A recent article from  the Globe and Mail caught my attention the other day. The story focuses on the arrest of  Buddy Tavares caught on video. Sound familiar? This is not the first time we have heard of our Canadian Mounties caught is some despicable act on tape, nor am I sure will it be the last. However, after reading the article a few thoughts did come to mind.

First I thought, not again, remembering a similar incident which happened not long ago with Robert Dziekanski.  Not knowing the whole story I read further and I could not believe what I witnessed after watching the video of the arrest.  Clearly it shows a man, Buddy Tavares, being arrested by the police slowly stepping out of his vehicle with his hands behind his head and immediately upon exiting his vehicle proceeds to kneel on the ground at the request of the officer . The officer, gun in hand then proceeds to walk up and bluntly kick Buddy Tavares squarely in the face for no apparent reason. My God!  It left my gut feeling abhorrent and desperately wanting to speak out against such atrocious behaviour on the part of the officer. As I found my way to the end of the article, I noticed that the comments had been disabled for this particular story. Now where have I seen that before?

The English dictionary describes censorship as the following:

Seems to me that the media like to take sides in these sensitive issues, as this is not the first time I have come across such censorship.  I have seen it on other sites as well. The Globe cites legal reasons for shutting out comments, yet the raw video on You Tube  has comments enabled.  I remember even A&E  had censored and shut down a discussion on Dog The Bounty Hunter because they say there was to much profanity.  Hell, and I thought we live in a free  and democratic society? I say if you’re going to play that crap on TV, then be prepared and listen to what the people have to say. Same goes for reporting. What is the purpose of reporting a story if the people really have no say in it?

On the other end of the spectrum a article published in the Toronto Sun about a protester at the recent funeral of Police Sgt. Ryan Russell seemed all to eager to have comments enabled. Can someone explain to me what’s the big difference between the two articles is and just who does the media serve? I think it’s time that the media do what’s right and let the voice of the people be heard. Really… STOP THE CENSORSHIP! What is the harm? These days we can all watch in abundance the violence, sex and profanity right in our living rooms. YES … we as diplomatic citizens who pay taxes and have the right to vote should be able to voice our opinions or concerns where ever and when ever we feel over such material and not have our comments censored by the whim of some moral outlet. Let the voice of the people be heard no matter who’s  to blame. The truth does and always will prevail.