My Tax Dollars at Work
I was in the CBC mothership today for a taping of George Snuffleupagus. His guest was John Bolton, and Kathy got us the tix.
Oh. My. Godless. Where do I begin? I won’t tell you too much about the Bolton interview - you can watch the ignorance on the part of Snuffy. Foreign policy is a little above his leather bar pay grade. He would attack Bolton with some snide remark, but when Bolton came out with a clear, coherent and totally logical response, Snuffy would say “I totally agree with you, but…” Anyway, watch it on Thursday if you can stomach the CBC. Bolton was very collected and knew his shtick.
Now, let’s talk about that bastion of liberal white guilt, the CBC. You walk in to the main atrium, and it’s all security. Everywhere. Ok, I’ll buy that for a multi-media studio. Fine. I stand and wait for Kathy beneath a poster for Little mosque on the Prairie, which has the tagline: The World’s Most Famous Muslims. Really? I can name 19 who were a helluva lot more famous than those people.
Our friends arrive, including Winston. It appears that our Iranian pal is the only visible minority to be found at the multi-culti CBC. Hmmm. Surely I must be mistaken.
I lean over to another pal and say, “Where is the diversity they’re always talking about around here?” Everyone was white. Seriously. We had to import our own brown guy - I’m surprised the staff didn’t make him go fetch them coffee. Camera men (men - all men), grips, assorted lackeys - all white males. There were two chicks with clipboards - they were both white.
When I made this remark to my friend, some woman who sounded like Marge Simpson’s sisters took offense and told us in no uncertain terms that there were lots of women working there, and the disabled, especially in radio. To which my friend replied “But nobody sees them if they’re in radio. It doesn’t mean anything.” The old feminist (who may have once been a guy) was not a happy camper at that.
We went upstairs to the studio where we were perhaps the best dressed people there. It seems to work in television on my dime, you don’t even have to wash your hair before coming to work. And no, I don’t mean just Snuffy - I mean all of them. A crustier bunch of pot heads I haven’t seen since high school. I wandered over to where the vending machines were to toss out my empty water bottle. Given the dogma coming out of the place, I expected to be faced with a veritable buffet of recycling options. Nada. Zip. Zilch. My fully recyclable plastic bottle went into the trash under the milk bar of the coffee counter. An hour later when Snuffy asked us if we were doing our bit for the Million Acts of Green, I told him about the lack of recycling. He stammered. Told us that the offices have recycling. Didn’t have an answer as to why my water bottle will kill a dolphin or whatever it will eventually be accused (by the CBC) of doing.
So people of Canada, I have seen inside the Mothercorp, and I am not pleased. I expected some hypocrisy, but not the level I witnessed. Bottom line talking points for your local MPs: No diversity in the workplace, and no recycling. The CBC needs to practice its own pravda.
Good write up RG,
I go by the CBC in Winnipeg and it’s all the same, one of the funny things is they will usually have a guy running around with the camera and other equipment and a woman doing the interviews and chats on camera. So it looks like they are trying to hide it.
I think if the endophobic bigots support diversity, they should be allowed to quit and have their job allocated for someone of a better colour but only if they do it before they are 45. Otherwise shut up and don’t tell me what to do. This bigot will let them put their money where their mouth is. As opposed to their usual target, my money or prospects.
But what do you want from a broadcaster who is funded by taxpayers and refuses to name a national holiday on the 25th of December? Maybe it would upset their famous muslims. Who cares about those Vimy Ridge Canadians.
Comment by dinosaur — December 1, 2008 @ 4:31 pm
lol.. good one
Comment by winston — December 1, 2008 @ 4:38 pm
Wendy, you and Kathy were the most entertaining part of the show. I loved when George turned to Kathy before the taping and said, “Do I need to be worried about you?” I felt like I needed a shower after I left that building. George was not quite as snarky as Avi interviewing Aayan Hirsi Ali, but every bit as arrogant. These publicly funded CBCers don’t even feel a need to make a pretense of objectivity. It’s disgusting.
