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Sports

Redmen’s 15-game winning streak ended by arch-rivals

by Rebecca Babcock on

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Adam Scotti

The McGill Redmen’s 15 game winning streak came to an end Sunday afternoon with an emotional loss to arch-rival Concordia. It was a tight game until the last 10 minutes, but Concordia made plays when it mattered most and defeated McGill 17-10.

The first half was extremely slow for both teams. The Redmen were ineffective passing and Concordia’s lineouts were off the mark.The referee kept calling penalties on McGill’s scrums and also sent a Concordia player to the sin bin.

“The ref was saying that we were engaging too quickly and I think that comes with communication with the forward pack. I don’t think it will be a problem, we just need to work on it a little more,” said fly half Josh Reznick.

The first chance for points came in the 19th minute, but Gideon Balloch missed the kick.

The first half ended disappointingly for McGill. The score remained 0-0 and second-row Maxwell Gregory had to leave the game with a dislocated shoulder.

After the scoreless first half, the second started off very well with McGill aggressively pushing for a try. With a steal from Concordia’s lineout, McGill took possession near Concordia’s end. Scrum half Josh Reznick made a beautiful inside pass to Rodderick Mackenzie who scored the first try of the game. Balloch made the ensuing conversion to make the score 7-0.

A few minutes later, McGill extended their lead to 10-0 as a penalty against Concordia resulted in Balloch making another kick.

The Stingers would answer though with a beautiful offensive play resulting in a try and narroweing McGill’s lead 12 minutes into the second half. The following conversion, however, was nowhere close to the goal posts, and the score remained 10-5 for the Redmen.

McGill was called on a penalty a couple minutes later, giving the Stingers a chance for three points, but they could not convert.

In the 20th minute, another try and successful conversion by Concordia left the Redmen in uncharted territory. They now trailed 12-10.

Tensions ran high in the game’s dying minutes. Pushing and shoving began and sent Redmen center Sam Skulsky and a Concordia player being sent to the penalty box.

McGill desperately pushed for another try but Concordia’s defence held. The Stingers answered with another try, and could have put the game out of reach with a successful conversion. However, Concordia again failed and the score remained 17-10. Despite one last opportunity McGill could not even the game.

While the Redmen were obviously frustrated, they remained optimistic after the game.

“We’re obviously disappointed with the outcome,” said McGill Head Coach Craig Beemer, “but it was a really good wake up call. Concordia played well, and on a few defensive mistakes by us they were able to capitalize and score a couple of really nice tries. We were pretty well matched. I don’t see any other team being better than another when it comes to physical presence or skill. We are usually predominately the better skilled team but I wouldn’t say that right now. They are even with us at this point.”

Reznick agreed that the loss and tightly contested game could ultimately prove beneficial for the Redmen in the upcoming playoffs.

“I think this is the first time our team faced adversity in a long time,” he said. “I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing, it’s a learning experience. We’re starting to build now towards the playoffs and we have to take this loss in stride, and hopefully put forth a better effort come semifinals. I think the intensity was there today, we were hitting hard but we just weren’t necessarily playing the smartest rugby in the world.”

The Redmen now head to the playoffs, hoping to have learned something from the loss. They will try to begin a new winning streak on November 7, when they play the  Sherbrooke Vert et Or in the Quebec Student Sports Federation semifinal at Molson Stadium.

Sports

Missed chances lead to tie, frustrating Redmen

by Mari Mesri on

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Adam Scotti
Adam Scotti

The McGill Redmen were looking for a win against the University of Montreal Carabins this past Sunday, but their 1-1 tie secured them a spot in the Quebec Students Sport Federation playoffs. A win would have served the team well in the conference rankings but they couldn’t put on the finishing touches.

Both teams struggled to control the match from the kickoff. Eventually, the Carabins offence warmed up and began to create chances in McGill’s half of the field. Senior midfielder Thomas Lucas worked hard to parry the ball away from the Carabins forwards.

The first goal of the match was controversial. In the 37th minute of play, Carabins goalkeeper Gregory Morin-Maltais caught freshman forward William Hoyle’s high shot. Upon catching the ball overhead, however, Morin-Maltais backed into his own goal. Despite the Carabins’ complaints, the Redmen received the benefit of the doubt and the goal counted.

