Main stream media is innately antisemitic and enables Jew hatred with their programming.
On January 27, 2020, The Current, a show on the CBC-Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, funded by tax-payers, talked about the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. For about 30 minutes. They interviewed Holocaust survivors. But according to the producer, they needed a “narrative” to go with the interviews of these survivors of horror. They could have talked about the military industrial complex established for the sole purpose of incinerating Jews for the crime of being Jewish. This despite the fact that Hitler’s generals begged him to let them keep the Jews alive for much needed slave labour and to use the trains and the railways for shipping much needed materiel to the front lines. But, no. hitler had decided his priorities. They could have talked about the rise in antisemitism worldwide, and in particular Canada, as the CBC is the CANADIAN Broadcasting Corporation-all about Canada; and Jew hatred on our campuses as Jews fear for their safety because of Muslim organizations. Nope. Not for the CBC.
So the producers, and I gather Mr. Galloway, the moderator, decided what a great day to talk about the history of the term concentration camp based on a book by Andrea Pitzer. She spoke. She shared. And she agreed that AOC was correct when she used the tern concentration camp to refer to the detention camps at the US southern border. Now, think about that. People who are innately antisemitic and those who deny the Holocaust, love that statement. If a concentration camp is like the camps at the US border, well, what are the Jews complaining about?
Then in honour of Never Again, they decided to talk about the Muslims in Myanmar and China. Oh, that Islamophobia. Not that the treatment of these people compares in any way to the extermination of the Jews in the concentration camps, partly because the media is talking about their treatment which is terrible, when the media stayed silent about the Holocaust and now says very little about Jews under attack anywhere. It’s just that for them, this was the ideal time to talk about Muslims.
The CBC could not give one hour, sixty minutes, in a year, on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz to talk about antisemitism. No way.
As the producer wrote to me: “I think the takeaway for listeners is anti-Semitism is rising but that a lot of other evil stuff is still happening in various around the world and we should be aware of that.”
Evil stuff?
And I call this the result of innate, systemic, endemic antisemitism at that media outlet. And that innate, systemic, endemic Jew hatred leads to the enabling of Jew hatred in the country.
I am still trying to get my head around the fact that the Current had to brainstorm a narrative for the one hour programme based on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
So I contacted Jack Nagler, the ombudsman, and he forwarded my concerns to the producer who came back to me and I decided that the answer he gave did not deal with the innate antisemitism. So I sent an official complaint to the ombudsman. And he decided that my complaint was not worthy of investigation.
And we wonder why antisemitism is so prevalent?
I am sharing some of the correspondence with you. I have no doubt that this goes on in many newsrooms in media outlets that lean to the left.
February 2. I sent the following email to Mr. Nagler.
Connecting AOC’s statement that the detention centres at the American Southern Border to the Holocaust Memorial Day is antisemitic because it demeans the horror of the Concentration Camps. The real horror of the murder of Jews in an incinerator for the crime of being Jewish.
If the producers and Matt Galloway cannot see that, then there is a much bigger problem, for this is today’s antisemitism. Their programme promoted Holocaust denial. It denigrated the meaning of concentration camp. And you are well aware of that fact.
Antisemitism is enabled by media. First, the silence regarding the attacks on Jews all over the world, and especially here in Canada on our campuses. Then errors made by media. The big lie you shared on The Current.
I do not understand why you are not pushing for a response because there is no doubt that this programme promoted Jew hatred. And that goes against your Journalistic Standards.
Feb 17 Raj Ahluwalia, the Executive Producer of The Current wrote:
Dear Diane Bederman,
Thank you for your letters.
I appreciate your view point, and you’re entitled to your opinions.
But let me be clear: I disagree vehemently. Our coverage that day was not anti-semetic.
To explain:
You begin your letter by asking what goes on during production meetings at The Current.
Well, it’s often a thoughtful discussion with various arguments about not just how to cover an event, but what narrative would accompany the event to best serve the audience. I know because I’ve been in such meetings over the past thirty years at several programs, including The National, The Fifth Estate and now The Current.
In this case, we thought it was important to tell people of the horrors of the Holocaust, especially since there are so few survivors still around. But to stop at that would have been a failure on our part since there are still some regimes who have failed to heed the message behind “Never Again.” The thought was to try to enlighten people of this fact on this important and solemn day.
And before you complain that I’ve demeaned that term you will, of course, know that leaders such as Netanyahu and Obama have used that term in its universal sense referring to all genocides. In the guestbook at the memorial to victims of the Rwanda genocide in 2010, Netanyahu wrote, “We are deeply moved by the memorial to the victims of one of history’s greatest crimes–and reminded of the haunting similarities to the genocide of our own people. Never again.”
A year later to mark International Holocaust day, then president Obama said, “We are reminded to remain ever-vigilant against the possibility of genocide and to ensure that Never Again is not just a phrase, but a principled cause. And we resolve to stand up against prejudice, stereotyping and violence – including the scourge of anti-Semitism – around the globe.”
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, in 2013, used the phrase in calling people to study the genocide of Jewish people in order to respond to the “warning signs” of genocides happening anywhere.
