08 September, 2001

Hurtful Words — War Declared On Nagativity  Our sister publication, The National Post, today ran a story about prominent Americans, including President George W. Bush, Tom Cruise and Rudi Giuliani, who have declared war on gossip and sleazy stories, which as they rightfully point out, pervade the media. Their campaign is directed against 'hurtful words' and their aim is to restore 'dignity to the national debate.' 

We at the Pest totally support that campaign and vow that the Pest will never knowingly demean or impugn anyone's reputation or character and resolve to continue to check and double-check our sources to ensure the stories we run are factual and accurate. Unfortunately, it is our sad duty to declare that other newspapers in Canada have frequently fallen down in this regard by inserting hurtful words in their editorials. This is exemplified by a recent excerpt from The Toronto Sun, Sunday, September 2, 2001:

"We [The Toronto Sun] believe Jean Chrétien to be the most dictatorial, dogmatic, deceptive, untrustworthy, vengeful, mean and mediocre PM in recent history who makes Trudeau seem benign in comparison.

Just as we [The Toronto Sun] became a lightning rod for dissent when Pierre Trudeau rode roughshod over the economy, creating inflation and socialized chaos, so we deplore Chrétien, whose example makes the Liberal Party look worse than it otherwise would."

The Notional Pest Editorial Board (not including Scott Upchuk who was away on assignment).

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