While Toronto’s transit system continues its rapid descent toward that of New York City’s in the 1970s, David Miller, seeing the writing on the wall, has used the old cliché of “family matters” not to run again. After a quick trip to Delphi, the Oracle informed him that he was George Custer and that next year’s Mayoral race would be his Little Big Horn. So, deciding against political suicide, and noticing, just over the horizon, two million angry Torontonians, scalping implements in hand, he felt (unlike dopey George) that it would be more prudent to make a hasty retreat. Thank Christ for families, that’s your out when you want to cover up your political incompetence.
Poor old CityTv, those witless wonders of TV journalism and Miller’s personal Sancho Panza during his six year odyssey of doing nothing, they now have to find a new political ass to kiss, and you can bet the farm it’s going to be Smiterman’s. If you happen to get a job at that station, explain to them that Sumatra is an Island, not a Spanish dessert, that Canada has provinces, not states, that the Vietnam war is actually over; Platoon is just a movie, not a news segment the head writer saw on television the night before, and, last but not least, tell them you’re pretty sure they heard it wrong and that the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie were not shot while driving through Dealey Plaza by Lee Harvey Oswald.
“Your name is Equality 7-2521 and I am your leader.” Should Miller understand the reference, that is what he believed . He did/does not wish us to question his (un)accomplishments since he took office. Up until very recently, he had been getting his way, how is this possible?
Has it come to this? Are we now no more than characters created by Rand or George Orwell? Our silence in the face of his indifference was, at best, deafening, at worst, it made us look like complicit accomplices in his failures because we didn’t give a damn that he is letting our city and its transit system fall apart.
With all evidence being to the contrary, he will still stand up and say that there is nothing wrong with the TTC, “it’s just fine,” he would have us believe. Outright lying is one thing, facilitating a fraud to deceive us is a whole other ballgame. The TTC is in the top three when it comes to being among the most expensive transit systems in North America, and, during his tenure, he has done nothing to remove us from such a notorious list. When was the last time he appeared on City TV, and said to those watching: “The cost of transit in this city is too expensive and I intend to do something about it. I’m going to make phone calls, and send perpetual emails to McGuinty and Harper and badger them into getting more money for transit so I can take its expensive financial burden off the shoulders of the people of Toronto.”
When was the last time he appeared on CityTv and said: “Toronto rents are too high, I’m going to talk to the Premier about introducing a rent freeze.” By the way, for those of you who don’t know, your rent is going up another 2.1% next year. What’s that you say?: “Why hasn’t the Mayor told us about this? Pray tell, what’s he doing to stop it?” Nothing. Stupid. And yes, of course he knows about it. Seriously, stop spending so much time in that cave on Mars. You know who else knows? The media. I know, and, believe me, I’m as hurt as the rest of you that they would choose to keep us in the dark. My eyes are watering as I write this. But, I ask you, where’s your compassion? Have a little sympathy for them, didn’t you know the Toronto media have been embedded by the Premier and the Mayor, and telling us anything about what happens in our own city could be considered a threat to our national security?
This is what happens when journalists share a metaphorical bed with those in power. The great English journalist, Robert Fisk said that the job of the media was to afflict the comfortable, and comfort the afflicted. While the equally brilliant Israeli journalist, Amira Hass, said the job of the media was to monitor the centre’s of power, to challenge and not cosset them. How can journalists do their job effectively when they cosy up to those same politicians who make irrevocably bad decisions that affect the lives of those who live here? Gord Martineau is friendly with Miller, what are the odds that, in the course of doing his job, he would then criticize him. They aren’t very high.
Or what about Lloyd Robertson or Mansbridge (colleagues in sychophancy) when they indulge whatever PM is in power with their little “fireside” chats every Christmas? Instead of holding their feet to the yuletide fire for their constantly bad behavior, they massage them. It is this osmotic and parasitic relationship that journalists have with those in power that prevents them from keeping us informed. The media failed on an astronomical level on September, 12th 2001 when not one single newspaper on this continent asked the most fundamentally important question in their headlines. Why? Why did this horrific event happen? Is it possible there’s a problem in the middle east? Do western governments by any chance do bad things to the people who live in that part of the world? It would have been a perfectly valid, objective question. What’s the first thing the police do when a (serious) crime is committed? They try to find out “Why” it happened. They investigate. They ask questions. So, why didn’t the media? Surely, when something as horrifying as what happened that day in New York occurs, why would the media “not” ask questions? Instead of doing their job objectively and asking the questions that needed to be asked, American, Canadian and British journalists wrapped themselves in American flags and said, echoing that epic idiot, George junior: “They hate our freedom.”
