Thursday, March 17, 2011

Naomi Lakritz Should Stick to Writing For Supermarket Tabloids

This week, Justin Trudeau was raked over the coals for a comment he made that was taken out of context.

In critiquing Jason Kenney's new citizenship guide, which is horrendous by the way, painting Canada as a warring nation run by manly men; he suggested that he wasn't thrilled with the word 'barbaric'.

"In Canada, men and women are equal under the law," the guide says. "Canada's openness and generosity do not extend to barbaric cultural practices that tolerate spousal abuse, 'honour killings,' female genital mutilation, forced marriage or other genderbased violence."

Before getting to anything "barbaric", I take offense to suggesting that "In Canada, men and women are equal under the law". Under Stephen Harper Canada has gone from 7th to 25th place in terms of gender equality.

But Trudeau made the mistake of telling a reporter that although he actually agrees that honour killings are barbaric he is "uncomfortable with the tone." It's "pejorative".

Then, as Dan Gardner says:
...the Conservative noise machine issued talking points while Kenney expressed righteous indignation to any reporter who would listen. By Tuesday morning, Trudeau was in the ridiculous position of insisting that he really does think murder is wrong, wrong, wrong.

And that was when Stephen Harper's government revealed its fundamental character. Dimitri Soudas, the prime minister's spokesman, broadcast a statement addressed to Justin Trudeau on Twitter: "@justinpjtrudeau the right thing to do is an apology to victims of honour killings and their families. Honour killings are barbaric."
What the...? Does anyone really believe that Trudeau condones honour killings or gender mutilation? Hardly. Just more of the 'Harper' government's twisted games.

The following attack ad sums it up, suggesting that Michael Ignatieff supports "human smuggling", when in fact what he opposed was that under this bill, women and children could be incarcerated for up to a year, until their situations were dealt with. But instead they painted the Liberal leader as being dangerously soft on crime.

I think the incarceration of women and children for a year is criminal and frankly, "barbaric". It reeks of concentration camps, something that would have been suggested by the Cons, if the shoe was on the other foot, and the Liberals wanted to throw the "victims" in prison for a year.




This type of thing is becoming so commonplace that few even notice now. But it goes beyond petty, to being a dangerous character assassination.

Yet this week out in Calgary, former supermarket tabloid writer, Naomi Lakritz, actually made Jason Kenney and Dimitri Soudas appear moderate. She attacked Justin Trudeau, even going so far as to invoke his father, a suggestion that he might be ashamed of his son.

If Pierre Trudeau was alive today, I can guarantee that he would not have found anything Justin said offensive, but would have had a few things to say about Kenney, Soudas and Lakritz.

But if you want to make a Calgarian mad, invoke the memory of Trudeau and the National Energy Program. They go into lynch mode, and obviously she knew that.

And she didn't stop there. She actually looked up "barbaric" in the dictionary. Was that necessary? I mean honestly. We all know what the word means. Despicable journalism.

Yes, I think Naomi should stick to the tabloids, where readers might appreciate a bit of word definition.

"a" - "one, non-specific"

"stupid" - "lacking quickness or keenness of mind"

"column" - "a regular feature or series of articles in a newspaper" (in this case lacking of quickness or keenness of mind)

2 comments:

  1. Well, Emily, she seems like a very nice woman. She claims to have written Liberal friendly articles which I now have to research. But still, I don’t understand her position at all re this incident.

    She said in last email that she likes plain speech and direct language. Isn’t the word barbaric a fancy word rather than the plain speech Justin proposed?


    ______________________________________

    From: Nadine Lumley [mailto:nadinel_007@yahoo.ca]
    Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2011 10:43 AM
    To: Lakritz, Naomi (CAL Herald)
    Subject: re your article on Justin Trudeau

    I assume you wrote that article knowing that's the only way to get published. I feel sad for you. Below is for you:

    quote: Asked to give a toast before the prestigious New York Press Club, John Swinton, the former Chief of Staff and editorial writer at the New York Times, made this candid confession at a banquet held in his honor in 1880, nearing the end of his career:

    http://knol.google.com/k/j-y/we-are-intellectual-prostitutes/gcybcajus7dp/19#

    ………………………………

    From: "Lakritz, Naomi (CAL Herald)"
    To: Nadine Lumley
    Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2011 12:45:54 PM
    Subject: RE: re your article on Justin Trudeau

    I have been in journalism for more than 30 years. Every word that is published in any of my columns represents exactly what I believe. I did not write that column "knowing that's the only way to get published." I wrote it because it's my opinion.

    Naomi Lakritz
    Letters Editor
    Calgary Herald
    (403) 235-7557

    ………………………………

    From: Nadine Lumley [mailto:nadinel_007@yahoo.ca]
    Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2011 11:32 AM
    To: Lakritz, Naomi (CAL Herald)
    Subject: Re: re your article on Justin Trudeau

    I suppose we have to tell ourselves little stories in order to sleep at night. But as an experiment, why don't you write a glowing article on the Liberals and let's sit back and wait for it to get published. How long do you suppose that wait would be?

    ………………………………

    From: "Lakritz, Naomi (CAL Herald)"
    To: Nadine Lumley
    Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2011 1:36:38 PM
    Subject: Re: re your article on Justin Trudeau

    I have written numerous columns praising the Liberals and they have all been published.

    I'm sorry to shatter the illusion you seem to want to cling to, but I do not tell myself "little stories" in order to sleep at night. In my nearly 20 years of column writing, both at the Calgary Herald and before that, at the Winnipeg Sun, I have always been 100 per cent free to write my opinions, without any interference. Nobody has ever told me what to write or what to say. Not one column has ever been cancelled or pulled because someone higher up didn't agree with the opinion expressed in it.

    If I were unable to write my opinions, I would not write a column.

    Naomi Lakritz
    Letters Editor
    Calgary Herald
    (403) 235-7557

    ………………………………

    From: Nadine Lumley [mailto:nadinel_007@yahoo.ca]
    Sent: Friday, March 18, 2011 10:51 AM
    To: Lakritz, Naomi (CAL Herald)
    Subject: Re: re your article on Justin Trudeau

    Well, now I have to go research your Liberal articles. Thank you for writing.

    ………………………………

    From: "Lakritz, Naomi (CAL Herald)"
    To: Nadine Lumley
    Sent: Friday, March 18, 2011 12:55:04 PM
    Subject: Re: re your article on Justin Trudeau

    I like Justin Trudeau, and I think that given 20 years seasoning in Parliament, he'd make a great Liberal Party leader. I simply disagree with the way he wanted to pussyfoot around in this particular instance. I like plain speech and direct language.

    Naomi Lakritz
    Letters Editor
    Calgary Herald
    (403) 235-7557

    ReplyDelete
  2. Justin Trudeau just acquired a lot of experience the hard way. No free pass on his last name.

    BTW his French is about as bad as Chrétien's English. It makes him sound downright silly at times.

    ReplyDelete