10.18.2010 08:20 AM

Cunning Sun huns

After word got out, yesterday, that I had become a freelance Sun columnist and prospective Sun TV pundit, there was much gnashing of garments and rending of teeth on both sides of the spectrum.  The right-wingers, committed free-speechers all, were enraged that a dissenting voice was being permitted a platform in a conservative paper.  And the lefties were apoplectic that I (or anyone) would pay the Sun chain any heed.

Sigh.

I thought this editorial, in the Calgary Sun, should therefore be read by both sides. In it, my hometown Sun heartily endorses the lefty mayoralty candidate over the two right-wing ones.  Perhaps it’s time to re-examine your biases, Righties and Lefties.

To wit: when media gets predictable, and represents only one side of the argument (cf. National Post), they don’t grow.  And then they start to lose their audience.

29 Comments

  1. bigcitylib says:

    Good luck! Seriously! But they’re doomed so make sure you cash any cheques they give you immediately. And don’t rely on the money. Always have a little put aside just in case.

  2. Brammer says:

    Hey, if the Star can have Perschelli, why shouldn’t the Sun have Kinsella?

    Who knows, we might even see some bridges built across the great divide created by Harper.

    Bravo to the Sun, I say.

  3. Dan F. says:

    Then please explain the Sun’s endorsement of the craziest right-wing looney ever to appear in Toronto politics, over 2 (last week 3) other flawed but competent alternatives?

  4. gretschfan says:

    Our political culture needs to relearn the value of civilized, reasoned debate. It’s not going to happen by having homogenous opinion islands where people surround themselves with kinfolk and treat others as strangers who do not belong. Even the wisest, most informed minds among us ought to regularly entertain the notion that maybe their assumptions about things aren’t fully sound and that maybe there’s a different and equally valid way of looking at the world. We can at least hope for that, right?

  5. billg says:

    Dunno DanF..why did the Star endorse Dion? Its just a paper and its just words, they should not scare anyone. WK…you gonna do political anaylisis or music reviews? Do both, that would freak out everyone.

  6. Steve T says:

    As a moderate right-winger, and a raving free-speecher, I would hardly say I am “enraged that a dissenting voice was being permitted a platform in a conservative paper.” Nor are any of my acquaintances who have similar political views. It is great to have your thoughtful analysis of situations, Warren – even if we don’t agree all the time.

    I think this is, to some degree, a fantasy conjured up by the left, to defend their attempts to quash free speech. ie – “Oh, those crazy right-wing free-speech nutjobs, they only want free speech when it favours their position.” I think the facts speak to a far different reality. Just look at the amount of hand-wringing and faux-offense that is taken at any article that dares question the politically-correct “norms” (abortion; health care; gay marriage; aboriginal issues; climate change; etc). In the vast majority of situations, attempts to quash and intimidate free speech in the Western world – and especially in Canada – have been represented primarily from the left.

  7. Namesake says:

    Re: the outlier mayoralty endorsement: well, as Aristotle noted, “One swallow does not a summer make, nor one fine day” (or as as Bob & Doug might put it, “One goose don’t mean it’s winter yet, eh?”)

    Sure, there may be the odd bit of sense in its pages, but what most disturbs me about the Sun is how shameless they are in propagating misinformation, mostly gleaned from the PMO.

    And the problem with your coming aboard under the aegis of being a Liberal spokesman (as opposed to just being a colourful individual) is that — unless you quite clearly signal otherwise in your columns (but probably even then, as well) — any position you take or gaffe you might make will thereby be ascribed to the Liberal party.

    As it sometimes is in the opposite situation, as when Tom Flanagan sometimes says or does boneheaded things on P&P (like how the combination of pretty girls & guns was “hot” as far as he’s concerned, re: Candice Hoeppner & the LGR), or when Monte Solberg wrote “who could really fault …protesters …from …quite justly set[ting]… Iggy?s bus…ablaze as a form of free speech.” http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/monte_solberg/2010/07/16/14737896.html

    • Namesake says:

      by the by, kudos to you for publishing this & my other critiques of the Sun these past months, despite this deal being in the works.

      Hopefully yours will be a salutary influence there, as well, then, in bringing a little quality control to QMI by correcting the record or by directing challenging some of your new colleagues’ more ill-advised commentary.

  8. J. Coates says:

    I guess Calgary’s redneck image is getting flushed during this Mayoral election. But this happened years ago, all you have to do is ride the LRT to work and Calgary’s diversity is obvious.

  9. Darrell says:

    Your column yesterday was a very good read, keep writing like that and you will set a presidence rising the bar.

  10. JH says:

    “To wit: when media gets predictable, and represents only one side of the argument (cf. National Post), they don?t grow. And then they start to lose their audience.”
    To be fair then WK what say you of the Toronto Star?
    And secondly We’ve seen the right-wing media rants about the refusal of the CBC to honour access to info requests regarding their expenditures ie salaries, expenses etc. perhaps in your new forum you’d care to hold forth on this, from a left of center perspective?

  11. WDM says:

    Before he flew a bit too close to the sun Icarus style, the best thing that happened to Kory was all the free publicity he got from the frenzy surrounding Sun TV. I look forward to seeing what the channel has to offer in the spring. Certainly not a fan of its politics in many respects, and I think I’d rather read something “boring” that someone going out of their way to be provocative (Tamil migrants story) just to be provocative, but regardless more voices can be a be a good thing, in my view, provided they’re willing to talk about interesting stuff.

  12. smelter rat says:

    Warren, when Calgary actually elects a brown guy as Mayor, I’ll buy you a beer.

    • Paul R Martin says:

      I think that you owe Warren a beer!

      I find it interesting that a complete outsider has just become the Mayor of Calgary while Rossi could not get any traction in Toronto despite his ability. I suspect that the personality of some people just resonates with the voters more than others. Other equally qualified candidates are better off in the back rooms because they cannot connect on a personal level with the voters.

  13. Don J says:

    Hi Warren

    I thought Monty Solberg said it best…

    http://www.montesolberg.ca/blog/2010/10/17/kinsella-in-the-sun.html

    heh, heh

  14. Too bad Sun links don’t seem to work. Editorial link in your post now points to “Nenshi’s our choice for mayor”.

    Links that aren’t permanent are so 1990’s!

    Sun = FAIL in this case.

  15. Hugo Schmidt says:

    >>when media gets predictable, and represents only one side of the argument (cf. National Post), <<

    Which presumably is why you're so hot for government censorship.

    On a related note, still smarting from being smacked around?

  16. AL says:

    Very amused to see today’s Sun which had you and Ezra on the same page.

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