The second half opened with the Carabins on the offensive. Four minutes into the half, midfielder Maxime Laurey fired a superb free kick into the top right corner of the net. The Redmen seemed momentarily shaken by the early equalizer.

McGill Head Coach David Simon responded by replacing midfielder Cory Marcon with forward Alexander King in hopes of shifting the momentum. King proved to be a solution, as the Redmen offence picked up the pace and generated offensive chances.

Possession changed frequently and both teams were unable to complete plays. But after few more minutes of attack the Redmen started to control the game.

Midfielders Yohann Capolungo and Olivier Babineau created scoring opportunities for striker George Banks, who saw the field well and used his speed to his advantage.

“I was very pleased with George Banks’s performance,” said Simon. “It’s the first game he started up front. He’s coming back from a double knee surgery, he hasn’t played in a year, he is really peaking at the right time and we are going to need him.”

Lucas provided the Redmen with well-aimed corners and free kicks but was unable to connect with strikers in scoring position.

“It’s been the same old story for our team–we can’t really finish,” Said Lucas. “And that’s not just forwards, that’s a collective thing. We lack that killer instinct. We are pretty young and it’s going to come eventually. Hopefully it comes at the right time in the next few games.”

Morin-Maltais recovered from his first half gaffe with a commendable second, in which he stopped a barrage of Redmen shots on net.

It was evident that tension was high as players began to get more physical as the game wore on. In addition to numerous fouls, the referee issued two yellow cards in the second half—one to each team.

With the clock ticking down, Simon put in striker Sebastien Munro in hopes of a late winner, but the match concluded 1-1.

“Despite not winning the game, I felt that we were the better team overall in terms of play and in terms of opportunities that we created—especially the last half hour,” said Simon. “It didn’t go in but I think that if we can keep that momentum and that desire to move on forward, we can be dangerous next weekend and in the playoffs.”

The Redmen travel to Concordia next weekend. With two games remaining in the regular season, McGill is looking for a win to set up their regular season finale against UQAM, which could determine the second seed in the QSSF.

Sports

McGill baseball sets the bar for all other sports programs

by Sam Hunter on

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The Redmen are National Champions.

You aren’t going to hear that phrase often at McGill unless you’re talking about the baseball program, which won it all in ‘06, made the final in ‘08, and climbed to the pinnacle yet again this past weekend, winning the national championships.

Despite entering the tournament as a wild card and winning only 33 per cent of their round robin matches, the Redmen stepped up in the clutch, winning three straight elimination games en route to the title.

The Redmen started the tournament off hot, beating the Atlantic Conference Champion Cape Breton Capers 8-2 on Friday, in a powerful team hitting performance supported by strong pitching from David Haberstram.

On Saturday, McGill was shut out in two straight against Durham (8-0) and Concordia (5-0). The two losses pushed McGill to the brink of elimination, forcing the team to play a one-game tiebreak against the St. Claire Saints. McGill trailed 4-0 after two innings but scored 16 unanswered runs, keeping their season alive with a 16-4 win.

In the semifinals on Sunday McGill faced the undefeated Durham Lords, who had a 21-0 record entering the game. McGill had veteran ace Anthony Carbone on the mound, who up until then had not pitched more than a single inning in any game due to an arm injury.

Carbone threw a complete game, allowing only four hits, shutting out the Lords 3-0 and leading the Redmen to the final.

“I actually wanted that game so badly,” said Carbone. “I was a little worried, to be honest, before the game started that my arm wouldn’t hold up for all seven innings, because going into every game I thought, ‘I want to end every game I start.’ I wasn’t sure how my arm was going to react after having not pitched more than an inning all year but … I just felt so confident because of all the boys behind me and how well we were playing.”

In the final, the Redmen faced the Brock Badgers, who eliminated the Stingers in the other semi. McGill opened the game with two quick runs in the first inning but the Badgers then scored five straight.

The Redmen hitters broke loose again in the fourth for six runs and a lead that they never relinquished, but not before the Brock bats tested McGill’s vaunted pitching depth.

L.J. Aguinaga came on in relief of starter and game one hero David Haberman after a tough two innings. Rookie Daniel Porter replaced him with the bases loaded in the sixth. He finished the game against the heart of the Badgers’ order and earned the save.

