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UPDATE! Latest proposal from TVO is for me to come on first for 15 minutes one-on-one with Steve Paikin to discuss "the larger ideas", followed by the Sock Puppet Three on their own for 20 minutes to piss all over me, followed by me alone for a ten-minute rebuttal. Of course, the Sock Puppets have already done the show, whereas I never have. But now we're going to have some stupid crappy stilted format just to accommodate the sensitivities of these fraudulent non-complainants. God Almighty, given the amount of money Canadian taxpayers are giving to the Canadian Islamic Congress to pursue this prosecution, you'd think they could find one Sock Puppet who'd be up to 15 minutes of honest debate. Maybe next time they should be like "Little Mosque On The Prairie" and get the Muslim roles played by non-Muslims.
After bleating for five months about how all they want to do is "start a debate", the Sock Puppet Three finally got the chance to have one - on TVO's Agenda with Steve Paikin, tonight at 8pm Eastern. And, even though there's only one of me and three of them, I was happy to take part. Unfortunately, the Sock Puppet nellies are refusing, which is an interesting insight into the sincerity of their we-only-want-to-start-a-debate mantra. Here's the latest email from TVO's producer to my publicist:
After our agreement last evening for Mark to join the debate after the 1x1, we have informed the three panellists about our change of plans. We have just received a negative response from them.
Their main reason is that this is not what they have initially agreed to and that they would not have the time to prepare for such a debate. The other reason they offered is that their complaint is with Macleans' magazine and not Mark Steyn personally.
Given this picture, I think we need to go back to our original plan of keeping the combatants apart.
Wodek
To which Kathleen replied:
Hi Wodek-
If these students refuse to debate despite the fact that they have been publically trashing Mark for four months now (including at their press conference two weeks ago when Ms Sheikh called him “Islamophobic,”) then it is only fair that these interviews be done in the same order as a Canadian court of law. The students can make their accusations first and Mark, the accused, gets to defend himself only after those accusations.
If they say they are not accusing Mark of anything then why have you juxtaposed them on the same show?
Aside from that, the Sock Puppets have been on this show before to explain their position. I never have. This is my first appearance on this show and I assumed I was coming on to talk about my book and the issues it raises. But we found out just yesterday - from the website - that Steve Paikin and his producers had booked the Sock Puppet Three on the same show as me. Paikin's crowd never told us about this and weren't planning to, but evidently they told the Sock Puppets, which is in itself interesting. If I were of a suspicious bent, I might be asking, as Mark Bourrie does, "Is Steyn being set up?"
Instead, when I heard about it, I immediately said, great, let's have a debate. No point me being in the same studio as the Sock Puppets and being kept in a hermetically sealed compartment. Yet even with a three-to-one advantage the Socks pussied out.
This is Islam as represented by the likes of the Canadian Islamic Congress. They don't want any kind of honest open debate, because they can't handle it. That's why they prefer to use government agencies to shut down debate on the specious grounds of invented crimes like "Islamophobia". And apparently TV producers, having been complicit in the fraud that the Sock Puppets are "the complainants", are willing to protect the wee sensitive souls from any exposure of the charade.
Ah, well. We're still negotiating. I think the latest pitch is for me to show up just to trash the set.
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