What better time, we thought, to remind people of what’s “happening anywhere” than on the very day the Holocaust will be a major story around the world. Not at the expense of the Auschwitz story, but in addition to it. We spent twenty minutes with Edith Grossman and the author who wrote her remarkable story and then, after covering two other stories, we went back to Auschwitz for another fifteen.
Our correspondent, Susan Bonner, who was at Auschwitz in January, and spoke to survivors, reported that they feared rising anti-Semitism around the world today.
“They talk about unchecked hate in the world right now and where that can lead. That’s what this was all about today at Auschwitz,” she said on The Current.
Susan was followed by Andrea Pitzer, a renowned author, who talked about anti-Semitism and how “we’re setting the stage for and seeding the ground with some of the very same things today that led to Auschwitz back then.”
She also spoke about concentration camps around the world, both throughout history and now. “They were not extermination camps, but even Auschwitz rose out of exactly these other kinds of camps that we’re discussing.”
In that context, we referred to AOC and her comments. We mentioned the fact she faced heavy criticism for what she said.
Andrea Pitzer explained that may have been because people don’t know the “larger history. They don’t know that Auschwitz and these other camps were extermination camps, but that concentration camps are a much larger, much more ongoing project, which is quite dangerous.” She said she has no idea whether AOC was trying to link the Holocaust with the detention centres at the US Border. But her sense is “that’s not what she was doing in that moment.”
Andrea Pitzer also pointed out that, in her view, what’s happening with the Muslim Uyghurs in China and the Rohingya in Myanmar “fits in this tradition.”
I have no idea how any that “demeans”–to use your word–the Holocaust.
So to answer one of your other questions … I think the takeaway for listeners is anti-Semitism is rising but that a lot of other evil stuff is still happening in various around the world and we should be aware of that. And contrary to your suggestion, a lot of thought was put into this segment.
You can characterize it as distasteful if you choose. But I think there were enlightening and engaging conversations around one of the most important events of the year.
In a subsequent letter you said it’s time to consider inviting you to speak on The Current.
I have considered it and I don’t feel there’s any reason to do that at this time. Should we look at doing another story on anti-Semitism, I will keep you in mind.
I appreciate you may not be satisfied with my explanation. That’s your right. But as I said at the beginning of this reply, I vehemently disagree with your view and your characterization of our coverage.
And I wrote back to the producer:
The term concentration camp must be kept with the Holocaust. Period.
Words change meaning diachronically and synchronically and the term concentration camp refers to the horrors of the Holocaust. Nothing else, anymore. You diluted the meaning by moving away from Jew hatred; Jew hatred so wide and so deep and so ingrained that led to the HOLOCAUST. The Holocaust in Germany was the result of more than 120 years of preparation, above and beyond the Jew hatred throughout the world for millennia. Feel free to read Constantine’s Sword and my book.
The detention camps on the Southern border of the USA have nothing whatsoever to do with concentration camps. Period.
Nothing taking place anywhere else in the world compares to the concentration camps of the Holocaust. Nothing. No other people have been shipped by train to camps that were meant for one thing-putting Jews up in smoke. And let us not forget the Holocaust by bullets.
Because no one, anywhere in the world, today has developed a military industrial complex for the sole purpose of murdering people for the crime of existing. PERIOD.
No other event has been downplayed the way the media stayed quiet about the Holocaust. I suggest that you read Debra Lipstadt’s book Beyond Belief.
The Current on that day was the one day to spend on antisemitism. That could have been the narrative. Nothing else. Certainly not AOC’s use of the term concentration camps which demeans the horror of the Holocaust. One day, and you could not focus on the Jews and the hate, past to present, for the Jews that is now worse than 1939. Coming from the left and the right-united in one thing-hate for the Jews. Not the CBC.
You could not just talk about that Jew hatred. Not the CBC. Had to talk about other hate. Not like we don’t have 364 other days to talk about it and compare and contrast. There is no comparison.
Think about all the days the CBC talks about Israel-that occupier, that apartheid state. You could not have one day, one hour, sixty minutes, to talk about the most horrific evil ever perpetrated against a people. A 3000 year old evil that is rearing its ugly head, again with hate for the Jews from the left and the right. You could not talk about that on that one day. Could you? That was not a good enough narrative.
As for all the quotes you gave me, they can be used any day of the week. Netanyahu referred to Rwanda when he was visiting the memorial. Events like this should never happen.
But Never Again refers to the Holocaust. That the Jewish people say it should never happen to anyone, ever, that we must remain on guard for evil, does not mean that on that one day, that one hour, sixty minutes, you could not focus on the history leading up to that horror, and focus on the Jews and antisemitism in Canada, today. On campuses where Jewish students fear for their safety. No other group of people fear for their safety on campus than the Jews. Are your listeners aware of that? Are you?
That would have been a good hour to talk about the rising antisemitism in Canada in the 21st century-you know-Never Again! You could have talked about attacks on our Jewish institutions. The defacement. That Jewish institutions have to hire extra security for an event and Jewish holidays. That our institutions have special security. No one can just walk into a synagogue, anymore.