Chan Arndt took home tournament MVP honours going 12 for 21 with eight RBI.

Shortstop Alexander Day caught the fly ball that gave McGill the win.

“There was one out left … I turned to Chan at third base and he smiled at me and I smiled at him and then Chan yelled at me like, ‘shut up, shut up, focus!’ And the next thing you know there’s a soft line-drive hit my way. I think I was already three feet in the air smiling and jumping.”

The Redmen retained four former National Champions from the 2006 team: Noah Lezcz, Anthony Carbone, Alexander Day and Jacob Gallinger. Perhaps more importantly, the team has a number of holdovers from 2008, when McGill got all the way to the final and led in the fifth inning before losing to the University of New Brunswick Cougars.

“This season, honestly, player-for-player, I think the teams we beat on Sunday were probably superior talent than us,” said Alexander Day. “But what made this win special is that we were able to win based on the X-factor, the team unity.”

McGill Head Coach Ernie D’Alessandro, in his 15th year with the team, was happy with the character his team showed.

“Guys are playing with — I mean, I’m pretty sure one of my guys has a broken bone in the foot— they gutted it out the whole tournament and we never, never doubted ourselves,” he said.

Josh Gordon was named to the Nationals All-Star Team as a first baseman and Daniel Kost-Stephenson was named Pitcher of the Year.

Next season McGill’s most successful team expects to see increased fan support at Trudeau Field as they begin their title defence.

News

NDP claims Ontario universities misuse students’ funds

by Ivan Minghui on

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Several universities in Ontario were found to have paid almost $1 million to private lobbying groups in order to influence public policy in Queen’s Park, according to a press release issued by the NDP earlier this month.

In documents obtained through the freedom of information laws, the  press release revealed some of the lobbyist groups’ most lucrative clients. Chief among these is York University, which spent close to $500,000 on three private lobbyist firms, while Laurentian University paid $102,000 to StrategyCorp and enlisted the help of prominent Liberal staffers. The University of Ontario Institute of Technology also has a lobbyist contract worth $130,000.

There is an economic incentive for universities to lobby, according to Joel Duff, an organizer of the Canadian Federation of Students in Ontario.

“Universities fund lobbyists in Toronto to lobby for their cause simply because it is cheaper to have external private lobbyists than have university administration do it,” he said.

Duff has called Ontario universities’ actions inappropriate, especially  at a time when the universities charge some of the highest tuition rates in Canada and classroom sizes have ballooned in relation to other provinces.

“When you are the government, and you fund public universities, you are giving money that is supposed to go to students, labs, classrooms, and professors,” Duff said. “It shouldn’t be going to private lobbyist firms.”

“Something is wrong when money is being diverted away from students into lobbyists’ pockets,” added Andrea Horwath, the leader of the Ontario NDP, in a press release.

The president of the Ontario University Faculty Association (OCUFA), Mark Langer, also criticized the universities asking, “Why are these institutions pleading poverty at faculty bargaining tables and not addressing the needs of students when they seemingly have cash to spare for big lobbying companies?”  

Student groups such as the Canadian Federation of Students are fearful that such practices, if left undiscovered, could lead to what Langer called a “dangerous trend whereby decisions around public services like education are made based on partisan and political grounds [rather than] being determined based on the merits of the issue.”

In addition, Duff said that on the board of governors of any school, there are government appointees and business appointees, people that can be influential based on their prior relationship with the government.

He pointed to Laurentian University, where the president was the  former assistant deputy minister of Training and Education in Ontario.

“How does that guy not have the phone number of every guy in the ministry?” he asked. Duff suggested that this also applies to all other public universities in Ontario.

The Canadian Federation of Students is part of a wide range of organizations that are supporting the new rule proposed by the McGuinty government to ban publicly funded institutions, including universities, from spending public funds on corporate lobbyists.

Montreal, News

Mile End construction disturbs businesses

by Richard Ramcharan on

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For anyone living on Park Avenue above Mount Royal, the recent construction on the street is well-known and unwelcome. Noise starts as early as 7 a.m., while dust, gravel, and a maze of metal slabs and bright cones mar the sidewalk.

