Where Are Our Journalists? (Part 2)

"Andrew Scheer makes misleading and inaccurate statements about asylum seekers again"

There. Fixed your headline for you, Global News.

The CBC is not the only media outlet with serious problems with bias. Although it is fairly predictable that corporately-owned media is going to reflect the political views of the owners and shareholders, that does not make it right.

The fact, which can be easily checked by anyone with the Google, is that asylum seekers and regular immigrants do not queue up in a single line. In fact, there are no queues, so the whole "queue-jumpers" epithet is erroneous and simply a handy Conservative dog-whistle to xenophobes.

It isn't even the same officials who do the processing. So even the argument that asylum-seekers are taking up the time of immigration officials is untrue.

I get it. Everyone has been angered at some point by someone cutting in line. At the bank, at a check-out, at a movie theatre, waiting for the bathroom... We have all had the experience and felt this specific rage and frustration. It is relateable. And the communications ninjas at CPC HQ are taking this familiar feeling and using it to promote anger towards desperate people fleeing for their lives.

The real story here is not what Andrew Scheer says people should feel about refugees. The real story is that a man who would like to be Prime Minister of Canada is lying to Canadians to further his political goals.

Think about that for a moment. The man who wants to hold an enormous amount of executive power in this country is telling porky-pies in an effort to change the way Canadians feel about newcomers which, in turn, gives him an issue with which to impugn the current government. And this, in turn, he hopes, will see him become PM.

This is very sophisticated thought manipulation. Harper did it as well. Does anyone remember when "special interest groups" were not translated to "enemies of the state" and were simply groups that shared a common interest? Does anyone recall when "elite" meant highly skilled (as in "elite athletes") instead of individuals or groups that are highly suspect and evil? Can anyone think back to a time when "academic", "environmentalist", and "progressive" were not used as derogatory terms?

Words matter. The truth matters. Calling asylum-seekers "illegals" changes how people perceive.

Canada is a signatory to an international refugee convention. It is, in fact, the 50th anniversary of that signing. Seeking asylum is not illegal. It is underhanded and dishonest to suggest it is.

So, I ask you, do you want someone who lies so blatantly to Canadians for his own advantage to be Prime Minister? Do you want a party that endorses such methods, a party that employs techniques to stir anger and dissent and hatred and mistrust, to form government?

That is the news story. Simply presenting the things Andrew Scheer says with the varnish of truth is the media acting as stenographers and advertisers for the CPC.

For further discussion on the issue of Conservatives vs refugees, I recommend this fine article by Dale Smith (aka @journo_dale)