PETER SMOCZYNSKI  

Albert Einstein said in 1954, the last year of his life, "The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.​" 

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If Einstein believed his world was a dangerous place then the world today, our world, is on a razor's edge. Israel is dipped in the blood of wholesale genocide. Once again war rages on Europe's doorstep courtesy of a former KGB agent channeling Stalin. In the West an evil sociopath clown beyond being unfit for office presents a clear and present danger to American allies (as we Canadians discovered) and the very democracy that landed his pathetic sociopath ass in the Oval Office. Once more as Einstein said  "because people don't do anything about it" the evil clown enjoys cult status support, operates with impunity as the people's elected executive cowers.  ​And Einstein would be disheartened but not surprised to witness racism once more march openly in American streets. 

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THE ART OF THE LIE

 

Misinformation has become a well funded industry, uber sophisticated professionals creating and implementing schemes. The "geeks" weaponize entire internet followers/subscribers, tens of thousands into the millions. These are the shock troops, encouraged to undermine elections, break democratic norms by flooding social media with misinformation, disinformation, fake news and now with the advent of AI "deep fake" imagery, well, anything goes.

 

Just ask Melania.

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Recently, on the 50th anniversary of the American withdrawal from Vietnam, a NETFLIX documentary series on the war touched upon the American Indochina doctrine to win "hearts and minds" of the Vietnamese people. Well, it didn't go well for the Americans, but five decades later it is the major theme in any misinformation campaign. Putin has or had a majority of the Russian populace convinced Ukraine started the war. He won the "hearts and minds " of his fellow Russians.

 

Today, the "hearts and minds" of Canada are targeted by bad actors with only one goal; to break us as a people and as a country. As always, the hard right wing in this country emulates Republican MAGA think. ​Danielle Smith is one such prize. Canadian social media can be as ugly and dangerous as anywhere in the world. For example: our leaders their families face death threats on a regular basis. Justin Trudeau and his family were the target of numerous credible death threats serious enough for the authorities to warrant arrests. This is MAGA influenced insanity.  A sewer Pierre Poilievre gladly waded through past "Fuck Trudeau" banners during "the freedom convoy" occupation camp in the Nation's Capital. Poilievre handed out Tim Hortons coffee.

 

Our country, cannot allow cult status fringe politics to shape the future. 

 

"RAGE BAITING"

 

Poilievre has long crossed the line between responsible free speech and "rage baiting" rather he vaporized it...with a flamethrower. And proudly so. 

 

The first time I'd heard the term "rage baiting" was by way of Charlie Angus in response to a right wing advocacy frontman, passing himself off as "journalist" for a Youtube Channel "news agency"  (that doesn't deserve to be named here).

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"I don't buy into rage baiting. Fuck off."  Charlie said. Clear. Simple. And to the point. Charlie gets it. Right wing fringe "reporters" are a waste of time yet because of the internet and social media these "news" outfits build followings. Why? Because "rage bait" draws subscribers. Attract the numbers? You'll put your kid through university. 

 

When Canadians are angry and feel disenfranchised, we are like anyone else, we need to commiserate. "Rage Bait" takes that human emotion to the next level.  It provides a venue that reflects the very personal anger drawn to "rage baiting" onto the masses, a connection, to validate the anger. Therein a neuro-chemical response fired through the brain. Like nicotine, smack. cocaine or alcohol.

 

Think death scrolling for the next hit.

 

Now, add NEWS broadcasters, podcasts and Youtube channels into the mix and a firestorm of vitriol seethes off every mobile phone, 24/7 on the planet. It is a brilliant delivery system, straight into the bloodstream, anywhere and anytime. The perfect platform for misinformation. Why? Misinformation feeds and fuels the anger.

 

 ​"Rage Bait" programming now permeates the airwaves. CNN has resurrected its ratings with souless individuals such as Scott Jennings and Kevin O'Leary on an nightly orchestrated shitshow in all out diatribe of conflated gaslighting.  But, here is the genius of it,  "rage baiting" is not about the truth or even the lies, it's about shaming that which is perceived to be responsible for the personal internal burn of one's anger.  It is "owning" the counter argument.

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If one attracts and assembles angry disillusioned, disenfranchised crowds in the village square, keep them there long enough, that anger will ignite a inferno of fury hellbent on retribution and raze the village to the ground.  

