Fake News Friday | The CBC buries coverage on interference
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Summary
In honour of Fake News Friday, Andrew Lawton is joined by co-host Sue Ann Levy to talk about TikTok and China's interference in Canada's elections. Plus, the Canadian government bans TikTok, and the new privacy rules that come into effect on March 1st, 2020.
Transcript
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Welcome, everyone, to another exciting edition, or at least I hope it lives up to the standard
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of excitement we all strive for. We've got Sue Ann Levy on, so I don't think that will
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be an issue. It is Fake News Friday, March 3rd, 2023. I am Andrew Lawton, and as mentioned
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just a moment ago, joined, as always, by a trusty, loyal, hilarious co-host. We switched
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between Harrison and Sue Ann. We're going to have them battle it out in a cage match to see who gets
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to be the permanent co-host at some point, but Sue Ann, always a delight to have you here. Thanks
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for doing this. Thank you, and I want to know, in honour of Fake News Friday, that I do not have
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fake breasts, like the Halton shop teacher. Mine are real. I have to be very careful of how I
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respond to that in this climate. I won't ask you to prove it or anything like that. I would never be
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so gauche. We will take you at face value, as your self-identification indicates there,
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and it is a show debunking fake news, so I know you wouldn't be a purveyor of fake news yourself.
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This is the time in the week where we navigate through the tornadoes of trickery, the hurricanes,
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of hoaxes, and make sense of it as only we can, and perhaps have a couple of laughs along the way.
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The serious story this week, Sue Ann, has obviously been the unraveling and expanding
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scope of China's interference in Canada's elections, but when there's a story that puts
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the Liberal government on the hot seat, fake news is never far behind. CBC, at one point this week,
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had all of its homepage about the federal government banning TikTok, not about China interfering
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in Canadian elections, not about China donating to the Trudeau Foundation, but their emphasis was on
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TikTok. Do you think this is just an accidental misarrangement on the homepage or something deeper?
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Oh, come on. It's, of course, it's quite calculated, actually, I think, because, you know, it's like
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deferring one's attention to the shiny object, and TikTok's to blame, not the Trudeau government,
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of course, who's bailed out the legacy media. So, you know, if you can find, I guess, a scapegoat,
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scapegoat, TikTok becomes the scapegoat. And it's just so funny the way they react, don't you think?
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Yeah, it is. And I mean, even the federal government banning TikTok, which people have
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called for for many months now, I think probably over a year, and they're doing it just now when
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they happen to be in the midst of a firestorm about China. So it really is the epitome of this
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big giant thing that everyone's going on. And let's just throw a couple of, you know, breadcrumbs
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your way without dealing with the overarching problem here. And when the media then focuses
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on this as being a big deal, it is the media really falling for the liberal government's
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distraction. Yeah, they're so easily manipulated. It should be they should be embarrassed by it.
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But I have a question for you. There's a certain global reporter who's known to be a TikTok star.
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Does that mean she's been banned as well? Well, no one can read her on a or view her on a federal
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government device. So this may actually increase the caliber of a parliamentarian's work if they
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aren't getting their insights from TikTok in general. You never know. Yeah, or some TikTok stars who
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pretend to be journalists. Now, now, you know what, there's a time and a place for that sort of stuff.
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And I think it's great if you're talking about, you know, little primers on news, little commentary,
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but I have yet to see hard hitting journalism take form on TikTok. I'm not saying it doesn't
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exist, but I've never seen it. Yeah. And I think TikTok wasn't ever meant to be a hard hitting
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journalism platform. It was meant to be, you know, a platform that you had fun with.
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Uh, you know, uh, we've got enough, quite enough with Twitter and, and Facebook video, and we've
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got so many social media platforms, but I thought TikTok was always just a fun thing that you, you
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know, you did dog tricks on. Yeah. And if you looked at, uh, CBC on March 1st, this was the day that
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all of this was going on. So two days ago, uh, here were the stories and I'm just going to rapid fire
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them. What does TikTok know about you? What should you know about it? TikTok sets new default time
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limits for minors. Uh, Jagmeet Singh will deactivate TikTok account in response to security privacy
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concerns. I noticed they didn't do a story about Melissa Lansman, the deputy conservative leader,
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deactivating hers overnight. Uh, Canada is jumping on a bandwagon with TikTok ban. Tech expert says
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federal government banning social media platform TikTok from government phones. Is TikTok bad? Here's why
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many Western countries are taking a closer look. Attempted interference in 2021 election did not
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compromise the result report. So you scroll way, way, way, way down. You get past the eight
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stories about TikTok, and then you find, uh, the first story about China's interference is actually
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that, well, there really wasn't any interference. It does seem like CBC is doing a bit of pass blocking
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here for the liberals. Well, why is the, why are the liberals banning TikTok then? What, what,
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what is this big exercise all about? Uh, but, you know, you've seen it repeatedly that they will,
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uh, you know, deflect and reinvent stories, reinvent the narrative, push people to the shiny object that
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has very little to do with the, um, the subject at hand. And I mean, this is a huge story, China's
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interference in the election. Um, but they continually give, uh, Justin Trudeau a free pass
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on every little thing. So why should this be a surprise to any of us?
