Sunday, April 21, 2013

Joe Oliver's Blowjob


Joe Oliver got a freebie from Claudia Cattaneo in the pages of the Financial Post.

In an extraordinary puff piece, 'A Battle of Canada's Future: How Joe Oliver has become Canada's energy pitchman,' Cattaneo praises ol' Joe for firmly standing up to those whom Joe finds are "inimical to Canadian national interests."  It's a truly amazing piece of garbage journalism.

Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi discussed the current penchant for Cattaneo's sort of blowjob journalism in an article about Paula Broadwell's "slobberific" Petraeus biography, "All In".

Then it hit me – it was an interesting book, after all! Because if you read All In carefully, the book's tone will remind you of pretty much any other authorized bio of any major figure in business or politics (particularly in business), and it will most particularly remind you of almost any Time or Newsweek famous-statesperson profile.


Which means: it's impossible to tell the difference between the tone of a reporter who we now know was literally sucking the dick of her subject and the tone of just about any other modern American reporter who is given access to a powerful person for a biography or feature-length profile.

Decades ago, when people like Sy Hersh were the go-to-profilers of influential people, journalists reflexively distrusted power, and any reporter, male or female, who wrote a blowjob profile (that's what we call them) of a politician or tycoon was looked down upon as a hack and a traitor. But these days, you can't tell the difference between your average profile of a Senator or CEO or a four-star general and an ESPN feature about a day in the life of Lebron James. We're supposed to make heroes out of sports stars, but what's everyone else's excuse? At least Broadwell did it for love. Well, maybe it wasn't even that . .



Notice:  Nothing in this post should be construed to suggest that Ms. Cattaneo has ever had any actual physical contact with Joe Oliver, of any nature whatsoever, either in the preparation of her odious article or at any other time.

4 comments:

the salamander said...

I'm sorry .. I tried
but only got a few paragraphs in..
could go no further

By then I was completely attuned
with your view of this particular instance..
and could read no further ..

He's a disgustingly, dangerous, misled creature
fine with environmental destruction
He's either snapped,
or never had a Canadian conscience
and like Das Stevie, never will

As for Ms Cattaneo ..
you've been blunt.. and accurate

Let's look to support exemplars
who will offset traitors and ignoramuses
such as these troglodytes

The Mound of Sound said...

Sal, in a corporatist mass media as we have now in Canada, the cartel seems to encourage this sort of faux journalism. This journo is like a litter box attendant, always kicking fresh sand to hide the latest turd.

kootcoot said...

At the risk of seeming to be "personal" I must say that Joe is a hideous looking creature! I think this is what someone would look like who subsists on a diet of dilbit.

You had a bit of a typo and referred to Joe Harper, but on second thought they do seem to be related and share similar pathologies - same sex marriage perhaps?

The Mound of Sound said...

A "diet of dilbit" - love it. And thanks for pointing out the Harper/Oliver mix-up. Fixed. And I'm sure there is a common pathology.