“Fake News”, “Disinformation” - Canadian Style
Canadians hear a lot of phrases like “Fake News” and “Disinformation” … and often think they come from the USA … that “fake news” and “disinformation” really involve those people down there and not us up here. Think Again.
Two Canadian examples … strangely related, perhaps, will make the matter clear. The first is going on as I write. Armed RCMP officers appeared at a bridge in the Smithers/ Moricetown (Wet’su’we’ten) area where First Nations people were protecting land from trespass by agents of a Corporation that wants to run a liquid natural gas pipeline on the territory….
The armed RCMP officers arrested fourteen people at the site with behavior that is deemed unacceptable by many. Complaints have been made….
In answer, the RCMP will (alone !) review “body cam, drone, helicopter, and publicly available video”. So everyone can relax and wait for the report of the Review announced by Asst. Comm. Eric Stubbs who gave no date for bringing the matter to completion.
THAT is ‘DISINFORMATION’, for it pretends the RCMP (or any like body) can be trusted to review, alone, contentious activities it has initiated … and report fairly on its findings...
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If we were to say that a gang entered an apartment block in Smithers, ‘engaged’ some of the people, took some of them away for a time …. And then … because of complaints, the gang announced it would look into the matter…and go over all the records it has of the event … and the gang would report to the public about whether anyone was ‘roughed up’, and if dragging some away for a time was okay, etc. … what would we say?
Nothing. We would be speechless…!
We would – to return to the RCMP – know that The federal Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Ralph Goodale, should already have struck a wholly independent Commission to review, without delay, all the RCMP material, as well as testimony from other actors involved and witnesses to the event … in order to achieve a fair assessment of actions by armed RCMP officers….
To have the RCMP “review” the matter, alone, is a huge, almost unbelievable FARCE. And to report that “review” with Mainstream Press and Media “objectivity” is an almost perfect example of what we call DISINFORMATION. An essentially fraudulent undertaking is reported by “serious” sources as if it is not fraudulent. (It might help to remember that at the Gustafsen Lake Standoff in 1995, an RCMP officer was recorded saying: “We are experts in smear and disinformation”.)
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The other example is from history. Two biographies have been written covering the years between Pierre Trudeau’s birth (1919) and the time just as he was moving into federal politics (the late 1960s).
We’ll look at one little event. In 1944-46 Pierre Trudeau spent time at Harvard University in the USA completing an M.A. degree. Historically, one of the most important things he did was to write a “big paper” for a professor there (59 typewritten pages) called “A Theory of Political Violence”.
Pierre Trudeau, later, opened all his papers to the writer of his ‘authorized’ biography … “bestselling biographer” and History professor at University of Waterloo, John English. [Citizen of the World, The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Vol. One, 1919-1968] And Trudeau gave the same carte blanche to two Political Science professor friends, Max and Monique Nemni [Trudeau Transformed: The Shaping of a Statesman, 1941-1965].
The difference of their reporting about the essay called “A Theory of Political Violence” is stunning. Max and Monique Nemni report faithfully, from what a reader can observe; John English … does something else.
Briefly, Max and Monique Nemni point to the essence of the Essay. Trudeau puts forward (seriously) the idea that governments in power should engage in violence to bring about policy ends they wish to achieve. (The essay is called “A Theory of Political Violence”) If States decide to use violence, he argues, they should be unflinching and they should not be at all troubled about the legality of their actions. He writes: “If an action has been singled out as the most appropriate one … it is sheer stupidity to begin belly-aching over its illegality. The superstitious fear of illegality has made more than one great man tremble and spoiled his aim.” (Nemni, pp. 28-35) The strange essay grows in significance when readers think about Trudeau sending the Canadian Army into Quebec, seizing and jailing hundreds of innocent people ….
John English, por otro lado, informa que Trudeau sí escribió un ensayo llamado "Una teoría de la violencia política" (p.252). Pero él informa sobre trivialidades al respecto ... y no dice nada sobre el aspecto más importante del ensayo ... ¡su teoría de la violencia política! De hecho, (p. 133) sugiere que un párrafo que Trudeau escribió sobre propaganda (así como su actitud general) fueron las cosas importantes. John English, podría ser justo sugerir, aleja al lector del tema principal de Trudeau ...
John English, on the other hand, reports that Trudeau did indeed write an essay called “A Theory of Political Violence” (p.252). But he reports trivialities about it … and says nothing whatever about the most important aspect of the essay … its theory of political violence! Indeed, (p. 133) he suggests that a paragraph Trudeau wrote about propaganda (as well as his general attitude) were the important things. John English - it might be fair to suggest – leads the reader away from Trudeau’s major subject….
If we did not have the Nemni account, Canadians would not know the key and central intention of what is, perhaps, one of the most important pieces of prose Pierre Trudeau wrote.
In his reporting of the essay, John English, I suggest, writesFake News - writes - it appears to me, in such a way that readers can’t know what the essay is really about and so must get a “fake” idea of it. It is reported … but its real content is obscured.
The example of ‘disinformation’ – the announcement issued (mere days ago) that the RCMP reviewing its own behavior at the contentious bridge in the north of B.C. will satisfy complaints - is plainly laughable and ridiculous (but passed off as something to be taken with complete seriousness). Disinformation.
The example of Fake News, from a two-volume (authorized) biography of Pierre Trudeau, may connect with recent events in B.C.’s North. For it seems to be part of an attempt to build a base upon which Canadians will gain a wholly false sense about the country (its history)… and about the actions of those in power (now) who want Canadians to believe they work with decency within the rule of law… when … instead … “A Theory of Political Violence” may explain their actions much better.
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