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Yeah, fair enough. And, you know, CBC for this show anyway, tends to be the gift that keeps on
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giving. Uh, this one was fascinating. Uh, many of you who are on active on social media and you follow,
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uh, footage of the convoy and other big events in the Canadian political sphere. You may know,
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uh, Mocha Bezergin, and I apologize to Mocha for likely butchering his last name, but, uh,
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Mocha used to be at Rebel News. Now he works independently. He's a great photographer and
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videographer. He he's everywhere and including Roxham Road where he's done tremendous footage. So
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at some point he went to Roxham Road and was filming and a Canadian press photographer
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got a picture of him walking around. Now CBC then shows this story in an article about Roxham Road.
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The headline of the article, Man Dies After Encountering Patrol Agents at Canada-US Border. And
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there's a picture of our friend Mocha, uh, next to a big sign that says, uh, Arrete Stop. Uh, now Mocha
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is not actually dead. Uh, and if you look at the caption of the photo, it gets even more concerning
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because they offer a biographical description of him as being a migrant waiting for transport. So,
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uh, they, they've not only killed off Mocha, but they've also taken away his Canadian citizenship of
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21 years and made him an illegal. Uh, and you know, again, is it sinister? No,
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it's sure as heck is lazy though. Lazy reporting. And, you know, the whole issue with rock Roxham
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Road, which I covered while I was at the Toronto sun before I came to true North has been a huge,
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um, issue that has filtered into our cities and it's impacted on the city of Toronto, where I make my
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home. Um, refugees are filling up shelters. Nobody or hardly anybody in the legacy media covers this sort
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of stuff, but they get into these sideshows that are absolutely ridiculous. It's rather frustrating
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to see this kind of lazy, uh, inaccurate reporting when in fact, uh, Roxham Road should be dissected,
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uh, as to the impact on Canada's cities. As I said, in particular Toronto, I think what's happened is
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Quebec has diverted a lot of the refugees who are crossing the border illegally and being allowed to
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cross the border illegally. I don't understand it at all now to Ontario and it's Ontario's problem now.
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Yeah. And I mean, obviously the, this nonsense about the photo is, is a bit of a sidebar to the
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overarching issue and the media I think has done a tremendous disservice by buying into the government's
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language of this being irregular migration instead of illegal migration. They refuse to call illegal
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immigration, illegal immigration, which is part of the problem here because this is about narratives and
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you've got the federal government saying on one hand, you know, oh yes, we're taking this seriously,
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but it's complicated. And yeah, it's not just as easy as going there and turning people away,
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but that's exactly what they did during COVID, at least in the earlier part of the pandemic. And now
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they've just gone back to this being a, an open, I don't even think a revolving door because no one's
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going the other way. It's just a one way red carpet. Exactly. You hit the nail on the head.
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They were able to stem the tide of illegal immigrants. And I will say illegal, I'll call
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it what it is during COVID. They put a stop to it and now it started up again. And now these people
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are crossing the border quite freely. And believe me, they have heard, because as I said, I followed
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it quite closely in Toronto. They hear in, you know, countries like Nigeria and other countries in,
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in Africa, for example, that there is an open border. So they come to the States. I mean, there, I did
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stories about them taking a bus to within, you know, a mile of the border and then walking over with
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their designer suitcases. Well, there's, there's one, there's been a couple of photos, but one in
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particular that stands out in my mind, which if we can get the rights to it, we'll put it up in the show
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here, but you can find it online yourself. It's a police officer actually carrying someone's bag for
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them as they cross illegally into Canada. They're greeted by a Mountie who becomes Canada's official
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baggage porter. And see, you can't, you know, our, our country has become absolutely absurd. And yes,
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I, I actually saw plenty of, hang on. I don't want to interrupt Sue Ann, but I've just got the line,
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the Mounties, we always get your handbag. We always get your handbag and your luggage,
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your designer luggage. So I've also seen pictures of them just walking in there.
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You know, their late model running shoes, the, you know, the Nikes and stuff with the, um,
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the hard, uh, luggage and wheeling it across. And, you know, I'd laugh, I'd, I'd laugh if I didn't
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want to cry about it. Yeah. It's, you know, the old, it's the true, you know, refugee story of I showed
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up with only the clothes on my back and a Louis Vuitton suitcase and, uh, the latest designer treads
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as I sought asylum in Canada from the United States.
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And, you know, uh, think about the impact that has on the cities, various cities, uh, social
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services system. They have shelter, they have to have, uh, they have, you know, uh, resources,
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other resources, they get free, uh, healthcare and, um, you know, this, it's, it's a crazy,
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crazy thing. And it's, uh, they, I dare say are taking total advantage because they know
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that Canada's open borders are, you know, there. And I think it initially started really, Andrew,
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a couple of years ago when, uh, Trudeau and our late great mayor in Toronto, John Tory
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wanted to get back at Donald Trump, wanted to show that they weren't like Donald Trump,
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you know, when he clamped down on illegal migrants. And so of course that opened the floodgates
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and here we are. Yeah. And you get all of the, I know we're getting a little off topic here,
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but I know you've seen this, uh, oftentimes you get all these cities and states in the United
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States that claim they want to be sanctuaries for illegal immigrants. And they all happen to
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be conspicuously miles and miles and miles away from the borders where illegal immigrants are going
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across places like, you know, Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts or Northern California. And then
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when governors in these border States have called the bluff and just ship migrants up to Martha's
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Vineyard, they all get very offended by these illegal migrants just showing up in their towns.