 

Think January 6th.   

 

MISINFORMATION CANADIAN STYLE

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Misinformation campaigns have long infiltrated Canadians' daily diet of social media as well as our national political discourse but the 45th General Election witnessed a dangerously new low.

 

Enter The National Post. A right wing entity desperate to stall Poilievre's election campaign death spiral.

 

Think Wile E. Coyote in thin air above the Grand Canyon. 

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For years The National Post, arm in arm with Poilievre's CPC, indulged in endless Trudeau bashing (Trudeau did himself no favours)  having achieved the desired poll results. Justin Trudeau was hammered into the mat as Poilievre stretted about as the working class hero (much like his mentor Stephen Harper, has never held down a real job) the man of the people, Pierre "Canada is broken" Poilievre, the Great White Hope. It was all going according to plan.  

 

​But Canada was not broken. Far from it.  Late in 2024, Canadians galvanized from coast to coast to coast, in a first, to meet the existential threat from a rogue White House. Canada spawned a grassroots movement without political leadership but for your average next door neighbour. 

 

Then Trudeau, in the final round of his political career, unleashed an uppercut square to the rightwing mandible lifting the CPC off its feet.  Down and out.  Trudeau's resignation and departure was perfectly time for Carney's entrance.

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Virtually overnight, the Liberal Party's support skyrocketed into the lead leaving the CPC back in 2015. It was unheard of. Carney's LBC campaign slogan CANADA STRONG was embraced. Meanwhile, Poilievre's CANADA FIRST - (white on red placards) became a searing MAGA brand festering on the CPC's forehead. 

 

The Canadian MAGA pundits looked on in abject horror. Canadians had wiped out every right wing slogan off the campaign map. This was not about politics it was about Canadian principles as a peoples. As a nation. 

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The National Post power players were rabid with retribution. How could this be? Their first CPC "star" candidate in years and here the election is lost before the writ was dropped.

 

So, brazenly and unapologetically, The National Post with its "contributors" (mostly all former Harper and Poilievre administration) knowingly and repeatedly published false misleading stories in a clear attempt to discredit Mark Carney.

 

The unthinkable had come to Canada. FOX NEWS in a newspaper format with a strong national following. An apoplectic Conrad Black, an old Trumpist whore, himself a convicted felon (who actually spent time in a prison cell) and pardoned by Trump, Black behaved as if voters were guilty of treason supporting a Liberal Party that should be ashamed of itself for electing Carney who had the gall to run a campaign. As Prime Minister.  This from Conrad Black a pompous elitist who renounced his Canadian citizenship for tinsel and title, then begged to be brought back into the Canadian fold (2023) 

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Think bone spurs. 

 

Therein lies the point of this scribble (or is it screed) The National Post, decided, clearly, in broad daylight to spread misinformation/disinformation to tarnish and disparage the Carney campaign.  And nobody, not a single one,  did a damn thing to stop The National Post editors. 

 

It didn't work. 

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The writ period was quick in coming and short. The CPC's braintrust behaved as if they'd won the election by default but more importantly Canadians turned away in droves from MAGA jingoism adopted by CPC's campaign manager Jenni Brynes.

 

Canadians wanted and elected the adult in the room. 

 

Now, here is, the concern.

 

A clear majority was projected for Carney's Liberals in the first weeks of the campaign, by election day the Liberal numbers had slipped. It was not due to the Poilievre campaign, an exercise in dissociative identity disorder with the incompetent Jenni Byrne scripting dialogue. No, it's probable  misinformation/disinformation on a national scale reaped the desired effect: hurt the Carney numbers.  Two weeks more? And maybe, just maybe, Carney today would be leader of the opposition to a minority CPC government.

 

Think about it.

 

How lightning quick misinformation impacts and alter a nation's destiny.​ We've witnessed it so just south of the border. And, like voter suppression, it cannot be allowed to flourish but choked off. Legislation is needed to punish those who willfully and with malice, launch misinformation/disinformation schemes or campaigns.

 

The National Post has proven misinformation under the guise of shoddy or partisan journalism is very doable and without consequence or penalty. And it works. A legal distinction must be created otherwise, no longer will Canada's federal elections be considered "free and fair".   

 

Or as Mr Einstein said, "The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.​"

 

Peter Smoczynski

MAY 23, 2025
 

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