The construction is meant to facilitate the revamping of an important aqueduct that runs underneath the street. The City discovered that the aqueduct had reached critical condition from old age and work would be required on it immediately.

One of the main victims of this upgrade is the business community that sits on the avenue itself. Shopkeepers have been forced to accept the City of Montreal’s plan without much consideration.

“Only three weeks notice was given,” said Jennifer Longeran, the owner of Artistri, a boutique that sits on the most affected stretch of street, between Fairmount and St. Viateur avenues. She said her sales are down by as much as 30 per cent.

“There were times when people didn’t even know that the business was open,” she said.

Artistri is in its second year of business, and Longeran said she fears for the boutique’s survival. She was not expecting a huge amount of growth this year, and the construction has put a tremendous strain on her operations.

Longeran said she was also concerned about the length of time necessary to rebuild the street, which is currently estimated at about two years. She is trying to maintain a positive attitude, she said, but “there is also the chance of bankruptcy.”

Any compensation from the city, she said, was “flatly refused,” though the city has hired a marketing firm to help promote Park Avenue during construction.

According to Anna Angelis, co-owner of Em Café, affected merchants gathered with representatives of the city in the Mile End Library, where it was they discussed how construction would occur.

Angelis said her business has not felt the ill effects of construction as much as Artistri.

“Fortunately, the sidewalks were untouched” she said, adding that “people are not going to stop eating.” The construction may have even boosted her business since some workers come into the café for breakfast, lunch, or a coffee.

News

Food Security Institute launched

by Amanda De Souza on

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The planet produces enough food to feed all its occupants, yet one sixth of the world’s population is chronically hungry. This was one of several startling statistics that prompted McGill’s Third Conference on Global Food Security. The event brought together students, faculty members, and international delegates for a dialogue on water and nutrition challenges.

The three-day conference began on Tuesday, October 19 with a public lecture highlighting the inauguration of the McGill Institute for Global Food Security. The institute will focus on innovative research, development, and training to improve the state of poverty which currently affects over one billion people worldwide.

“The McGill Institute for Global Food Security has been created at this university to harness the tremendous energy and intellectual resources of our community and to meet a multi-dimensional interdisciplinary challenge,” said McGill Provost Anthony Masi as he addressed the audience at the Centre Mont-Royal.

Chandra Madramootoo, dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, stressed his concern for the possible reoccurrence of the 2008 food crisis, which spurred the first McGill Conference on Global Food Security two years ago.

“The time to reinvest in agriculture, food production, and nutrition is now,” he said.

Madramootoo said that although intimidating challenges lie ahead,  the staff, students, and post-doctoral researchers are optimistic they wil find solutions.

“[We want to help] advance the annual agricultural productivity growth while conserving natural resources and minimizing environmental degradation,” he said.

He went on to note that McGill’s position within the academic and international community will be critical to achieving the institute’s goals.

“McGill is uniquely positioned with the Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, that is built on an agriculture, food, and nutrition nexus to tackle the problems of food and nutrition security,” he said.

David Nabarro, the United Nations Special Representative on Food Security and Nutrition, was the keynote speaker at Tuesday’s opening event. He commended McGill on its leadership role in an area of such enormous developmental importance and said he was delighted to be taking part in launching the institute. He also thanked Canada for its consistently strong and long-term support on food security.

Nabarro outlined the challenges that the UN is facing to reach the first of eight UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s)—to eradicate world poverty and hunger by 2015. The problem, he said, does not stem wholly from food production but from access to food for the world’s poorest nations.

“Ensuring universal access to sufficient food and a sustainable environment is one of our main global challenges at this time,” he said.

Nabarro argued a shift in focus is necessary to ensure the MDG can be completed on time. He called for a holistic approach, that not only considers production but ensuring people’s access to nutritious food as well.

According to Nabarro, a special area of focus is small farmers and women. “This means maintaining the focus on smallholder agriculture — investing in small-scale farmers, agribusinesses, processors and markets. It means building the capacity of farmers organizations and associations so that they can be fully involved in policymaking and practice — working for poor people means working with them.”

This mindset reflects the interdisciplinary and comprehensive approach suggested by Madramootoo and broadens the view of food security from an issue of natural science to one of social science as well.

