TVO Last Night

I watched The Agenda last night. The guests were Mark Steyn and the law students (a guy and two girls) who have brought the HRC complaints against Maclean's. I'm not the greatest fan of Steyn -- I think for the topic he is covering, you're better off reading Bruce Bawer's book -- but I think, regardless, that he is in the right on this matter. A number of things struck me, not the least of which was Khurrum Awan's comparison of Oriana Fallaci to Ernst Zundel. Absurd, of course, not to mention that he kept pronouncing both names incorrectly. (As a former English teacher, this sort of thing bothers me immensely.) I found the students to be, well, whiny and childish. Now, they are young, so some of that is to be expected. But they kept reminding my close-personal-friend Steve Paikin that they wanted the exact same amount of time as Steyn, and that they wanted Paikin to make sure Steyn wouldn't be mean to them, et cetera. First of all, have these people watched The Agenda? Paikin always makes sure it is civilized and fair. Second of all, it was three against one, in favour of them. Third of all, they are lawyers-to-be in a grown-up world. Some meanness is out there, especially, one imagines, in courtrooms. Be prepared. Or don't enter the fray. For the record, Steyn was polite and humourous. The students were polite and humourless.
What really got me, was at the end of the show, Paikin said, "Mark, I'll give you the last word", and all three students started shrieking, clearly seeing in that decision another slight and another excuse to wallow in victimhood. Unbelievable. Paikin -- by his standards -- showed a bit of temper, and said, "Give me a break, will you?" or something along those lines.
They also complained that since Steyn had a column in which to voice his opinions, that wasn't fair and they deserved equal space. Huh? Steyn has a column because he has spent more than the last two decades working as a journalist and writer. They are law students. Imagine if Steyn said, "It isn't fair that one day you will get to try a case and I won't!"
Further, the students displayed a great deal of ignorance. Awan kept referring to Mullah Krekar as an "obscure Norwegian Muslim". Um, no. There is nothing obscure about Mullah Krekar, particularly if you are aware -- as the students claimed they were -- of the broader Muslim world, and of the global struggle between Islamic fundamentalism and civil society.
Finally, watching the two women last night, reminded me somewhat of my experience at the PLO offices in Ramallah, in July of 2005, shortly before the Israeli disengagement from Gaza. The PLO officials we (a group of Canadian journalists) met with trotted out a very Western looking woman -- beautiful, as were the two on TVO last night -- to join in on the meeting. By the end of the meeting, it became clear that the only thing Western about her was her appearance. I don't think I can say entirely the same thing about the women last night, but there was something similar about the situation. Their looks were Western, but their words didn't match up.
I think what is obvious about these three -- and likely many other Canadians -- is that they think life is meant to always be "fair" and evenly split, and that it is the government's job (and apparently, Steve Paikin's) to ensure this is so. Good luck with that.

Update: An anonymous commenter pointed out that the students are actually operating under the aegis of the Canadian Islamic Congress. I should have noted that. And FYI, I don't publish anonymous comments, folks. Signest thine name! And a further FYI, my column on this matter can be found here.