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Oh my. Yes. Well, it, you know, it did start a few years ago, also in Toronto,
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where hotels were taken over and the house ref refugees. So there is a fallout and, you know,
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nobody thinks about that, but getting back to what we were talking about. So these are the stories
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that should be told, but they're not being told. Their poor Mocha is declared dead. And, uh, he's also
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a dead immigrant, illegal or irregular. I guess he could be a regular or illegal, depending on who's
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talking about it. The moral of the story, Mocha alive and well, and still in good standing unless
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Justin Trudeau has tried to revoke his citizenship, but I don't think that's happened just yet.
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Uh, so CBC and CP have gotten it wrong there. Uh, let's talk about this one, which I want to be a bit
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delicate with, because I think that, uh, what's happened here is Scott Adams, who is the cartoonist
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behind the long running Dilbert series, made some comments that I personally believe are
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indefensible and, and whatever his intent was, whether he was trying to be edgy, whether he was
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trying to be sloppy with the point he was making, I don't know, but I look at this and I hear this and
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I don't like it. You know, nearly half of all blacks, uh, are not okay with white people, according to
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this poll, not according to me, according to this poll, uh, that's a hate group. That's a hate group.
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And I don't want to have anything to do with them. And I would say, you know, based on the current way
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things are going, the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from black
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people. Just get the fuck away. Wherever you have to go, just get away. Because there's no fixing this.
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This can't be fixed. So he's saying white people should stay away from black people. Don't bother
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doing anything because they're going to hate you anyway. It's a generalization. I've seen, you know,
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Samuel say, who I find to be very reasonable, uh, racial commentator in Canada has said, this is
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full stop racist. And he doesn't use that word lightly. However, Scott Adams, the guy on the internet
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is different in my view than Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert in the sense that I believe
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most artists should probably be viewed separately from their work. But we've now seen in response to
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this, this wave of cancellation, which has been kind of furthered in Canada as well with the Globe
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and Mail saying, yeah, they're not going to carry Dilbert anymore. They put a statement out that said
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they respect and encourage free speech, but his views do not align with our editorial or business
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values as an organization. What do you make of this, Sue Ann? Number one, whatever happened to
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second chances? So he, you know, he made a mistake and he could apologize and let's move on. Um, you know,
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it wasn't a very, it was an indelicate way of saying probably what a lot of people are, are thinking in a
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different way that, um, you know, black activism has, uh, got in some ways out of control because
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we have critical race theory being taught where some people are oppressed. The whites, uh, are
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oppressors, white people are oppressors. There's white supremacy being thrown out there. And I think a lot
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of people have gotten frustrated with the landscape that we're in, you know, involved in now. So,
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you know, I'm sure that, well, I can't get into his head. Let's put it that way. But I would say
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that it's probably in, in the midst of an environment where people are upset with, you know,
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this stuff being rammed down their throats. And I think that his, if, if we are to take that
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interpretation, I think he made a fatal error in not distinguishing black people in general, because
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he did speak in generalizations from the activists that I think are very concerning. It would be no
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different than lumping in, you know, people who are gay and lesbian with, you know, the really radical
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trans activists that don't support free speech or with lumping in all Muslims with, uh, radical Islamist
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Muslims, just to give a few examples here. So I think absolutely people should be able to engage and debate
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the point. And, and I, I get so bothered that the only step people are prepared to take is to go immediately
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Right. Or to call whomever who makes a comment. And this was a very sloppy comment. Uh, they're racist.
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They're, uh, you know, Islamophobic, whatever it may be, they throw out all the, the terms that they think will
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silence people. Um, they're so quick to judge. And this is in a society that we're talking about,
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supposed to be tolerant, supposed to be, uh, they're supposed to be free speech, but it's only
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free speech is determined by those, uh, I guess the woke culture or the activists who decide what
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is permissible and what isn't a simple apology and let's carry on. And I'm not going to, you know,
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he has a great cartoon, as you said, and, uh, you know, to, to just cancel him entirely seems like
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just undue punishment, but, you know, there is a crazy double standard in this world right now.
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And, uh, you know, you have to be so careful what you say. If an activist comes out, as I've been
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targeted by many, uh, say trans activists, for example, calling me all kinds of names, saying,
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making assumptions on very publicly, but that's okay. Uh, because I'm on the wrong side of the
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equation. So all I'm saying is that, uh, it's, it's a crazy double standard. Uh, those of us like
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you, like me are not allowed to say certain things without being targeted. Others can get away with it.
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Very well said Sue Ann Levy. This is Fake News Friday. I'm Andrew Lawton. We will talk to you
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all next week here on True North. Thank you so much.