Please Don't Believe Everything You Read

FROM AN INSIDE PERSPECTIVE……BEWARE THE EDITORIAL WRITER ON A POLITICAL MISSION

    AS I PREDICTED SOME TIME AGO, THE LOCAL MEDIA OUTLETS, HAVE NOW TIMELY REASON TO MAKE COMMENT ON THE TEACHER / PROVINCE CONTRACT-IMPASSE. THEY MIGHT EVEN START SMOLDERING IN THEIR TREMBLING SHOES, FEELING THEY HADN'T DONE THEIR DUE DILIGENCE, NOT EXPENDING SOME INK, TRYING TO SWAY THEIR READERSHIP. GREEDY TEACHERS. OUT OF TOUCH. ARROGANT. INDIFFERENT. UNDER-WORKED BY REAL WORLD STANDARDS. THE RICH AMONGST US. UNIONS. OH THOSE DREADFUL UNIONS.

      SO FAR, THERE HAVE BEEN A FEW FEEBLE ATTEMPTS TO WRITE INTELLIGENTLY, ABOUT THE REASONS FOR THE CURRENT IMPASSE; BUT IN MY OPINION EACH ONE SO FAR, HAS BEEN BUNGED-UP LIKE A RACE-HORSE! A SORT OF EDITORIAL CONSTIPATION, WHERE EVEN A LITTLE RELEASE SEEMS LIKE A BIG DEAL. ONE CAN IMAGINE THEM SITTING THERE AT THE KEYBOARD, A PICTURE OF TEACHER PROTEST IN THEIR MINDS, STRAINING AND GROANING, AND THEN GIGGLING AT THE LITTLE NOISE THEY MADE. MORE FRUSTRATION. AGGRAVATION. IT JUST DOESN'T COME OUT RIGHT. THEY WANT TO INFLUENCE US BUT THEY DON'T KNOW HOW. SO THEY JUST FART ABOUT, AND PAT THEMSELVES ON THE BACK, WHEN A SMALL THUNDER ROLLS OUT THE CHEEKS. IT'S HARD FOR THEM TO CONTAIN THEIR EXCITEMENT. SOMETHING'S ACTUALLY HAPPENING. WORDS ARE APPEARING ON THE SCREEN. AND THAT'S WHAT'S MOST IMPORTANT AFTER ALL? RIGHT? THEY LOOK FOR THE EVASIVE WORDS TO SHOW READERS, THAT THEIR EFFORT TO IMPLODE TRUTHS UPON THE FREE WORLD….IS MORE THAN JUST THE ROCK AND ROLL OF HUBRIS.

      EVERY EDITORIAL I'VE READ SO FAR, ON THE CONTRACT IMPASSE, HAS BEEN PREDICTABLY WEAK AND SHALLOW, AS YOU WOULD EXPECT OF THOSE WHO WANT ATTENTION MORE THAN DEBATE……A GRANDSTANDING EFFORT WHICH BY INTENT, BECOMES INFINITELY MORE IMPORTANT, THAN WHETHER THE EDITORIAL CONTENT THEY'VE WRITTEN, IS ACTUALLY A WELL VERSED AND FACT-BASED ARGUMENT. I AM AN UNFALTERING DEFENDER OF THE DEMOCRATIC RIGHT OF FREE SPEECH. THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. YET BY THE SAME MEASURE, HAVING BEEN CONNECTED TO THE MEDIA, FOR MANY YEARS, I KNOW WHAT BULLSHIT GOES ON BEHIND THE SCENES. I DESPISE POLITICS IN PUBLISHING AT ANY TIME. I HATE THE FACT THAT TEACHERS ARE GIVEN THE EDITORIAL SMACK-DOWN, AS A RESULT OF OUT-OF-PLACE POLITICS. I CAN READ THE WHOLE POLITICAL STORY BEHIND THE EDITORIALS, AND SEE THE AUTHORS LICKING THEIR LIPS, BEING ABLE TO WEILD POLITIC MANTRA, AS THEIR MEDICINAL FORMULA TO CURE ALL THAT AILS US. SURE, OUT-OF-PLACE POLITICAL INTERVENTION HAPPENS ALL THE TIME, BUT IT DOESN'T MAKE IT ANY MORE PALATABLE FOR THOSE OF US WHO STILL BELIEVE THAT INTELLIGENT ARGUMENT, BASED ON THOROUGH FACT-FINDING, IS ALWAYS THE PREFERRED CHOICE; OF THOSE WHO CAN FORMULATE THEIR OWN OPINIONS.

