Monday, March 23, 2009

"Faux" News

How much is too much? Always a difficult question, especially when free speech is involved, but I think there comes a time when the line is crossed, and something needs to be done. In case you missed it, there's a late night show on "Faux" News called Red Eye whose topic the other night was the Canadian military. Words can't describe, well maybe I'll try, but first just watch:

Where to start? I've been accused of being anti-American in the past, but what I am is anti-whatever-it-is-that-people-like-this are. Let's start with the 20 second mark, making fun of the Canadian general for have an unusual name for a man because his surname is Leslie. Um, I'm guessing they know that people's gender is most often denoted by first names in our culture. Follow this up with some imagery of military personnel doing yoga, painting landscapes and running on the beach in white capri pants, playing on the homophobic leanings of the viewers. The minute mark brings the question of whether it's time to invade Canada due to lack of military resources for Doug, the resident genius who was unaware that Canada even had forces serving in Afghanistan. 2500 Canadian soldiers are currently serving in the dangerous area of Kandahar, 116 have lost their lives. The arrogance displayed by people like this probably goes a long way to explaining anti-American sentiment in the world.

At least that's what I thought until the next experts were brought on, who made it clear that Canada is only able to exist because it shares a border with the most powerful country in the universe! What are the Canadians trying to get away with anyway? Around the 1:30 mark and things start to get surreal. While the US has police officers with bullet-proof vests driving around in heavily armored vehicles, Canada has mounties in red uniforms riding horses. This is supposed to be an argument that makes the US a better place? The world is better where heavier artillery is needed? By the time talk of Sarah Palin and the Russians invading through Canada rolls around, my head is ready to explode. Can't type anymore...the world needs America...keep the world safe by making it more dangerous. Can somebody please make it stop?

2 comments:

Troy said...

OK...you can imagine something like this on a local cable channel being beamed out of someone's basement, but this!?

This is on a major network and obviously has some sort of following!

Seeing this, you can then understand how Bush was elected not only once (albeit fraudulently), but twice!

Shane said...

Yeah, we do have to keep in mind the source, it is Fox after all, but what gets me is that there are a lot of people whose view of the world is shaped by what they see on this network.

As to Canadian actions:
Canada's defence minister demanded — and got — an apology from the U.S. broadcaster, and his fellow Canadian politicians denounced the crassness of the coincidence on Parliament Hill.
"Both President (Barack) Obama and Secretary (Hillary) Clinton have expressed the U.S.'s gratitude for the commitment and sacrifice of the Canadian Armed Forces in Afghanistan. Canada has been a steadfast and capable partner on the ground in Afghanistan since 2002, and we are grateful for its contributions toward achieving security in that country," the U.S. State Department said in a statement Monday that was issued in response to the Fox broadcast.