Colby Cosh

Maclean’s man in Edmonton writes about everything. Follow Colby on Twitter: @colbycosh

Categories: Colby Cosh

Hint: "LOL" doesn't stand for Liberal Opposition Leader

by Colby Cosh on Wednesday, December 16, 2009 3:48pm - 39 Comments

Attention newspapers: trying to milk the Lee Harpey Oswald scandal for every possible ounce of news value may seem like fun now, but you do realize, don’t you, that we journalists will end up being bound by the standards of taste we’re all now blithely applying to partisan propagandists? The longer we countenance this grotesque farce, the more likely it is that editorial cartoonists will eventually be forbidden by custom from drawing statesmen with knives sticking out of their backs. (It’s a direct reference to assassination! How dare you?) This is a problem, since the code of their profession requires them to do so a minimum of five times a year. (I think it’s in the handbook right after the “Dead celebrities being greeted by St. Peter” quota.)

By the way, let me extend a hearty “Welcome to the Internet!” to whichever Liberal flunky thought that a Photoshop competition was certain to be a bastion of good taste and non-offensiveness. Yes, you’ll notice the place is one big ethical minefield—best of luck navigating it with the remaining leg!

Tags: assassination, editorial cartoon, Lee Harvey Oswald, liberal party of canada, newbie, photoshop, Stephen Harper

More by Colby Cosh

http://intensedebate.com/people/Crit_Reasoning Crit_Reasoning

Kinsella's rebuttal was even stupider than the original non-story. "Look, those are bullet holes! Dion was being shot at in this Reformatory graphic!"

No wonder so many Canadians are turned off by our country's politics when they watch embarrassing grade-school antics like this on TV (from both sides, I should add – this isn't a partisan thing)

Andre

In the world of bureaucracy, no issue is too small.
Orson Bean

Yeah, that was a classic classy move (apology) followed by a non-classy one (take a potshot at the Tories whom you just sort of apologized to) by Kinsella. There's partisan, and then there's Kinsella.

http://intensedebate.com/people/JCherniak JCherniak

I'm only going on what Kinsella's said about a "kid" being responsible. Maybe you have a point, but maybe the new safeguards deal with precisely this issue.

I didn't mean to suggest that the Liberals have made no embarassing techincal screwups. This just seems to be the first under Ignatieff that is purported to be "outrageous" and requiring of an apology.
Out There

The worst thing about the whole Photoshopgate issue is that the Conservatives will see it as a license for whatever partisan nastiness they see fit to inflict on their opponents. "Look!", they will say, "the Liberals do it too!"

Of course, there is no proof that an actual Liberal submitted the image in question. But that won't make any difference.

Orson Bean

I was more concerned by the mentality of the person who submitted that photoshopped photo. Like, what was their point? That Harper is the equivalent of Lee Harvey Oswald? Because Harper is, like, killing people? I really wonder about the mentality of some people who can't seem to discuss or comment on politics and public policy without demonizing other people.

peter

I don't know, when you witness first the hand the militancy of those opposed to Mr. Harper, or recall (because who goes there more than once?) the kind of stuff at rabble.ca you wonder?
Out There

Oh, I'm sure that some Liberal supporters are partisan idiots. But there's a world of difference between nonsense spouted by an overzealous follower of a political party and official party policy. And this is precisely the difference that the Conservatives will now attempt to obscure.
Logical Analysis

Here's the thing: If Ruby Dhalla can run a freaking SLAVE operation from her home and count on the Liberal media (Macleans' excuse making and FUD manufacturing on her behalf was especially nauseating in this case) to whitewash it, do you really think the Liberals give a crap about offending anyone with a photoshop contest?

That's one part of the equation. Another factor leading to this was the "character deficit" and the "talent deficit", the former referring to how you'd have to be a bit of a sleazeball to work for the Liberal party in the first place, the latter acknowledging the new and fail Liberal policy of hiring and promoting based on race and gender rather than hiring someone with a freaking clue.

I guarantee you that it wasn't a straight white anglo male who signed off on the offending photoshops (I thought the one featuring Harper fisting a cow was a bigger deal) because by this point he's been confronted with aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaangy and offended people a thousand times in his life and would think twice about doing anything remotely offensive. The same can't be said for women, ethnics, and gays. Put another way, there is one standard for white guys and a far, far lower standard for everyone else and that manifests itself by the "everyone else" cohort being potential time bombs in sensitive jobs.