidence banned. Not to state the obvious but this is the same SUN TV which has always demanded "openness and transparency" of The CBC. And Native Band Councils. And Arts Groups. And Unions. And any political parties they don't like. Just sayin. Back to our rant already in progress.)

Then a strange thing happened. Normally polite Canadians were revolted by the spectacle of a perfectly nice (if somewhat goofy) hippie lady being attacked by this hard faced bottle blonde harpy and did something they rarely do in large numbers. They got off their butts and complained to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (AKA CBSC). I know there's been complaints before, Howard Stern got a bunch and earlier this year there was a whole kerfuffle over a Dire Straits song (which I also blogged about on here) but there has literally never been a deluge like this. That entire Dire Straits clusterfuck came as a result on just one single complaint for example.

How bad? The CBSC got an astounding over 4,350 complaints an a matter of weeks where they normally get around 2000 in an entire year. In fact they got so many complaints that the CBSC took the unique step of actually putting out a press release begging people to stop sending in complaints as they were completely overwhelmed. Allow me to paraphrase; "We heard you the first 4,350 times! Now please stop, really, we are totally swamped over here". Wow; Nice work people. Seriously, I am impressed.

Just to add salt to the wounds according to the BBM surveys thus far the ratings for SUN TV are so pathetic that at times they have only averaged 7,000 viewers nation wide. So I guess they should be happy that over 4,350 people were watching at all.

For some reason Sun TV and Erickson don't see it that way of course and have been predictably whining about being "bullied" and "threatened" with "four letter words". SUN TV's owners blamed the whole thing on Facebook. Turns out they are outraged at the idea of people using the media to push political agendas. Yeah; this is all your fault Facebook! Shame on you. So let us never forget that the real victims are always the right wing media, our most vulnerable resource.

Now the CBSC doesn't have the power to ban Erickson or fine FOX North and I'm fine with that but I like the fact that Canadians were actually willing to show support for their artists. Harper learned that one once already but that was before the recession so it's nice to see it again. I think Canadians also stood up as well for basic civility, if Erickson had merely asked a question about tax dollars and arts funding that would be one thing, but honestly, she's a snide whining bitch.

But then again if they are going to suckerpunch the straw man of arts funding then FOX North and Erickson have a few questions to answer themselves.

First of all Krista Erickson herself made her name working at the taxpayer funded CBC for years so if FOX North can smugly demand that the hapless band "Living With Lions" return the their funding to the taxpayers than surely Erickson can do the same. Now. And if we are really going to make the tired argument of pay based solely on "merit" then the next obvious question is exactly what are Erickson's qualifications anyway for being some sort of expert on public policy, I mean aside from the obvious fact that she is exactly the type of imperious pinch faced, blow dried, bottle blonde, mini-skirted harpy that right wingers get a hard on for. I mean if we are supposed to give jobs only to the most qualified and experienced than why not give the gig to former Reform M.P. Deborah Grey? She's actually done policy and media stuff and could do actually do a credible job. She also has impeccable conservative credentials and is even good on camera, she certainly wouldn't behave like a rabid chihuahua. I'm guessing that FOX North is assuming that there is little demand to see Deb Grey in a mini-skirt. No offense to Deb Grey. She seems nice and polite.

But now I'm engaging in the sort of nasty "persecution" that conservatives so love to complain about suffering. Sorry about that. Won't happen again. So how do you respond to these tea-bagger douchebags? How about by pointing out the indisputable fact that SUN TV gets more taxpayer money than all these silly dancers and musicians combined? No shit. I kid you not.

SUN TV is owned by Quebecor, which also owns the SUN newspaper chain (obviously) along with the free daily "24 Hours" commuter paper and a bunch of other papers and magazines. All presumably profitable. And it turns out they also get a lot of taxpayer grants from something called The Canadian Periodical Fund. How much you may ask, since clearly nobody at FOX North will. Well check this out;

"Granted to magazine publishers under the Canadian Periodical Fund.

