THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED:
I had to snort on Saturday when I saw a reporter on Citytv describe Warren Kinsella's self-promoting, Blue Jays attendance-boosting I Am Not Afraid campaign as ''grassroots.'' That's because it's more corporatist than grassroots. But, as Kinsella boasts, it's getting lots of MSM coverage.
The event, a t-shirt-sales extravaganza at the Rogers Centre on June 25, is supposed to show the world that Toronto stands up to terrorism. But I don't see anybody cringing, do you?
Doesn't it make more sense to go about our business -- go shopping, so to speak -- and not give the (supposed) terrorists what they want, acknowledgment of their potential power and the ability to change our way of life? Besides, isn't this event another way of convicting the 17 suspects who were arrested two weeks ago in the GTA?
I mean, nothing happened. Nothing.
Kinsella must have realized the ridiculousness of the ''I am not afraid'' slogan because it's been changed to "United We Are Toronto.'' Right. As long as we're united behind a baseball team with no pitching, overpriced beer and bland hot dogs.
Sorry. I already see a united Toronto (except maybe during World Cup season.) I see it every time I attend a Taste of the Danforth or a Caribana or any event which draws hundreds of thousands, in all our multi-culti splendour. None of these events have been cancelled. And they're already significant tourist attractions.
And yet, here's Kinsella to CP:
"This is about regular people quietly saying (to terrorists), 'Nope,
this isn't going to work. ... We're just going to go to the ball game
and reclaim public space.' "
Earth to Warren: Maybe you ought to get out of your white-bread world sometime.
Kinsella's campaign has apparently divided the progressive blogosphere. Some capital-L Liberals are supporting the event perhaps because capital-L Liberals (Kinsella, Dennis Mills, Jerry Grafstein) are organizing it. What's more, it may result in some much-needed media attention on the moribund Liberal leadership race.
Small-l liberals are just laughing at it. Here's Stageleft's t-shirty take. And here's Abandoned Stuff, um, throwing water all over it.
IAmNotAfraid.ca is a reactionary website designed to remind Internet-reading terrorists that Canadians are not afraid of them. How does it do that? Well as far as I can tell it does this by reminding average Canadians, as frequently as possible, that terrorism could strike them at any time. To combat fear we need to go to baseball games, since baseball is the natural enemy of terrorists. Eventually we will need new laws so we can deport Canadian terrorists to their grandparents’ homeland overseas, where they will be welcomed with open [fire] arms.
Oh and here's BlamBlog. And, while we're at it, there's Theo Moudakis' cartoon in today's Star.
Maybe the fact that this is getting monkey-see, monkey-do media attention shows that elitist events trump true grassroots events.
Or maybe we're just not as open a society as we pretend.
At this point, ''I am not afraid'' is getting more coverage than the huge tourist draw Pride Week -- whose parade was scheduled long ago for June 25 and whose theme this year is ''Be Fearless.'' Now talk about reclaiming public space, and showing the world that Toronto is not only safe, it also knows how to party. My guess is, 10, if not 20 times, as many people will show up at the parade -- which is free -- than at the Rogers Centre, which isn't.
If the MSM treat Gay Pride with relative disdain -- and really, what could be more Islamofascist than prancing trannies and dykes on bikes? -- then we'll know for certain that the terrorists have won.
H/t to Scott Tribe.
UPPITY DATE: Looks like they called it off. This smells like a face-saving move to me.
TORONTO, June 16
-- Toronto communications consultant Warren Kinsella, Senator Jerry
Grafstein and former M.P. Dennis Mills announced today that their group
of community volunteers will join with Tourism Toronto and the Toronto
Blue Jays for the second annual Tourism Appreciation Day on July 23rd
when the Blue Jays host the New York Yankees in a game to be widely
televised in Canada and the United States.
In a
joint statement, they said: The "United... We are Toronto” effort we
planned for the Jays-Mets Game at Rogers Centre on June 25 is now being
rolled into the Tourism Appreciation Day planned for July 23rd. We’re
thrilled to be able to share our event with theirs in order to reach a
much greater North American audience to showcase all that is great
about our City. We agreed to merge our project with the Tourism
Toronto-Jays event because we believe one great day will have more
impact than two smaller ones."
Likely to be one of the highest attended games of the year, including
thousands of US visitors and national Canadian and US media coverage,
the event builds on a partnership begun last year between the Toronto
Blue Jays and Tourism Toronto, to thank tourists for their patronage of
our community and inspire them to keep coming back.
Blue Jays President Paul Godfrey said he was pleased the Blue Jays
could again play host to such an important event. “Toronto’s tourism
industry is an important and valuable partner to the Blue Jays; we were
honoured to play host to Tourism Toronto’s successful celebration last
year and this year promises to be even better.”
Kinsella also took time to acknowledge the overwhelming support his
group had received from across the globe. “While the world was
watching, it was nice to see that they were actually paying enough
attention to understand that the key point of the story was that our
police were on the job and our city always was, and is still safe.”
Bruce MacMillan, President and CEO of Tourism Toronto, said he looked
forward to the celebration. “On behalf of Toronto’s tourism industry I
would like to start by thanking the citizens of Toronto for the concern
they have shown for our industry over the past few weeks. I am pleased
to report that the positive view of Toronto from across the world has
not changed. Tour operators and convention planners in the US and
around the world are telling us that new bookings continue and that
there has been no increase in cancellations”.
MacMillan
added that in the past two weeks Toronto has won three international
conventions, the details of which will be announced shortly. “Our pace
of future convention bookings continues at a rate not experienced since
2002.”
This summer Tourism Toronto and partners will
spend over $5 million to promote the Greater Toronto area in key
American markets to try to soften the impact the rising Canadian dollar
and high gasoline costs are continuing to have on the tourism industry
in the area and across the country. In addition, they will continue to
build on their recent success in Europe and Asia by investing heavily
in those markets.
-30-
Contact:
Andrew Weir, Tourism Toronto: (416) 987-1741
Warren Kinsella, United We Are Toronto: (416) 642-3100
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