http://www.cyclismas.com/biscuits/embattled-toronto-mayor-leads-protest-against-canadian-athlete-of-the-year/ a fresh take on cycling news and commentary Fri, 29 May 2015 20:10:08 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.38 http://www.cyclismas.com/biscuits/embattled-toronto-mayor-leads-protest-against-canadian-athlete-of-the-year/#comment-835 Sun, 30 Dec 2012 01:39:22 +0000 http://www.cyclismas.com/?p=12388#comment-835 cycletard crash except that people are posting it to their Twitter feeds without flagging it as satire.

]]> http://www.cyclismas.com/biscuits/embattled-toronto-mayor-leads-protest-against-canadian-athlete-of-the-year/#comment-834 Sat, 29 Dec 2012 18:39:28 +0000 http://www.cyclismas.com/?p=12388#comment-834 […] […]

]]> http://www.cyclismas.com/biscuits/embattled-toronto-mayor-leads-protest-against-canadian-athlete-of-the-year/#comment-833 Sat, 29 Dec 2012 17:59:31 +0000 http://www.cyclismas.com/?p=12388#comment-833 crash Your first clue should be the category under which these stories are posted – “News or Not…?” Have you never heard of The Onion? This, as well as Mercer’s other pieces, is in the fine tradition of satire. That’s the point – you always have a nugget of truth in there with the outlandishness that is specifically designed to point a finger squarely at the offending issue.
Thanks for your thoughtful reply!

]]> http://www.cyclismas.com/biscuits/embattled-toronto-mayor-leads-protest-against-canadian-athlete-of-the-year/#comment-832 Sat, 29 Dec 2012 17:49:22 +0000 http://www.cyclismas.com/?p=12388#comment-832 First to be clear: I am a cyclist in Toronto. A decade as a messenger, 5+ years pro-racer. I’m also a driver. And a Mayor Ford laugher.. not a hater, or supporter. Make no mistake, despite a few virtues (maybe) Mayor Ford can be extremely ignorant and has foot-in-mouth syndrome.
But I must ask, how much of the quotations in this satirical story are truly from the people mentioned? Has the conscience of media at all levels completely vanished? This propaganda against Mayor Ford is no different than the Amber Lyon’s whistle blowing that CNN is paid by Bahrain to air favorable news stories and censor the unfavorable. See this link if you’re unfamiliar: http://www.theidealistrevolution.com/amber-lyon-reveals-cnn-lies-and-war-propaganda/
Also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BguFDmpmBYY
Amber Lyon seems quite committed to reveal the big business of governmental censorship and propaganda in the international media. I applaud her for this. But this is nothing new in the media.
Cyclismas publishing this “story” about Mayor Ford is no different than CNN accepting payment from governments to air a preferred version of the “truth” to influence public opinion. This story by Frank Mercer is nothing short of political pandering and I think it should be viewed as such. This type of satirical small print is becoming frighteningly all too common. The falseness is not as obvious as watching the tongue-in-cheek commentary of John Stewart on the Comedy Channel.
Both of these stories popped up in my Facebook feed this morning. As I read this Ford story I became angry, at first not realizing it’s fake. There are quotations used to insinuate that the words within them actually came from Ford’s mouth! Now don’t get me wrong, in context these types of articles are funny as hell. But all too often people read them believing a great deal is truth. I think it needs to be made very clear at the top that everything written is false.
It’s a dangerous slope that idealistic people are sliding down when they themselves write untrue “quotations” in an effort to “fight the power”. The far left in Canada and the US is fast becoming as ignorant and irresponsible as the far right. Everybody wants power at any cost. If I find myself on this site again, I will take it for face value; a joke.

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