That is not fair and objective journalism, it’s pandering to the mob, and it stirred up the emotions of people who were frightened and emotionally vulnerable, and all for bigger headlines which sold more newspapers; and the Rupert Murdoch’s of the world thank you for your fear. The following day, the New York Times called the attack unfathomable, the adjective for which is, hard to believe. Really? I think, when the Times writes such things that they be aware of where they are in the time space continuum. The media simply cannot say that people who live in the middle east hate us without giving an honest account to those who watch and read the news of why they hate us, otherwise, how can we form an intelligent opinion on something so important.
Instead, the story became about Bin Laden; shockingly, NOT the Saudi’s, considering fifteen of the hijackers came from that country. The Who was certainly part of the story, the Why was the main ingredient; and that was intentionally ignored, not missed. Bin Laden is a monster, but people need to know that he was created by Jimmy Carter’s regime in order to drive the Russians out of Afghanistan. Americans deserved to know why they were attacked and their media failed them. American (and western) journalism collectively (and deliberately) fell asleep at the wheel on Sept. 12.
Bin Laden warned Fisk during their last interview together that something was coming, that “America would become a former shadow of itself.” Fisk reported this; that unfathomable headline looks a lot less credible, doesn’t it? Bin Laden also told the Saudi King, Fahd that his army would drive Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait, Fahd turned him down, and instead asked Bush Snr. Allowing U.S. troops into such holy places as Saudi Arabia (one of the most woman hating, repressive and violent countries in the world, let’s not kid ourselves) was the last straw for Bin Laden. The gathering storm was gaining momentum and getting angrier, but, that too was not reported by The New York Times or The Globe and Mail. Did you know that Margaret Wente (a writer for the Globe) once referred to a man as a browned skinned Muslim? Fair and balanced journalism, really? Journalists must be truth tellers, not tribunes for big business, willing to weave stories that suit the interests of their corporate masters, all the while keeping facts from the public.
I apologise, my seething contempt and loathing for the media has distracted me from my intended topic: my seething contempt and loathing for David Miller, and our media. What are two of the most important issues that concern the people of this city? I mentioned them near the beginning of this article: Transit and rent control. And we the people have at present no one to represent us in addressing those two things that we regard as fundamentally important. Why are people paying almost a $1,000.00 a month for a one bedroom apartment, when you can get the same thing in Montreal for $500.00. Why are we paying $109.00 for a metropass when Montrealers are paying $66.00? The cost of fuel is the same in Montreal as it is in Toronto. Yes, Toronto is bigger, but so what? If we had a Mayor with a backbone, he would go to McGuinty and demand that Toronto be given proper funding to run our transit, instead of putting the financial burden constantly on our shoulders. Same thing with rent. Why has Miller during his time in office never gone on the news and said We need a rent freeze in this city. Rents are out of control because no one controls greedy landlords. Those who live on a minimum wage (and up to $13.00 an hour) often have to make a choice between eating healthy food and keeping a roof over their heads. People ought not be forced to make such choices. It is up to us to tell the prospective candidates that they need to make a solumn promise that in 2011 a rent freeze will be imposed, and a minimum of $40.00 will be cut from a metropass, and that the difference will be picked up as it ought to be, by the province. But it is up to us to demand these changes. Do not! Do not! Do not! let them spin you a lie that tells you, it can’t be done; it can, we simply have to insist…with our votes, or more specifically, the withholding thereof. Get it put on the ballot, make transit and rent freezes an election issue. I promise you this, if you ignore it, so will they. It’s the old adage of, if you don’t ask, you don’t get. In our case, we can’t simply ask, we must demand, and do so vehemently, or the next Mayor, once in office, will become another Miller and not give a damn , and live quite comfortably for the next four years on his/her $200,000 a year salary. As for the politician loving sychophants who infest Toronto’s media,(in essence, all of them) they need to follow Fisk’s advice and spend a little more time comforting the afflicted and an even greater amount of time afflicting the comfortable, and an even lesser amount of time wondering how long Brad will be in town, because, really, who gives a flying……!
Take a look for yourselves at Miller’s uptopian subway system, the one he thinks is so wonderful. The same one that is overcrowded, overpriced, underfunded and filthy. For some reason, I have the strangest feeling that Thomas More’s definition of Utopia has a slightly different connotation than does Miller’s. But then, as far as I know, Thomas More was not a sophomoric, delusional narcissist, who thought of himself as a pretty blonde blue eyed princess.
Goodnight and good luck.
Frank McKinney, Toronto.