A list of Quebecor properties and the commensurate amount they received from taxpayers for 2010-11, via the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Chez Soi: $487, 735
Cool: $191.136
7 Jours: $327,160
TV Hebdo: $1,157,100
TV Hebdo Teleromans: $8,480
Les idees de ma maison: $376,943
Clin d’oeil: $480,749
Cote Jardins: $33,678
Derniere Heure: $154,966
Echoes Vedettes: $188,704
Le Lundi: $376,018
Moi & Cie: $7,947
Tout simplement Clodine: $99,489
Clodine Hors serie: $4,366

TOTAL $3.7 million."

And keep in mind that's in JUST ONE YEAR, not the decade that Erickson was so hot and bothered about. Soooo...Krista, Ezra, howabout it? When is Quebecor going to return that money? All of it? As a taxpayer I demand to know. Now. Why should I have to subsidize your no doubt generous salaries? Surely Quebecor doesn't actually require an annual taxpayer bailout? And even if they did then surely you would be the first ones to insist that Qubecor must be allowed to fail. No?

And when are you going to do an ambush interview about that? I'm waiting. And I'm sure so are your 7,000 viewers.


pc screen shot

A Dire ruling

The recent ruling by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) banning the 1985 Dire Straits song "Money for nothing" from the airwaves of Canada has brought on reactions ranging from furious to laughingly dismissive. Many however do not really deal with the issue of how to judge the song, any song, in the first place. In the aftermath of the ruling a number of radio stations reacted by immediately and ostentatiously defying the ban by playing the song over and over for a hour, which is all very amusing, but not very enlightening. It misses an opportunity to have a discussion, or even debate about the issue of how to judge a song at all in the context in which it was written.

First a reminder of the lyrics in question from the song "Money for nothing";
"That little faggot with the earing and the makeup,
Yeah Buddy, that's his own hair.
That little faggot got his own jet airplane.
That little faggot, he's a millionaire."

Dire Straits ~ Money for nothing;



A single listener in Newfoundland, who is herself gay, made a complaint to the CBSC who eventually ruled that because of the use of the word "faggot" the song was offensive and could not be played on the air in Canada in that version, however an edited version could be played. In fact it turns out Dire Straits (or their record company) had already anticipated this reaction when the song first came out twenty five years earlier and in fact an edited version had long been made available to radio stations and even the version on the greatest hits album is different from the original and does not contain the offending lyrics. The band had even played the song live with the offending word changed to "That little queenie". Why that would be less offensive I'm sure I don't know. Clearly the song had generated some criticism in the past, those complaints were not in Canada however, and were not made official so all this escaped most public notice till now. The CBSC ruled the song offensive solely due to the use of the word "faggot" and banned it from the airwaves of it's member stations.

A few words here about the CBSC. The Standards Council is not, as many assume, a government regulator unlike the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), though many confuse the two. The CBSC is a body set up by private broadcast networks (both radio and television) to self regulate the industry and respond to listener complaints so the CRTC doesn't have to. Unlike the CRTC, the CBSC has no actual enforcement powers, although in theory a station which racked up a large number of complaints and refused to adhere to industry standards could find itself in front of the CRTC to answer complaints and risk losing their license. I know of only one station that has actually pushed things that far however, and that was Quebec station CHOI in 2004 who did end up losing their license but then the owners sold it anyway while they were appealing the ruling. The only power the CBSC has is to order the offending station to air their ruling as an ad. It should also be pointed out that the CBSC rulings only apply to it's own members, which include all the major networks and stations but which do not include public broadcasters like the CBC and TVO, nor does it apply to campus and community stations. Most religious stations are also not members.

