Perhaps one of the most salutary and tragic lessons I’ve taken from this entire maelstrom of media and OSPCA/THS doublespeak, is that objectivity in reporting is indeed a myth in the Fifth Estate.
The incredibly biased reporting I’ve witnessed from the start of this tragedy has outraged me and yet, as a former journalist myself (back in the Early Dark Ages), not entirely surprised me. I left the field myself more than 25 years ago when my ideals were demolished against the reality of nepotism and bottom line.
Bias is an inescapable and integral part of any individual’s lexicon. The reality is that each of us carries with them a preconceived set of opinions, based on personal history, influenced by media and formulated through sociological and family influences. “History is written by the victors” said Winston Churchill during the Second World War, a quotation which puts in perspective the veracity or “truth” of any fact; in short, what he was pointing out is that it is all about perspective. To those who seek the “truth”, an awareness of implied bias together with a concerted effort to seek contrasting opinions is the only effective manner to come to an equitable vision of a given event.
But the blatant disregard for querying even the most obvious questions which arise from the OSPCA party line is unbelievable and reprehensible. 1100 animals... less than 300 left, MINIMAL animals available for adoptions, an admitted, reported and confirmed in last week’s meeting, lack of knowledge about how many fosters (but they themselves admit to 45 or so) – and you don’t question WHERE the rest of the animals ARE?
And the ostensible “openness” of the OSPCA as witnessed by their “willingness” to meet with and answer questions was yet another opportunity to confuse and REFUSE to answer questions. There is no doubt that the fates of our dogs were already decided; the meeting, in MY opinion was an attempt to forestall the resultant backlash.
Tell me journalists... did you find it just a wee bit curious you were banned, when you had gold-plated invitations to the arrests made by the OSPCA of Trow, Tre and others?
Yet Kate McDonald HERSELF confirmed AT that meeting that yes, the dogs COULD be moved if an OSPCA officer was with those transporting them. I confirmed at that meeting that there were NUMEROUS volunteers willing to drive in shifts in order to circumvent the ‘law’ (yet to be confirmed) that says we could not stop in Ontario.
Further, if the border crossing was an issue – why not be given the opportunity to bring them to the rescue in New Brunswick – which, within 2 weeks had happily housed the two dogs we had brought down there?
But did anyone in the media question this? Did anyone question the numbers blithely thrown about over the weeks from OSCPA mouthpieces? 25 euthanization, 43, 100, 123, 140, 200 – ALL numbers at different times in different places were detailed verbatim... didn’t anyone see that there MIGHT be a little bit of deliberate obfuscation going on here?
Shame on you Kate Hammer.
Shame on your mainstream media.
The obvious manipulation of fact and fiction was aided, abetted and encouraged by media intent on the most sensationalist word count.
Not once has anyone who has objected to the OSPCA invasion stated that things were “perfect” in the Toronto Humane Society – and in fact, most of us spoke loudly that indeed there WERE MAJOR PROBLEMS as many people have worked hard to dethrone the tinpot dictator that was twisting and destroying what was, at its core, a wonderful policy.
But why the insistence that while Trow is bad, anyone who replaces him is “good”. What happened to objectivity and a moral imperative to looks beyond the obvious?
And it seems now, that the THS brass have joined the fray and are themselves toeing the party line – labelling, healthy, non-aggressive, wonderful dogs as “chronically ill, displayed aggressive behaviour, or whose quality of life due to illness or injury was severely diminished and who had been at the shelter for an extended period of time”.
Bottom line? That is not just subterfuge. That is not just doublespeak. Those are LIES.
Welcome to the land of the morally corrupt, THS brass. Hope you find it salutary and that whatever was promised you is worth the price.
I wonder how you are sleeping at night?
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