Boycott CUPE???

Shortly after Sid Ryan, the head of the Canadian Union of Public Employees of Ontario (CUPE-Ontario), decided that Canadian universities should boycott Israeli academics unless they specifically denounce their government’s actions in Gaza, some calls were made for people to boycott CUPE. As well meaning as this suggestion is, it is simply impossible. Much like mosquitoes on a hot, damp summer’s day, Sid’s brothers and sisters are everywhere.

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They’re in hospitals, they’re in schools (except York University where they are on a seemingly endless strike), they’re in the parks and they’re on the streets. While Citypulse News loves to proclaim “we’re everywhere”, CUPE actually is. A boycott would be totally unworkable and it is even hard to justify why the Jewish Defence League protested outside the union’s head office last week. Protests and calls for boycotts will accomplish nothing other than to overinflate the Hamas sympathizing union boss’s already overinflated ego.           If people really want to protest against CUPE, they should ignore Ryan, who by any objective standard ought to be ignored, and go after Sid’s enablers. One of Ryan’s biggest enablers is the CTS TV network, a supposed Christian network that airs in Alberta and Ontario. CTS carries the Michael Coren Show five days a week and Coren gives Ryan a weekly platform to air his hate although in fairness Ryan does not preach hate every time he’s on. Simply having a guest make an appearance to discuss a particular matter is one thing; providing a regular weekly spot is another.           Now Coren and presumably the network would argue that giving a weekly opportunity to Coren’s close friend Ryan is okay because Coren’s show does provide balance and represents all viewpoints. This is true and Coren himself provides the balance to Sid Ryan’s obsession for singling out Israel for all the evil that occurs in the world. But the issue is not balance but where do you draw the line? Would Coren give a platform to a member of the NAMBLA, the North American Man/Boy Love Association to talk about the joys of having sex with little boys, provided of course that that view is balanced? Highly unlikely. But allowing Israel to be singled out is justified in the name of balance.           Friday’s Michael Coren Show started off with a beaming Michael gloating over how he expected the ratings of that show to be higher than normal because Sid was appearing. This was followed by Sid giving out a girly-man laugh and saying that the station will make more money to give to charities.  We can guess what charities the CUPE president would like to see the money go to. The guests on that show included Claire Hoy and the Calgary Sun’s Rick Bell. Coren should be given a lot of credit for adding Bell to the show; unlike Michael and Hoy, Bell was not going to waste precious air time going on about what a great guy Sid is. Coren finally came up for an explanation for Ryan’s views; he has a “blind spot” towards Israel. The fawning over Sid was obnoxious.           Ryan went on and on in his whiny little voice about how the Israelis bombed a university in Gaza. When Michael Coren asked him what CUPE’s position was on the terrorist attack that had taken place on Israel’s Hebrew University, Ryan dismissively said that he didn’t know anything about it. Anyone who follows world affairs would have remembered at least after Coren refreshed their memory, that there was in fact an attack carried out by Hamas against the Hebrew University back in 2002. But Ryan isn’t interested in anything that can’t be blamed on the Jewish state.           Sid also made fun of the fact that most of the missiles launched by Hamas are crude and can hardly do any damage. These thousands of missiles that are being fired into southern Israel are no big deal to either Sid or his union.  Ryan added that he retracted his Israel/Nazi comparison when he received a telephone call from a woman who told him about how hurtful those Nazi comparisons are to Jews, especially holocaust survivors and their relatives. And, apparently this woman was polite and did not curse and swear like the other Jews that have called him. Ryan would have us believe that he only learned that Nazi comparisons is hurtful to many Jewish people (Sid also had referred to Mike Harris as a Nazi). The reality is that he was probably telling the truth; Jews aren’t worth thinking about. As disgusting as Sid Ryan is, he pales in comparison to CTS that gives him a weekly platform to air his ignorant views, in between comments by Coren and Hoy who are quick to make excuses for him. Boycotting or picketing CUPE is a complete waste of time; there are better ways to make the point. It’s too bad Ernst Zundel isn’t still around; he’s much more intelligent than Ryan is and would make a much better guest, even though he has a “blind spot” when it comes to Jews.

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