No, you had to talk about the history of concentration camps, diluting the worst horror perpetrated ever!
Andrea Pitzer may be an expert on the history of concentration camps but nothing, today, compares to the Holocaust. That is the point of the diachronic change in the meaning of words. You could have invited her to talk about the history of concentration camps on any other day when you talk about Myanmar and China. By linking these events you diluted the history of Jew hatred and the years of the Holocaust, while the world stayed silent and Canada said, when it came to the Jews, NONE IS TOO MANY. Now that is a narrative.
Nothing taking place anywhere in the world compares to the beginning, middle or end of the planned attempt to exterminate an entire people for being Jewish. No other people has faced millennia of hate leading to non-stop attacks, persecutions, prosecutions, auto de fes, inquisitions, expulsions and ghettos and shtetls, forced conversions, too often led by the Christian church.
Do you know how I know that nothing compares, because the CBC, like all the media, and people like Ms. Pitzer, talk about these terrible events as they happen, while you stay mum on the pay for slay taking place in Israel against the Jews, men, women and children, and bought and paid for by the PA who are funded by our government.
You could not devote one hour, sixty minutes, to the antisemitism in this country. That had to be the day to talk about other hate. Really? Putting things into some kind of perspective!
And that, sir, demeans and dilutes the Holocaust, and the lesson we did not learn regarding the Jews-Never Again. That you could not do.
As far as inviting me, I am a Canadian author whose book on Jew hatred has been accepted at Yad Vashem Holocaust Library but that is not good enough for the CBC. No, you like to interview American authors attacking Donald Trump because that fits the CBC left wing narrative. Please note AMERICAN.
I never expected you to invite me. I am not your kind of guest because I do not fit the left wing narrative promoted by the CBC. I talk about Jew hatred without fear of being labeled by anyone.
Having said all that, the coverage on the CBC on THAT day, one hour, sixty minutes, on that one day in the year, enabled antisemitism because at the end of the discussion we heard from your expert that AOC was not wrong about her use of the term concentration camp when referring to the detention centres on the US Mexico border. That and the fact that you could not devote one hour, sixty minutes, out of an entire year to talk about Jew hatred, not only in this country but around the world and in particular in government in the West; antisemitic parties like the Labour Party in Britain and the rise in Jew hatred within the Democrat Party in America and the fact that the NDP in Canada supports the antisemitic BDS campaign, or that our PM stood with North Korea and Iran against Israel.
We can talk about Jew hatred from Islam on another day.
You, sir, can disagree vehemently with me, but that does not change the facts. You, like everyone else is entitled to your feelings, your opinion, but not facts. ONE HOUR out of a YEAR of the Current, and you could not stay on topic. You had to talk about other hate, that you talk about all the time.
I am sending this to the ombudsman to lodge an official complaint against the The Current and the CBC for demeaning the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and the horrific stories shared by the few remaining witnesses to the world’s greatest evil, that despite the Holocaust, still exists, today.
So I sent an official complaint to the ombudsman, Mr. Nagler, Feb 19 Here it is.
I am sure you know the story of the fish in the water. He does not know he lives in water until he is taken out.
The CBC is unaware of the enabling of antisemitism because you live in it. There is an innate bias at the CBC regarding antisemitism.
The Current decided that the Holocaust episode needed a narrative outside Jew hatred. Why? What was wrong with the narrative of Jew hatred? One hour talking about the rise of Jew hatred in Canada. Is that not important? It seems that talking about the apartheid wall and occupation is important. But not an hour about Jew hatred beginning with the Holocaust. The team could not come up with one hour on Jew hatred-as the “narrative”? They had to dilute it with a talk about concentration camps through time as if the term concentration camp was no longer glued to the Holocaust.
Diluting the horror of the Holocaust by talking about other events was “enlightening and engaging.” This was THE day to talk about hatred elsewhere as if you don’t talk about it elsewhere.
I wonder how the Holocaust survivors who spoke about the horror would have felt if they had known that their life experience would have been diluted and demeaned by the rest of the programme?
This, sir, is innate antisemitism. That you are unaware of it. That the producer is still trying to defend himself.
Very nice that the producer will consider calling on me if he talks about antisemitism again. If? Not to worry. I have no doubt that the CBC will not call on me. It takes courage on the part of any journalist to speak to people who hold different views from their own.
The programme enables antisemitism because you opened the door to Holocaust denial with the discussion about concentration camps which included AOC.
The programme diluted the horror by not talking about Jew hatred for the one hour. The programme disrespected the few survivors and their families because the narrative of Jew hatred wasn’t good enough for one hour. The producers sat at a table talking about the Holocaust and said, hey we need an “enlightening and engaging” narrative for this programme about the Holocaust that has nothing to do with the Holocaust.
If you refuse to look into this innate bias, then I wish to go further. To whom do I send this complaint if you will not look into it?
From the ombudsman
You have availed yourself of the Ombudsman many times before, and you likely know that point 1 of the process described on my website says that I determine whether any particular complaint warrants a response from management.
He chose not to respond.
I sent a media inquiry.
He ignored it.
From the Ethics of the Fathers: “Rabbi Tarfon used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it.”
