Re: ‘Letter to the NHL; Spec publisher urges league to explore Hamilton’ (May 9)
It may be The Spectator publisher’s prerogative to plead for more “rabid” sports fans in the streets, but unless I’m supposed to stop considering myself a “Spectator reader,” don’t claim to do so on my behalf. As these hordes of psychologically impaired “hockey-mad” zombies will likely end up rampaging through my neighbourhood, I have no interest in seeing any NHL team brought to Hamilton.
As a “business-friendly” newspaper, The Spectator is entitled to represent the interests of groups whose idea of democracy only includes people who can afford to participate. I don’t dispute that right because I think journalistic objectivity is a myth. But claiming to represent the community alienates anyone who isn’t a sports fan or doesn’t define the word “jobs” as “private profits.” Some of us believe the Chamber of Commerce is just another faith-based political action committee representing a religion that’s failed miserably. Or that taxes should fund the political process, not fees.
The Spectator’s mean-spirited cartoonist has already launched a volley. We’ll probably see letters to the editor followed by an editorial lambasting city council as “dysfunctional” because someone has the audacity to question whether it’s prudent to clamor for spending taxpayer money like drunken sailors or fork over more responsibility to private interests every time a sporting event is dangled in front of our noses. This is still more or less democracy; if you want a more efficient and “business-friendly” system, move to China.
Perhaps worst of all, the space devoted to this issue is sure to infringe upon the persistent and entertaining “evolution vs. fantasy” debate.
S. David Wilson, Hamilton