Investigation needed into who is lying to the public at the U of L
By Lethbridge Herald on March 26, 2022.
Editor:
M Bryson Brown submitted a letter to your paper stating and I quote: “Their (administration) response to our strike was to continue refusing to negotiate, while lying to the public, claiming that we were the ones who refused to negotiate.”
I have a simple solution: The public pays these people their wages, administration is put there to be above reproach and stand as a “pillar of truth”! I would suggest an investigation be conducted! Whomever was lying, or is lying, to the people who pay their wage, should be fired. So the question now is, who is/was lying?
Lying is not a negotiation tactic, slight distortions might be, but lying is not! Considering the many utterances of high wisdom posted in these papers guiding the peons of Lethbridge, the liars, should not be allowed to tarnish Lethbridge’s own Vatican!
Dennis Bremner
Lethbridge
7-6
That’s the threshold? Who’s lying!? Then I’ve got no worries — by September I’ll be back in my little Poli Sci office overlooking the river valley, personally working with students and colleagues once again (remember, we’re still on COVID-19 lockdown).
That is, unless the BoG and admin decide to unilaterally restructure ULeth and force my butt out. If that occurs, my leaving won’t be because I lied to you or the public about lockout-related events. That’s for certain!
As for ‘you the peon’ comment, I don’t get that personally. I can only guess that you’ve been harmed or wronged or insulted by someone from the university community, and that’s unfortunate.
Personally, I go to ball games and rock concerts and Las Vegas with my neighbours. We have block/backyard parties. We openly discuss all sorts of issues ranging from provincial and federal politics to the Blue Jays chances. I can also say that just like everyone else, respect is the foundation of those relationships.
None of the dozens of folks I’ve mentioned here in passing works at the uni. We’ve nevertheless become good friends because our work is just that — it’s not our identity but simply a place we hang our hats for the day while we earn our wages (you know, work to live not live to work).
Getting back to the uni, I can only hope that you one day get to meet some of my colleagues. While not elite paragons of the community in the way you’re describing (well, we do have a few to those folks and they indeed deserve their titles), they’re just great people to call neighbours.
Sorry you’ve missed out on this to date. Good luck Dennis.
Strange, the quote is from Dr Bryson Brown , who did not suggest, “misdirection, falsehoods, misquotes, misstatements, misunderstandings, fabrication or even Bullsh*t etc etc, He specifically stated “lying”. The definition of a lie is the following: to make an untrue statement/s with intent to deceive.
Which as a scholarly type I would have expected you to recognize Mr Belanger?
A lie has an intent to deceive! So, was there intent to deceive? If there was, and the deceptions purpose was to deceive the public, do you not believe that it is worthy of an investigation? If Dr Brown had suggested bullsh*t, or a falsehood, one could dismiss what was, or was not stated, as being atypical negotiations. But to state “a Lying”, as in being a “liar”, is a significant accusation, but you obviously disagree?
I have always been taught that the term has a far greater importance than any other. So either Dr Brown withdraws the comment, or their should be an investigation into “tactics during negotiations” and whether the intent by either side was to intentionally deceive the public for personal/group benefit.
The author of the above letter, makes no presumption as to whom is the liar or if a lie occurred, but obviously the accusation by Dr Brown has been made, so lets get to the bottom of it.
Perhaps this will help. An example: If I call a person a liar, or, if I call a person a Bullshi**er publicly, I have achieved somewhat the same thing, would you agree? Do both have the same impact on the person’s character? No! Is one characterization libelous or are both? Feel free to consult with the Halls of Wisdom you roam.
Further, if this accusation was done during negotiations between a burger joint and its staff it would not be “right either”! An institution that teaches the Youth of Society, what Society believes to be virtues it values, and then participates in “Lies as a tactic” does not square the circle of being an institution with ethics, does it?
The burger joint does not hold itself out as an “institution of higher ethics”, but Universities do! So lets get to the bottom of this accusation(if any truth in the accusation), ensure someone is held responsible , and make sure it never happens again!
The “truth “ will be somewhere in between. “Refuse to negotiate” sounds bad , I’m sure there is a qualifier—“because – – – “.2 sides trying to maintain public image.
Dennis, you are bang on. But in addition to lying, or rather, it’s what they hold back or neglect to disclose, that’s just as bad.
Dennis, “utterances of high wisdom posted in these papers”; that’s a good one. How would you suggest your “utterances” be characterized?
Average Joe not part of the woke Gen or Cancel Culture
How do you define “Wokeness”?
Mrs. Kidd, since Mr. Turbine-wine won’t respond to your question, I will.
My Wife and I ordered dinner tonight from a local Chinese restaurant. The food was really good, but I when I opened my fortune cookie, I noticed the message was written in English and in French. Clearly, that is the pinnacle of “wokeness”!
PW – you can be such a Kn*b sometimes. This is a forum for serious and thoughtful discourse. You should not mock others.
Another term for average is normal. Do you know what Bruce Cockburn said about normal in his song “The Trouble with Normal”?
I note the comment about the “Woke Gen” and compose this entry after watching Saturday’s hockey game between the Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers. The play-by-play was called by Harnarayan Singh, from Brooks, and the commentator was Cassie Campbell-Pascall.
My grandparents were bigots; they were products of their time, and would have been outraged by the situation described above. They would have regarded it as a capitulation to the so-called “Woke Lobby”, as opposed to a response to decades of the door being closed to people who didn’t look like, think like, and murder the English language like folks like Don Cherry. From my point of view, this is Canada in 2022, and it is long overdue!!!