Death of a Rag
“Death of a Rag”? Aw, c’mon, Balb. That’s mean. It’s not nice to gloat just because the Western Standard is falling victim to the market forces it worshipped.
Bad writing, bad editing and hilarious pretensions notwithstanding, I always got a kick of out Ezra’s cheerfully inept, vulgar imitation of what grown-ups call “journalism”. Whether it was the world’s most fraudulent mock poll, a stable of writers that made Canadian Sentinel look like Thomas Friedman, or contortions defending Harper’s gaffes that would put a Shanghai acrobat to shame, there was always something there to giggle over. I mean, what can you say about a publication that admitted Anonalogue to their team of Special Guest Bloggers?
I think what I enjoyed most, though, was Ezra’s shameless ability to shill on behalf of his rag by portraying himself as some kind of free-speech martyr. What a great marketing ploy…and he played to his dim neo-con fan base perfectly.
Case in point: the following heroic excerpt from his self-penned obit on the infamous publication of the Mohammed cartoons. Cue violins as Ezra solemnly intones:
I hope that the fact that we neither suffered physical nor financial harm for doing so serves as encouragement to other media in the future to resist radical Muslim calls for censorship.
Never suffered “financial harm”? I should say not. Ezra milked that little bit of exploitation for every penny it was worth. Remember?
Prior to publication, he announced gravely that he expected to suffer dire financial consequences from the “heroic” act of publishing months-old mediocre cartoons that every eight-year old on the planet with an internet connection had already yawned over. He urged us all to get out there to “support free speech” and “give the finger to the Mullahs” by bravely buying his magazine.
The more rabid URQ blog (Janke and SDA are two that I remember) dutifully swallowed this sales pitch whole, and urged their readers to buy multiple copies.
The issue sold like hotcakes, and no newstands were burned (much to Ezra’s disappointment, no doubt.)
Weeks later, when a complaint was lodged at the Human Rights Commission, Ezra scrambled back up onto his Free Speech Martyr Podium, and begged piteously for donations from readers, bloggers, and URQs of limited wit but adequate means, to help defray what he predicted would be the ruinous costs of this vicious legal assault. (I was actually the subject of an HRC complaint once, incidentally. Cost to me: $0.00). And once again, the Rage Brigade scrambled to contribute.
And now we learn that in fact Ezra suffered “no financial harm” from the episode. No shit. I only have two questions:
a) How much additional revenue did his rag make from this cheap piece of exploitative sensationalism?
b) Was all the money he got from the poor dupes out there to deal with the anticipated costs (you know, that crushing legal challenge that, as he now admits, resulted in “no financial harm”) tracked separately and accounted for to his donors, or did they simply disappear into general revenues?
Ah, well. Why be churlish now? The rag is dead, and Canada’s journalistic landscape just got a little more boring.
The Western Standard lost its Air Canada contract specifically over the cartoons, so I’m not sure exactly where you can pass off a lack of financial suffering based on his stand.
“I’m not sure exactly where you can pass off a lack of financial suffering based on his stand.”
Did you miss the quote from Ezra in the story above? No problem, here it is again.
I realize that quoting the Western Standard is appealing to a pretty feeble source, FCLC, but perhaps, since they’re talking about themselves, they might, in this one instance, be viewed as marginally credible.
On the other hand, you may be correct in pointing out that Ezra can’t even be trusted to tell the truth about his own debacle.
That’s low, using their own quote against them
Of course to me the story here is you being subject of a Human Rights Complaint… Anonalogue?
I really don’t know how y’all can stomach reading the rage-sphere.
“Of course to me the story here is you being subject of a Human Rights Complaint… Anonalogue?”
No, different story altogether – in the real world.
About twenty years ago (good God!!) I was putting together a two-year broadcast training program for the emerging television network that eventually morphed into APTN, and I was advertising for a senior instructor, a two year contract based in Iqaluit, with a fair amount of Arctic travel. The successful candidate would have to have a very unique combination of skills – instructional design, familiar in journalism and production, excellent cross-cultural skills, and some familiarity with the Arctic.
I received an application from a gentleman with a degree in media instruction from a Middle Eastern country – it might have been Lebanon, I can’t remember. Resume was not bad, but the applicant’s actual media experience was negligible, and they had had no exposure to the North, or experience in Aboriginal communities. I sent him the usual “Thanks-we’ll-keep-your-resume-on-file” letter, which was quite a nice one, and forgot him.
About a month later, I got a letter from the applicant demanding in fairly aggressive terms to know why he hadn’t been offered the job. I wrote back politely, summarized our selection process and criteria, indicated that I was not prepared to discuss his application any further, and forgot him.
Then came the letter from the Canadian Human Rights Commission. The gentleman had filed a complaint against me. Clearly I was biased against Arabs; this was the only possible explanation for a rejection of a man of his outstanding credentials. I was to be “investigated”.
I was horrified, of course, convinced that I was going to end up as a centrefold in “Canadian Racism Monthly”. I submitted all the documentation I had retained and waited for my “hearing”.
A very pleasant woman from the Commission came over for a couple of hours, asked me to tell her the story, and reviewed the documentation with me. She asked (quite reasonably) why prior Arctic experience was an important criteria, and how the other applicants had stacked up in that respect. She thanked me for my time, managed to tell me without quite saying so that in her opinion the complaint had no basis. I got a formal notification shortly afterwards that the complaint had been dismissed.
It was actually quite a positive experience, in the end. The system responded to a complaint, and the system came to the right conclusion, with minimal fuss.
That’s not nearly as dramatic as I’d envisioned, B. I had this whole James Bond’s partner gets PTSD scenario mapped out involving daring ocean rescues, violent sea creatures, and intrigue during debriefing at the bunker.
It is, however, good to hear that the system works.
Oh, well, yeah, all that stuff happened TOO. I just didn’t want to bore you.
I bought a subscription when they came out with the “Libranos” (which, personally, I thought was pretty damn funny). I read a few issues cover to cover. The balance, aside from the Muslim cartoon one, went into the “recycle” pile with barely a page turned.
Ezra lost me with the multiple requests for renewals, donations, and submissions (for free, I’m assuming, as I didn’t take the bait). Not to mention the faaaarrrrr right take on absolutely everything. A bit much IMHO, and not worth paying for. I can get that for free on the net.
Interesting challenge he’s got, C. His marketing ploy was pretty obvious: “Make me your pet cause, and buy us because we deserve it”. Unfortunately, if you don’t have a product the market wants, you won’t make it. And you hit the nail right on the head: Ezra’s product is available online, for free.
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