The questions raised by the ruling are many; the CBSC ruled that the word "faggot" was now so offensive that it could not be aired, although they conceded that the song had already been heavily aired for over twenty years and was a huge chart topping hit off one of the biggest selling albums of all time without generating any controversy the whole time. The CBSC decided that now however the word was no longer acceptable. But at what point did this shift happen? And why based on a single complaint? Is that really enough to assume a broadly based public consensus on the issue? Those few who supported the ban would inevitably point to the use of the "n-word" as a comparison. However few would deny that there is, and has been a longstanding consensus around the offensiveness of the "n-word". In contrary to popular belief fact that term has actually been offensive for at least a century. Even a look back at stereotype racist entertainment of decades ago such as "Amos and Andy" and minstrel songs do not show the use of the "N-Word". Outside of a few very rural country records from the 1920's it seems that nobody was prepared to use the word in polite or even semi-respectable society. The use of the "N-word" has always been seen as an especially cruel insult and nothing but and use of it would identify the user as not only a bigot but an uneducated one at that. I see no longstanding consensus here. Instead what we have here is an attempt to enforce such a consensus from above, and given the almost universal outcry it has clearly failed.

The argument has been made that standards change, and that a word that was once considered inoffensive can be considered on longer acceptable years later. The example of the "n-word" may be overblown but there are plenty of other only slightly less racist terms that used to be used on radio and t.v. as late as the 1960's that would not be allowed now. But this process came from below, after a public consensus was formed, it was not enforced from above on the unwilling.

There is another issue as well over the matter of context. Any reading of the song lyrics as a whole make it clear that Dire Straits singer/songwriter Mark Knopfler was using a common device of placing the song in the third person and putting himself in the role of the character narrating the song in that character's point of view. This a songwriting device he has used before and since. There is no question that he is not advocating or presenting his own views. The ground breaking video makes this even more clear.

In his rare interviews Knopfler has said that the song is based on a long rant he overheard at an appliance store in which one of the resentful blue collar workers was complaining about the easy life rock stars have compared to his own. The song also portrays not only the character's bitterness over the easy life of rockstars (like Knopfler) but also his envy;

"Now that ain't working, that's the way you do it
Let me tell you them guys ain't dumb
Maybe get a blister on your little finger
Baby get a blister on your thumb"

and the character makes it clear he would gladly change places;

"I should have learned to play the guitar
I should have learned to play them drums
Look at that mama, she got it sticking in the camera
Man we could have some."

Thus the song shows quite effectively one of the dirty secrets of dead end working class resentments that have been exploited by those with real money and power to keep them distracted and divided. This has been seen in the racism of the Jim Crow era (and beyond) to the the hate campaigns waged against immigrants, "welfare queens" and teachers ever since. And does so in a manner that is so blatant in it's resentment vs. envy juxtaposition that it's actually amusing rather than simply preachy, which is not that easy to do. It's also more effective. Not mention clearly more popular.

Oddly the inconsistent and arbitrary nature of such censorship meant that while the word "faggot" was deemed too offensive to live, other veiled racist insults were not;

"And he's up there, what's that? Hawaiian noises?
Banging on the bongos like a chimpanzee"

Anyone with any sense of rock and roll history would recognize that Knopfler was both using and mocking the "rock and roll" is "jungle music" insult that has been aimed at rock by racists since the 1950's here but for some reason this isn't offensive even though it's being said by the same character in the same song.

The issue of context and songwriting reminded me of a controversy over another song of the same era from a very different group, Guns n' Roses and the song "One in a million". This song was never going to be a single and there is no video for it, which is not surprising since it is clearly offensive. The lines that caused immediate controversy were;

"Only some niggers, that's right
Get out of my way
Don't need to buy any of your gold chains today"

"Immigrants and faggots
They make no sense to me
Think they come to our country
And think they'll do as they please.
Like start some kinda mini Iran
Or spread some fucking disease.
They talk so many God Damn ways
it's all Greek to me."

Guns n'Roses ~ One in a million;



There should have no surprise that radio wouldn't touch the song or that protests ensued but oddly enough singer/songwriter Axel Rose seemed genuinely surprised and offended that anyone would question his motives. His reactions in the media ranged from the dismissive "can't everybody take a joke?" to the defensive "you haven't walked in my shoes" variety to a convoluted explanation claiming that he wasn't writing from his own point of view after all. He also pointed to a line further on in the song which he claimed distanced himself from politics at all and was simply displaying another strain of the working class white guy portrayed in the Dire Straits song, or for that matter any number of Merle Haggard songs;

"Radicals and racists? Don't point you finger at me.
I'm just a small town white boy trying to make ends meet.
Don't need your religion, don't watch that much TV.
Just making my living Baby
Well that enough for me."

