FATE KEEPS throwing you these litte moral challenges, doesn’t it? Sometimes I think life is a morality play, more than any other single thing. A litle while ago, innocently enough, agreed to be a judge in this year’s Western Magazine Awards. This is fair enough. I’ve done it before, and before that | won a few of those awards myself. I sort of owe it. As a working writer, | know how important awards are to a freelancer’s life. They go into the resume, you know. profile of my old eco-comrade, Paul Watson. By most of the judging guidelines, it was a terrific piece. It was well-organized, used anecdotes and dialogue effectively, estab- lished character, and was sty- listicatly coherent. Yet it was a hatchet-job. I hated it. Hated the writer for doing to Watson what I, myself, ce Watson is intensely disliked by the media mafia, for the reason, I think, that he has made his own disdain for the herd reflexes of the media perfectly clear.’’ Having been written about in magazine pieces, as well as having written about other people, I have seen it from both sides. As impor- tant as an award-winning article might be to the writer, that same article can mean almost life or death for the subject. It is an important public business, the writing of magazine articles about people. A budding star’s future can sometimes depend on the right publicity at the right time. It is no coincidence that cab- inet ministers can be trucked out upon demand for a profile in the right magazine. