Sunday, May 17, 2015

CBC Radio Host Michael Enright Leaps to Elizabeth May's Defense

Enright claims May was subjected to a "mugging" following her appearance at a light-hearted, alcohol-fueled media event, and poses the following silly questions:
Why the mountain of coverage, nearly all of it unsympathetic? Was it because she was appearing before a roomful of journalists? Would the story have disappeared if she had been speaking to environmentalists? Was it because she sometimes has seemed to be holier than thou? Was it because she is a woman? 
Let's deal with them one at a time.

Why the mountain; why unsympathetic? Maybe because it was a slow news day. Maybe because it isn't every day you hear the leader of a major political party dropping the F-bomb in public. (When Pierre Trudeau did it back in the 1970s it became a news and a pop culture sensation.) Maybe because Ms. May made an awful fool of herself, something that this particular gathering could hardly ignore.

Was it because she was appearing before journalists? Yes/duh (see above). If you're going to make an ass of yourself, it's usually not a good idea to do it in front of people who report and/or comment on stuff for a living.

Would the story have disappeared if she had been speaking to environmentalists? Er, why exactly would she be speaking about Omar Khadr to environmentalists?

Was it because she sometimes seemed holier than thou? No. It was because she wasn't funny.
 
Was it because she is a woman? No, that had nothing to do with it. But props for making the entire Parliamentary press corps sound like a bunch of knuckle-dragging sexists, Michael!

Update: Also on the Enright show--atheist apostate Ayaan Hirsi Ali tells Michael her formula for "reforming" Islam.

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