I think there differences here between the Dire Straits and Guns n'Roses songs however;

a) The Dire Straits song is consistent in it's theme;
"Money for nothing" establishes it's simple theme from the start and sticks to it throughout. While "One in a million" is all over the map, at times it is a typical heavy metal power ballad love song and the next line it's a racist rant. The two parts seem to have nothing to do with each other.

b) The use of humour and the vocal delivery;
Knopfler makes it clear that he is paying a role by adopting a somewhat exaggerated yobbish voice while in character, another device he has used elsewhere, such is in the song "Industrial Disease". The character's often incoherent ranting is so nonsensical and ill informed that there is no doubt that the character is not Knopfler himself, quite apart from the subject matter which makes it unlikely that Knopfler, a famous rock star would be complaining about how he has to install appliances while rock stars like Mark Knopfler get all the chicks on their private jets.
Rose on the other hand delivers the lines in his usual singing voice and in fact does so with with such venom that there is no distance and no way it can be seen as a joke. It just plain sounds like something Rose would say. It is hard to see references to "Immigrants" who "talk so many Goddamn ways" and "think they can come to our country and think they'll do as they please" or "faggots" "spreading some fucking disease" as being humorous to anyone who isn't a hateful bigot, they are simply hate filled rants. You will notice that there is in fact some laughter in the above live video when he says the word "faggot", but this seems to be of the "wasn't it cool he said faggot" variety and it is hard not to think that was not his real intent. This at least gives Rose the benefit of the doubt in assuming that he is not really a vile homophobic racist but was merely engaged in adolescent "Hey look how offensive I can be" posing. But after having struck that pose he can't very well be offended that people were offended.

c) Songwriting styles;
As stated Mark Knopfler has often used the "third person" device in his songwriting, in fact it is his usual device. When Axel Rose tried to make the same claim however that claim was undermined by his usual insistence that his songs were real and always came from his own hard life experiences (broken home, drugs etc) and were therefore authentic and "real". To make a claim for gritty rock and roll authenticity only to back away and claim "I was only joking this time" is such a transparent attempt to have it both ways that it was dismissed.

Taking all this into account I would have no problem supporting a radio ban on "One in a million", and there was no real controversy about doing so at the time or since, even from those who actually like the song on musical grounds, as do I actually.

Another example from the same era was the comic Andrew Dice Clay who you may recall was very big for a few years with his standup routine in which he posed as a chain smoking Gino and spewed racist, sexist and homophobic insults. This caught on and led to a couple of best selling albums and sell out tours and even a few movies before people got tired of his act. He also got a lot of flack for his rants of course and was also banned from MTV and Letterman. He eventually defended himself by pointing out that he was just playing a character, like Pee Wee Herman, that he was actually a struggling Jewish (not Italian) actor named Andrew Silverstein who had appeared in a Woody Allen movie before stumbling on to the Diceman character. He didn't really mean any of the stuff he said really, it was all just an act. This as no doubt true but he kept up the act for so long as it made money and made no attempt provide any sort of context either in the act or outside of it, he simply insulted and offended entire groups for the amusement for his audience of mostly adolescent males that as he the media tired of his act he would get little sympathy. His career petered out on it's own without any need to ban him.