     I WORKED FOR MANY YEARS IN AN ENVIRONMENT, WHERE I CRINGED AND WAS EMBARRASSED ROUTINELY BY THIS CONSTANT INTRUSION OF POLITICAL WILL IN EDITORIAL CONTENT. I USED TO APOLOGIZE FOR IT, WHENEVER CONFRONTED BY ANGRY READERS, AND I MADE IT CLEAR TO ALL MY OVER-LORDS, THAT I WOULD NEVER, EVER, WRITE AN EDITORIAL I DIDN'T FULLY ENDORSE. MINUS THE POLITICAL SPIN. I ONLY HELD A PARTY CARD ONCE, AND THAT WAS IN SUPPORT OF A MAN I RESPECTED MORE THAN ANY OTHER…..FRANK MILLER. I DON'T BELONG TO ANYTHING. NO TITHES. WHILE IT WILL BE ARGUED, THAT AN EDITORIAL REPRESENTS THE NEWSPAPER'S PERSPECTIVE, YEA, WELL, ON THE OTHER SIDE…..REPORTERS, AT LEAST IN MY DAY, WOULD HAVE LOVED THE OPPORTUNITY TO WRITE A DISCLAIMER, DISASSOCIATING OURSELVES WITH SOME OF THE BIASED AND FUNDAMENTALLY WRONG EDITORIALS, SUBMITTED BY MANAGEMENT. EVERY EDITORIAL IS WRITTEN BY A PERSON. NOT BY A BUNCH OF WRITERS. AND IT IS PRESUMED, AS A PROTOCOL, THAT THE WHOLE PAPER BACKS THE EDITORIAL POINT OF VIEW. NOT BLOODY LIKELY. THE PROBLEM, AS IT WAS POINTED OUT TO ME, WAS THAT MY JOB DEPENDED ON COMPLIANCE, WITH THOSE WHO SIGNED THE CHECKS. I WAS NEVER IN COMPLIANCE. I ALWAYS CHALLENGED WHAT I BELIEVED WAS EDITORIALLY INCORRECT OR, AGAINST MY BEST JUDGEMENT AS A REPORTER AND WRITER. MY INTEGRITY WAS MY MOST IMPORTANT ASSET. IT STILL IS.

     IT WAS ALSO PAINFULLY TRUE, THAT I WAS USUALLY BEHIND ON MY RENT, AND WAS BORROWING MONEY OFF MY PARENTS IN ORDER TO KEEP MY JOB, AND WOULD SACRIFICE FOOD FOR A COLD BEER AT THE END OF A DAY, SPENT ARGUING AND DEFENDING EDITORIAL DECISIONS. THE ONES I MADE. THEY DIDN'T HAVE TO EXPLAIN THEMSELVES, BUT I DID. DAILY. SO THEY HAD ME. I HAD TO PUT UP WITH EDITORIALS THAT I HATED. WE HATED, BECAUSE STAFF WRITERS WERE USUALLY OF THE SAME OPINION. I'VE SEEN THESE TEACHER REPRIMANDS BEFORE. THEY'RE TYPICAL OF THE PERIOD. THEY'RE RE-HASHES OF EDITORIALS WRITTEN YEARS AGO, WHEN THERE WAS A FULL STRIKE IN MUSKOKA……THAT LASTED SIX WEEKS. NOTHING NEW. NOTHING REMARKABLE. BASED ON WHAT THE WRITER'S PERCEPTION OF THE SITUATION IS……MORESO THAN TRUTHS; WHICH DARN-IT-ALL, ALWAYS SEEM SO INCONVENIENT TO COME BY. RATHER THAN ACTUALLY TALK TO TEACHERS, AND DO SOME INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING (FACT FINDING), THEY PREFER TO TAKE, WHAT CAN ONLY BE DESCRIBED, AS CHEAP SHOTS, BASED ON THIN SURFACE KNOWLEDGE, OR SIMPLY BLIND SUPPORT OF A POLITICAL POSITION, BECAUSE IT'S THE CARD CARRIED IN THE WALLET. 

