And another Margaret
Wente correction
– the latest of many such Editor’s Notes - now appears at the bottom of a
column about John Greyson and Tarek Loubani, a column that bears striking
similarities to an earlier one by Ezra Levant (no link to that place here).
Below are a few other
problems with a slag heap which, given their uncertain status in Egypt, could
put the two Canadians at continued risk.
Here’s Wente dissing the doctor:
Loubani,
32, is an emergency-room doctor in London, Ont. Recently, at a public meeting,
he noisily denounced
a federal cabinet minister for reducing health care for refugees. He calls
himself a Palestinian refugee, although he was born in Kuwait. (He immigrated
to Canada when he was 10.)
In this passage, Wente
connects Loubani’s activism to what she suggests is an invented Palestinian
persona - omitting that he is indeed of Palestinian
parentage. Whatever one’s view
of that particular diaspora, it’s simply a fact that thousands of Palestinians
are born in refugee camps across the Middle East. Hey, even Wente herself is a sort of transnational. She identifies as both American and as an
“Accidental Canadian” – one whose provocative contrarianism might easily be
confused with the kind of 'look
at me' grandstanding she attributes to the two men.
She also omits important context to Loubani’s protest
against federal health care cuts to refugees. Yes, the video link she provides was bold. But at the time, many unprecedented ‘noisy
denunciations’ (as well as individual actions of exactly the sort Loubani
engaged in) were carried
out by demonstrating doctors
and nurses all across the country, supported by their professional
associations. Here’s just one
of many like Loubani’s. They were joined by a broad cross-section of
Canadians, and prominent Jewish Nobel Laureates like Elie
Wiesel – “radical grandstanders” all
(or maybe just the one with the funny name).
Granted, health care for refugees and immigrants likely wouldn’t
be high on Wente’s priority list. (Writing
about how she got to the head of the line for her artificial
hips -“At first, I felt uncomfortable
pulling strings, but I got over it”- she seemed unconcerned that her
“Portuguese cleaning lady, who barely speaks
English, has arthritis too. There's no chance she will ever get the access and
the state-of-the-art treatment that I did”).
We expect journalists to pose relevant questions. But there
are no questions here – except the ones Ms. Wente answers herself. Will the men be sufficiently grateful? Hell, no, she assures us, before they’d had the
chance to speak.
Greyson, according to
Wente, is a ne’er do well gay, “spare time”, professor, and member of a
“noxious” group, whose films are “flops”.
He and Loubani are “foolish, reckless, disagreeable” “troublemakers”
with “a history of grandstanding”, who’ve “gotten a lot of mileage out of their
incarceration”, and who “viscerally despise” the government (though the only
vitriol on display seems to emanate from MW).
Cheap, easy characterizations are the stuff of most Wente
columns. (There’s no need to bother with
real people when you can collage some handy fake into your story, as Wente did
with her Occupy protester "John").
If we were to judge
Ms.
Wente soley by her own past
actions
(the astonishingly unethical “Johns”, the plagiarism), she doesn’t come out
looking too good, though her employer was kind enough to give her the benefit
of the doubt. It would be nice if – once in a while - she
could focus on issues, and extend the same courtesy to those with whom she
might disagree, or whose looks she doesn’t like.
This kind of writing is sad, thin gruel, and a steady diet
makes it less appetizing.
Addendum: Here’s a little backgrounder
to Loubani’s previous (apparently peaceful) protest activities.
Update: Here's
a statement from the Canadian Medical Association Journal decrying attacks by
writers like Wente and Levant on Dr. Loubani’s character and motivations.
