(Margaret Atwood adds lying to list of 'Order of Canada' virtues...)
D'arcy Jenish :
...It is also clear that she understands power and what it means to be powerful. She is, after all, one of the pre-eminent figures in our cultural landscape. She is accustomed to deference, adulation and, when she wants it, acquiescence. When people of her stature speak, they expect the rest of us to line up promptly and listen politely.
This is a dangerous thing for any powerful person, be it a politician, business executive or cultural figure like Ms. Atwood. These people come to believe that they can silence their opponents with bombast. They will resort to the most outrageous whoppers rather than base their arguments on fact and reason.
The Atwood essay is a good example of these tendencies. Early on, she cites a 2003-04 Canada Council study that measured the economic impact of the arts. The council concluded that cultural industries create an estimated 600,000 jobs annually. Nothing wrong with that statement. But who can believe Ms. Atwood's assertion that Mr. Harper's cuts will "jeopardize those 600,000 arts jobs and those billions of dollars they generate for Canadians"?
The cuts represent less than 2% of a departmental budget that exceeds $3-billion annually. If such a small change can have such an enormous impact, then the arts enjoy a multiplier effect unknown to more earthly pursuits like mining, manufacturing and farming.
Or who can swallow this whopper: "The total attendance for 'the arts' in Canada in fact exceeds that for sports events"?...
(h/t black kettle)
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Is she perhaps honing her skills to replace Whoopi on "The View"?
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