     I AM MARRIED TO A TEACHER. I HAVE NOT, AT ANY TIME, OFFERED MY EDITORIAL SUPPORT TO ANY OF THE TEACHER UNIONS. I AM NOT A UNION MEMBER, AND HAVE NEVER BEEN ONE. I WON'T IMPOSE UPON YOU, STATING THAT THE UNIONS ARE RIGHT; AND I WON'T OFFER AN OPINION, THAT SUGGESTS THE BOARD OR THE PROVINCE HAVE CAUSED THE PRESENT IMPASSE. MY CRITICISM HAS BEEN, AND IT'S A WIDELY CIRCULATED ONE……..THAT THE PREMIER OF THIS PROVINCE, HAS FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES, ABANDONED THE SHIP. AT A TIME OF CRISIS, HE WOULD RATHER POSE WITH CHILDREN, IN HEARTFELT BUT STAGED PHOTOGRAPHS, BECAUSE HE CRAVES MEDIA ATTENTION. WHAT ABOUT THAT OATH OF OFFICE? WHAT ABOUT HIS RESPONSIBILITY TO HIS CONSTITUENTS? THE PEOPLE OF ONTARIO? WE ARE A RUDDERLESS SHIP, AND THAT'S WHY THERE IS AN IMPASSE. I THINK MOST PEOPLE IN THIS PROVINCE, EVEN QUITE A FEW TEACHERS, WOULD PREFER THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONTROVERSIAL LEGISLATION……..THAT THE PREMIER INSISTED BE IN PLACE BACK IN SEPTEMBER. THAT'S NOT AN ANTI-GOVERNMENT SLUR. IT'S WHAT WE EXPECT OF THOSE WHO REPRESENT OUR INTERESTS. LEADERSHIP. JUST GIVE US WHAT IS REQUIRED TO GET PAST THIS CURRENT DEBACLE. UNION? PROVINCE?  LIKE MANY ONTARIANS, WE'D JUST LIKE TO HAVE THE MATTER RESOLVED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, AND LET THE COURTS DECIDE ON THE FAIRNESS OF THE LEGISLATION.

NOTE: THE PROBLEM WITH INFLAMMATORY EDITORIALS, IS THAT THERE IS NO IMMEDIATE WAY FOR THE TEACHERS, IN THIS CASE, TO OFFER ANY COUNTERPOINT, OTHER THAN TO WRITE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, AND THAT WILL BE A WEEK OR MORE, BEFORE THEY ARE PRINTED AS FAIR COMMENT. WHAT HAPPENS, AND YES, IN OUR TOWN LIKE ALL HOME TOWNS, IS THAT THESE ANTAGONISTIC AND POLITICALLY MOTIVATED EDITORIALS, WILL CAUSE UNNECESSARY BACKLASH AND HURT, UNDER THE GUISE OF FREE SPEECH, AND FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO WILL TURN THEIR ANGER ON TEACHERS, BECAUSE OF THESE EDITORIALS, WHICH SERVE NO SIGNIFICANT PURPOSE OTHER THAN TO SATISFY AN URGE…….TO GET INVOLVED IN A COMPLICATED ISSUE, BECAUSE HAVING A PUBLICATION PROVIDES A PLATFORM TO PONTIFICATE.  JUST BECAUSE THEY CAN!  THEY'LL TELL YOU…., WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO BELIEVE. I TAKE EDITORIAL WRITING FAR MORE SERIOUSLY, AND I KNOW THE DAMAGE THEY CAN CAUSE. MAYBE THE PUBLISHER OF THESE EDITORIALS, WOULD LIKE TO HEAR SOME OF THE COMMENTS MADE TO TEACHERS, BASED ON INCORRECT AND MISLEADING INFORMATION, CONTAINED IN UNFAIRLY BIASED MEDIA COVERAGE. BUT THEN THEY WOULD HAVE TO REMOVE THE BLINKERS GLUED ON THEIR HEADS, TO ACKNOWLEDGE WHAT THEY HAVE MISSED……OF THE STORY BASED ON TRUTHS……NOT ON ASSUMPTION, POLITICAL BIAS TRUMPS ALL ELSE.

     SORRY FOR THE TIRADE. IT'S JUST ONE OF THOSE GNAWING THINGS……OF HAVING AN OPEN MIND, IN AN INCREASINGLY CLOSED MINDED POLITICAL QUAGMIRE……IN MODERN DAY CANADA.