First things first, something that will be relevant only to readers who like myself are native Torontonians or those who have a penchant for humanitarian goodwill. The Toronto Star needs to drop the whole police abuse of protesters rant they've been on for months.
If you require a refresher, I wrote a piece about the G20 Summit in Toronto a few months back. Apparently the local paper has it out for the police and their handling of the situation. A man named Adam Nobody has filed complaints against the police for an unlawful beating at their hands as a result of his supposed peaceful protests.
Mr. Nobody, who should shut-up and seek anonymity like his name suggests, suffered a broken nose and some facial lacerations, and because of this has become the cause of concern for the Star and it's anti-police agenda.
Apparently Mr. Nobody was holding a sign that read "Let Donna Graduate". If you recall either Beverly Hills 90210 or my installments on the topic of the show, you'll remember that Donna Martin (played by Tori Spelling) was kicked-out of school just prior to graduation. Without a high school education, the future looked bleak for Donna. Because of her physical appearance, odds are she'd be sent-out to stud for a few months before being slaughtered and refined into glue.
Eventually, the school wilted under the pressure of Mr. Spelling's script and allowed Donna to graduate. Thank God for that. Mr. Nobody thought his sign would incite laughter because of its trivial nature, and it did, at least I laughed when I heard it, but nonetheless the police were put in a difficult situation.
Amongst thousands of police, it can be expected that there were a few bad apples. The Toronto Star clearly has a few, just read the entertainment section (not including Peter Howell, Ben Rayner or Richard Ouznanian) or the GTA section (which amounts to 8 pages of journalistic diarrhea) to confirm that within each sub-section of the work force, there are those who take less pride in their work than others.
The Toronto Star is painting a picture that casts doubts on the entire force, pigeonholing the 99% who are upstanding police officers into the same category as the few that allegedly committed brutal and violent attacks during the G20 Summit.
Were I, or any of my readers put in a situation with our backs to the wall and a handful of violent protesters wreaking havoc amongst the civil and peaceful lot, I wonder how you or I would have reacted.
I think, nay I know, that one skids broken nose and the misuse of power of a single police officer does not necessitate front-page news months after the fact.
The Toronto Star, you are my jerk of the week. Enjoy.
By no means does the above opinion have anything to do with the fact that the Star has repeatedly turned-down the authors query letters and freelance work because it's too fucking cheap to hire real writers, after letting-go of much of their senior staff because they are moving-away from salaries and towards contract work for recent grads with whom they can play puppet master.
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