“This means keeping people  and their food and nutritional security at the centre of all we do,” he said.

The Honourable Beverly J. Oda, Canadian Minister of International Cooperation, was also present to comment on Canada’s initiatives on poverty alleviation and food security. She emphasized an integrated approach to the very complex issues surrounding food and water nutrition challenges and the indisputable link between food security, agriculture, and sustainable economic growth.

“It’s not just about getting food on tables, it’s about getting better, more nutritious food, on those tables,” she said.

News

2nd Arch Cafe rally outside Senate, working group formed

by Sean Wood on

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Miranda Whist

To the tune of drums and cymbals, students held a second protest for the Architecture Café during Wednesday’s senate meeting.

The protest took place near the entrance to the Leacock building, where senate meetings are held, and was led by Mobilization McGill, an ad-hoc group formed in response to the Café’s closure.

Students’ Society President Zach Newburgh had wanted to propose a resolution at senate to re-examine the Café’s closure, but the Senate steering committee dismissed it. There will, however be a new working group on student consultation, said Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Morton Mendelson.  It will consist of administrators and student representatives, and will discuss a range of issues.

“It would aid to identify mechanisms of student consultation, to determine on what issues it is appropriate to have student consultation, and to recognize and set remedies that can be sought if there isn’t proper student consultation,” said  Newburgh.

The creation of a working group had been a part of the protestors’ agenda.

“We want a working group to be established to institutionalize student consultation,” said Jenna Gogan, a Midnight Kitchen volunteer and member of Mobilization McGill.

There was concern, however, that the group might not be effective.

“We need to make sure that whatever they create will have lasting influence on the campus,” said Jeremy Bunyaner, U1 Arts.

Though the café was the main issue at the protest, its leaders said they were protesting the underrepresentation of students in general.

“At the moment, there is no place on campus where student decisions have any weight,” Gogan said.

Some students were wearing white armbands, which they said was an expression of solidarity. Some also wore red squares with the bands, symbolizing debt.

“We might be in debt because of higher tuition, we might be in debt because of expensive food,” said former Daily Editor Sam Neylon to the crowd. Chants of “No more debt!” followed.

In order to attract students, he Midnight Kitchen moved from its ordinary location to the protest. Even so, the crowd of about 80 was much smaller than that at September’s rally, which was in the hundreds.

“There’s not as many as last time, but it’s midterm season, so I’m not surprised,” said Carol Fraser, U2 German and East Asian Studies and a member of Mobilization McGill. “But I’m happy, I think it’s going well.”

After about 20 minutes outside, the protestors moved into the Leacock building to a place within earshot of senate. Security guards did not stop them, but they did push out the group’s drummers. The hallway’s acoustics galvanized the protestors, making their chants of “Sol! Sol! Sol! Solidarité!” and “Students, united will never be defeated!” louder.  

Representatives from Free Education McGill, a Montreal-wide student-advocacy group, also attended.

“This is an issue of student control of campus space and that’s very important for our issue, which is free education,” said Concordia student Holly Nazar, a member of the group. “[This] means not just being free in terms of no fees, it means in terms of not being exploited.”

Some students were skeptical about how much the protest would achieve.

“It might raise some student awareness, but [it will not] get the Arch Café reinstated or [help us] see any financial documents,” said Chad Pinto, U3 Management.

Science & Technology

Pseudoscience Symposium fills the aisles of Leacock 132

by Zach Connerty-Martin on

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Adam Scotti
James Randi fools students with electric beard trimmer.

“You already have been fooled,” said James “The Amazing” Randi, a magician and pseudoscience investigator, in a lecture on Tuesday. “When I came out here, I took the microphone. I didn’t really need it. It simply is a beard trimmer.” He then proceded to shaved in front of a laughing audience.

But being fooled isn’t always a laughing matter. The Lorne Trottier Pseudoscience Symposium, a two-day gathering of scientists and skeptics, discussed how willing people are to believe the erroneous in science, and what those beliefs mean.

The symposium took place last week at the Centre Mont Royal and in the Leacock Building. The lecture halls were crowded both days. During Randi’s lecture in Leacock, many had to sit on the floor.

Michael Shermer, the editor-in-chief of Skeptic magazine, explained how people can often be confused by a number of natural occurrences in everyday life.