When the Dire Straits ruling came down an incident occurred which showed the implication of using censorship to bring about social change. CBC did a feature (I think hosted by Evan Soloman) to discuss the issue. It the interest of balance he had to find someone who actually supported censorship. After no doubt much searching he managed to find a pro-censorship voice in the person of...wait for it..."Now Magazine" editor Susan G Cole. Excuse me the editor of the nation's largest "progressive arts and entertainment weekly" is suddenly in favour of censorship? WTF? Hasn't "Now" always prided itself on been in the forefront against censorship? Think the "Little Sisters Bookstore" case. Think their support of the "Anti-Isreali Apartheid" movement and campus freedom of speech. Think about the classified sex ads and sex advice columns in now itself. Well it turns out that this is totally different because Susan G. Cole was offended over the use of the word "faggot" so naturally it has to be banned. That seems totally fair and not even a little hypocritical. Naturally I expect that "Now" will now ban all the sex ads they make their living from since these clearly offend far more people than Dire Straits does. And the same for the use of the word "apartheid" which deeply offends many people. No? Hmmm.

Cole also had a another argument to back that up of course. When the other guest (whose name I can't recall) pointed out the rather obvious fact that the intent and context of the song were not in fact homophobic or racist nor were any of Knopfler's other songs, Cole conceded the point but then actually went on the say that of course she was capable of getting the song's context but most Rock and Roll fans were not capable of such nuance. Gee thanks Susan, glad we have you here to do our thinking for us. As insulting as Cole's almost ludicrous impression of every patronizing "elitist liberal" that right wingers rail against, she accidentally illustrates a point here. Censorship from above, no matter how noble the stated aims, is always elitist and hypocritical.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dire Straits "Money For Nothing" lyrics;

"I want my, I want my M.T.V.

Now look at them yo-yo's, that's the way you do it
You play the guitar on the M.T.V.
That ain't working, that's the way you do it
Money for nothing and your chicks for free

Now that ain't working, that's the way you do it
Let me tell you them guys ain't dumb
Maybe get a blister on your little finger
Baby get a blister on your thumb
(chorus)
We got to install microwave ovens
Custom kitchen deliveries
We got to move these refrigerators
We got to move these colour T.V.'s

The little faggot with the earring and the makeup
Yeah buddy, that's his own hair
That little faggot got his own jet airplane
That little faggot he's a millionaire

(chorus)

Look at that, look at that
I should have learned to play the guitar
I should have learned to play them drums
Look at that mama, she got it sticking in the camera
Man we can have some
And he's up there, what's that? Hawaiian noises?
Banging on the bongos like a chimpanzee
Oh, that ain't working, that's the way you do it
Get your money for nothing get your chicks for free

(chorus)

Listen here
Now that ain't working, that's the way you do it
You play the guitar on the M.T.V.
That ain't working, that's the way you do it
Money for nothing and your chicks for free
Money for nothing and chicks for free

Get your money for nothing, get your chicks for free
Money for nothing, chicks for free
Look at that, look at that
Get your money for nothing, get your chicks for free (I want my, I want my, I want my M.T.V.)
Money for nothing and chicks for free
Easy, easy

That ain't working

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Guns n' Roses "One in a million" lyrics;

"Guess I needed sometime to get away
I needed some piece of mind
Some piece of mind that'll stay
So I thumbed it down to Sixth and L.A.
Maybe a Greyhound could be my way

Police and Niggers, that's right
Get out of my way
Don't need to buy none of your
Gold chains today
I don't need no bracelets
Clamped in front of my back
Just need my ticket; 'til then
Won't you cut me some slack?
(chorus)
You're one in a million
Yeah, that's what you are
You're one in a million, babe
You're a shooting star
Maybe someday we'll see you
Before you make us cry
You know we tried to reach you
But you were much too high.

Immigrants and faggots
They make no sense to me
They come to our country
And think they'll do as they please
Like start some mini Iran,
Or spread some fuckin' disease
They talk so many goddamn ways
It's all Greek to me

Well some say I'm lazy
And others say that's just me
Some say I'm crazy
I guess I'll always be
But it's been such a long time
Since I knew right from wrong
It's all the means to an end, I
I keep it movin' along

(chorus)

Radicals and Racists
Don't point your finger at me
I'm a small town white boy
Just tryin' to make ends meet
Don't need your religion
Don't watch that much T.V.
Just makin' my livin', baby
Well that's enough for me

(chorus)"