Comment by SR — December 1, 2008 @ 7:06 pm
Thanks for the heads up. I think I’ll have to break my rule against watching the CBC just to see John Bolton. One wonders why Bolton would agree to be seen with an idiot like Strombo but I guess it might pay given that he’s in town for tonight’s Munk Debate. http://www.munkdebates.com/debates/
Comment by JR — December 1, 2008 @ 8:54 pm
Wendy, Wendy, Wendy, surly you know better. The more vocal a liberal the less likely to practice what they preach. To “big” for all that, you understand. You’ve seen Al Gore for example, haven’t you? You don’t think HE practices what HE preaches do you? Where, after all, do you think the concept of “buying” credits for your abuses comes from… certainly not the little guy!
Comment by Big Al — December 1, 2008 @ 11:22 pm
This reminds me to ask, have the CBC recyclers of old American TV series started making “Welcome Back Khadr” yet?
Comment by Person of Choler — December 2, 2008 @ 9:11 am
[...] girlontheright.com [...]
Pingback by Marginalized Action Dinosaur » Vanilla flavoured endophobic bigots at the CBC — December 2, 2008 @ 10:02 am
Excuse me, but aren’t you unemployed? How much are you paying in tax, exactly? In fact, aren’t you sucking off the public teat? By the way, how are the sales of your racist/Islamophobic T-shirts going?
Comment by Red Tory — December 2, 2008 @ 4:20 pm
Oh, and are you declaring that money for tax purposes? If not, I’ll be happy to alert the authorities to your site. You know… just to make sure that your “hard earned” tax monies are being properly accounted for.
Comment by Red Tory — December 2, 2008 @ 4:22 pm
Calm down, RT. Casting aspersions is not your style, is it? I pay my taxes - in arrears - like everyone else. That includes last year’s sales and donations to GOTR, totaling a little over $3500, fully claimed on my returns.
Before you go calling people names, why don’t you ask a little nicer, huh? This is my rug you’re shitting on, and I’m polite to you when I comment on your site, aren’t I?
RG
Comment by Right Girl — December 2, 2008 @ 4:43 pm
Snuffy is the Obama of the CBC. All fluff and no substance.
Comment by mark — December 2, 2008 @ 5:07 pm
Red Tory = jealous loser. Scratch a liberal, find a soviet style snitch and a scold.
Comment by Kathy Shaidle — December 2, 2008 @ 7:36 pm
I was supposed to go, but I am in New Delhi, so I sent Kathy and Winston
the invitation. Glad you went.
Comment by Roy Eappen — December 2, 2008 @ 11:48 pm
[...] RIOT GIRL– My Tax Dollars at Work: “I was in the CBC mothership today for a taping of George [...]
Pingback by Steynian 293 « Free Canuckistan! — December 4, 2008 @ 2:29 pm
Wendy, here’s what I think is an accurate representation of today’s Canadian media: http://pelalusa.blogspot.com/2008/12/iggys-christmas.html
Comment by Robert W. (Vancouver, BC) — December 10, 2008 @ 2:42 pm
“Scratch a liberal, find a soviet style snitch and a scold.” You speak the truth.
Snuffy’s a tool. I recently watched his interview with Al Gore. Stupid jokes and not so clever witticisms all delivered with his customary mugging and hyperactive staccato delivery.
I worked in the CBC building on contract for almost a year. Most of the people looked they were just about to rake leaves or they had just come in from doing so.
My main reasons for hating the CBC right now? Their brilliant idea of standing news anchors. Now that’s innovation! Second reason? Their slavish devotion to supplanting ‘immigrant’ with ‘newcomer’. Who came up with that BS. Oh, I know, Federal government do-gooders. Rebranding I guess.
Comment by Pilatunes — January 17, 2010 @ 11:27 am