“Patternicity is the tendency to find patterns in meaningful and meaningless noise,” he said.

Shermer distinguished between Type I errors—where we erroneously think we are in danger when we are safe—and more dangerous Type II errors—where we mistakenly think we are safe when we are in danger.  Humans, Shermer said, also tend to find patterns where there are none can lead them to false beliefs. Often, where we find correlation, we assume causation.

The medical use of snake oil one of the most ubiquitous example of pseudoscience. Observing that Chinese water snakes were mobile and well-lubricated, Chinese extracted oil from them and bottled it as a cure for joint pain, a practice that later spread to other parts of the world. The original snake oils did not treat joint pain at all, but were relatively harmless compared to today’s “snake oils.”

Matthias Rath, a German vitamin salesman and modern “snake oil” peddler, is “a very bad man,” said Ben Goldacre, an award-winning British writer, broadcaster, and doctor. Rath took marketed his vitamins not only to America and Britain—where people can afford to buy unnecessary vitamin supplements in an attempt to cure their cancer—but South Africa’s poor as well.

Rath took out full-page ads in South African newspapers claiming, “The answer to the AIDS epidemic is here.” He claimed that anti-retroviral drugs were a drug company conspiracy to kill Africans. Instead, he said, his vitamin pills were the answer to AIDS. Between 2000 and 2005, the South African government compounded the problem by denouncing anti-retroviral drugs. According to Goldacre, an estimated 300,000–350,000 people died unnecessarily during this period.

David Gorski, a surgical oncologist and managing editor of Science-Based Medicine, addressed other dangers of pseudoscience. Gorski told the story of a woman named Michaela who got cancer and, scared of the illness, postponed seeing a doctor. When she finally went in, she had a large Stage IIIB tumor on her breast. She underwent chemotherapy and her cancer started to recess until only a red dot was left.

Michaela then discovered German New Medicine, a school of medicine founded by Ryke Geerd Hamer, which proposes an alternative, pseudoscientific theory of disease based on psychological trauma. Hamer convinced Michaela that her cancer was a result of inner conflict and that she must stop chemotherapy. She did. Her cancer relapsed and she died.

Fortunately, not all the event’s speakers were so morose.

The entertaining James Randi headlined the second day, discussing, among other things, pet blankets with magnets in them, which theoretically help pets rest better. Randi addressed the dangers of radon water, the ineffectiveness of homeopathy, and pens that identify fraudulent bills.

Randi mentioned one particular homeopathic medication, Oscillococcinum, made from the liver of a duck “killed with kindness or [dead] from old age.” Randi says you could make so much medicine that, “with the sun at the centre of a big sphere and the orbit of Pluto on the other side and then a little bit beyond that, you can make a sphere that can be filled with homeopathic pills from that one duck liver.”

Opinion

New committee a victory for students

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McGill Tribune

There is a brand new committee at McGill: the Student Consultation and Communication Work Group.  Created by Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Morton Mendelson, the group’s mandate is to “broadly consider, and make recommendations about, the methods used to consult and communicate with our students.”  At least in part a response to the furor over the Architecture Café closure, the committee may fall short of many students’ hopes for a quick reopening.  As a reply to broader demands for student consultation, though, the work group is a hard-won victory that gives reason for at least cautious optimism.

The caution is due to a healthy dose of past experience.  The memorandum on the workgroup cites “a number of recent issues” indicating the need for student consultation. It is safe to say that the closure of the Architecture Café was one of these issues, yet after two months of silence, this is the administration’s first signal that they even know students are upset. Lumping the café in with other issues allows the administration to skirt some of the difficult questions that have been asked about the closure, most notably regarding the still-hidden finances. In that sense, the broad mandate feels like something the administration would develop if they were merely looking to redirect student energies.

On the other hand, it is significant that student efforts have reached the point where the administration feels that energy needs to be redirected. Until now, administrators have merely ignored the students, who they assumed, incorrectly, would take blatantly hostile gestures in stride. That they are interested in even the appearance of consultation is a step in the right direction.

