Home of the thirsty and brave
Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers! I arrived last night at my parents’ place in Pennsylvania. After I’ve digested enough to walk again, I’m off to Cambridge (the England one), then Brisbane, Australia, then back to America before Christmas Eve (which I do celebrate, with Alex Halderman’s family).
For all the academic traveling I’ve done, this will be my first time circumnavigating the globe. I can’t wait to find out whether it’s really round, or whether thar’ be dragons at the end.
Yet wherever I go, I’ll always be an American. In Toronto’s Pearson airport, I came across a Maclean’s (roughly, Canada’s Time or Newsweek), whose cover depicted a smirking Bush holding a glass of water. The headline (which I’m not making up):
America is thirsty
Let’s sell them our water before they take it
Sure, we might be chipping away at that “land of the free” part, but we’re still the home of the brave.
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Comment #1 November 25th, 2005 at 6:09 am
An interesting article, despite the somewhat misleading title. Very convincing, but a bit one-sided as usual.
Some context:
Here’s an article in the Ottawa Citizen that talks about the “new” Maclean’s Magazine
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a full free version of the article. Essentially, it talks of how Maclean’s, in a bid to win back readership, abruptly became a right-wing publication, taking on Ken Whyte as its new editor-in-chief.
Ken Whyte started with the now defunct Alberta Report. If you’d like an idea as to where he stands politically, check out some of the cover shots of the most recent issues of the Alberta Report in this article.
In 1998, Whyte became the inaugural editor of Lord Conrad Black’s pet project, the National Post newspaper.
The point of this history lesson is that Maclean’s may not necessarily be the most unbiased publication out there. A general rule of thumb is that if there’s a buck to be made off it then Maclean’s will argue in its favour.
That said, this Maclean’s-smearing post is not an argument against selling water. It seems that the extent of damage caused to an ecosystem by removing lots of water from it is still up for debate and probably requires more research. Research that should be conducted before Canada agrees to sell its soul, er, water.
Gus
Comment #2 November 25th, 2005 at 1:23 pm
I hope you manage to get around the world in less than 80 days.
Comment #3 November 25th, 2005 at 5:03 pm
What are you doing in Brisbane?
Comment #4 November 25th, 2005 at 7:22 pm
Well, it seems that some Canadians are afraid that the US plans not only to drink out the waters of Canada, but also to start an inter-galactic war with aliens as well 🙂
Comment #5 November 25th, 2005 at 11:43 pm
“What are you doing in Brisbane?”
Giving four or five talks at U. of Queensland, chatting with anyone who’s interested, and soaking up the sun while I can.
Comment #6 November 26th, 2005 at 2:26 pm
The Walrus Magazine cover story in October, 2005 was about this very issue (I wonder where maclean’s gog the idea…) http://www.walrusmagazine.com
Comment #7 November 26th, 2005 at 2:46 pm
The story was first covered in October, on the cover of Walrus magazine (www.walrusmagazine.com)
Comment #8 November 28th, 2005 at 11:40 pm
Hey, you have a blog! (This has no bearing on anything you just said, I’m just making you aware that Sharon passed this link on to me, ’cause reading it and not making you aware that I’m reading would seem sorta creepy.) So, hi!
– Sonya
Comment #9 November 29th, 2005 at 4:07 am
Hi Sonya!