Non-investigative reporting

For the most part, I tend to be a fan of the Star, but here's some due criticism. This article deserves nothing but scorn - not because the data isn't somewhat interesting, but because the conclusions are twisted far beyond belief.

The premise is that a reporter, David Bruser, put on a Southern accent and pretended to be a Bush supporter to test reaction from Canadians.

Here's a fun little test. In each of the following pairs, see if you can spot which quote is which.

1. One quote is from a person surveyed by Bruser. One is from a prominent American political pundit.
(a) "Reconsider your views."
(b) "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity."

2. One quote is from a person surveyed by Bruser, speaking about American politics. One is from Canada's Blog of the Year speaking about Canada's government.
(a) "On the rather central issue of the country's medium-term survivability you have two naked parties complaining about each other's choice of clothes. Gee, what's not to trust?"
(b) "They boast. They have this and they have that. (If they spent less) time doing that, they'd just get their problems solved."

3. One is the percentage of people approached by Bruser who, in his view, "acted snotty" toward him. One is the percentage of Americans who approve of the use of torture.
(a) 23%
(b) 39%

4. One is Bruser's feared reaction from two people who cracked a joke at his expense. One is the actual result of the rendition of Maher Arar.
(a) "The screams of my fellow inmates filled my waking hours and remain with me to this day."
(b) "The way they carried on, I thought they were going to high-five each other."

Now somehow, out of this, Bruser's thesis is that he's proven the presence of "ugly anti-Americans" in Canada, and that we should all be ashamed.

From the above comparisons, let's make two things clear.

First, in both the actual American public discourse and Canada's view of its own politicians, Bruser's idea of "ugly" wouldn't even register as worthy of note.

Second, there are genuinely ugly aspects of current American policy which are supported by a large number of Americans. Granted, we shouldn't make unfair generalizations or forget the importance of the U.S. to ourselves and the world at large. At the same time, we also shouldn't be so desperate to be seen as polite as to be silent when America does wrong.