It is also exactly what protestors asked for. Through all the opinion pieces in the campus press and the chants at both rallies, students made it clear that they were not just upset about the café being closed. They repeatedly argued that the issue is much larger, a procedural problem rather than a merely topical one. In that sense, the administration is directly acceding to the demands of students, a victory of which we should all be proud. The administration has its own pride to maintain and its own reasons for acting, and to think that it would cede entirely to student demands is unreasonable.  As far as compromises go, this one’s not bad.

What is most important about the proposed committee is its potential. On the one hand, it has the potential be completely irrelevant.  On the other hand, it has the potential to become a real tool for student representation. The committee will present its findings in December, but there is time before then to contact SSMU representatives and let them know what messages you want to deliver to the administration.  If we don’t tell either the Students’ Society or the administration what we specifically want, we can hardly blame them for not knowing.  The consultation committee is reason for cautious optimism.  Now it’s up to students to seize the opportunity and make it effective.

Opinion

Buying all (anti-Muslim) bigots!

by Mohammed Ashour on

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McGill Tribune

I do not expect corporate media outlets to report “facts” without exaggerating them, cherry-picking them, “misprinting” and later retracting them, or making them up entirely. I do, however, expect these outlets and their celebrity reporters to at least publicly pretend they lack a double standard. How foolish of me.

In an interview three weeks ago, CNN’s Rick Sanchez claimed that the media is run by Jews and that Jews in America are not an oppressed minority. He was fired the next morning. Deeply regretful, Sanchez dragged himself to breakfast shows around the country and took every opportunity to apologize for his remarks.  Meanwhile, an unforgiving CNN popped its collar, brushed its shoulders off, and took a bow to the cheerful applause of nearly everyone.

Two weeks after this incident, Bill O’Reilly appeared on The View and, justifying his opposition to the Lower Manhattan Islamic Centre, claimed that “Muslims killed us on 9/11.” Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg walked off the set, horrified by his remarks. Unlike Sanchez, who admitted that his statements were intrinsically repugnant, O’Reilly gave the sleazy “I’m sorry that you took offence” apology. In other words, “I am sorry that you got upset over what I think is the truth.” O’Reilly was not fired. Instead, support gushed in from the conservative right, and his ratings went through the roof.

In fact, Fox News contributor Brian Kilmeade went on TV the next day. Showcasing his solidarity, Kilmeade outdid O’Reilly himself. “Not all Muslims are terrorists,” he claimed, “but all terrorists are Muslims.”

Surely such an absolute claim that is so easily refutable, and so harrowingly prejudiced, was an accidental slip of the tongue, right? Wrong. Kilmeade repeated this statement again a few hours later. He only apologized after the weekend passed, with a seemingly insincere and unmeant statement. Did Fox terminate his contract? Take a wild guess.   

A week later, NPR’s Juan Williams went on the O’Reilly Factor and stated that he “gets nervous” when he gets on a plane and sees people “wearing Muslim garb.” Williams was fired, but not for long. Virtually every influential conservative, individual or institution, lashed out at NPR. Several prominent lawmakers and politicians urged Congress to eliminate NPR’s federal subsidies. Meanwhile, the same day he was fired by NPR, Fox News signed Williams to a three-year contract worth $2 million.

What about Sanchez? Did either Fox or MSNBC rush to exploit this right-leaning, former TV news anchor, heartbroken by a left-wing media competitor? Nope. None of them was “interested at all” in the “disgraced” Sanchez.

A recent poll by CBS showed that 42 per cent of Americans feel so strongly about the proposed Islamic centre in Lower Manhattan that it will likely influence their vote in next week’s congressional elections. Incidentally, the same poll revealed that 40 per cent of Americans have an unfavourable opinion of Islam—worse than it was post 9/11—even though 91 per cent of these poll takers admitted that they knew “some,” “not very much,” or “nothing” about Islam and its practices.  

Statements by O’Reilly, Kilmeade, and Miller are not negligent outbursts or genuine misunderstandings or “gaffes.” They are carefully thought-out phrases that nourish an organized and systematic exploitation of an irrational and rising fear of Muslims and Islam. They are tools that boost ratings, while ensuring the media’s continued and deliberate failure to draw a clear distinction between the over 1.3 billion followers of Islam and the small percentage of that number who betray its teachings.

Meanwhile, 58 per cent of Americans say they do not personally know a Muslim.

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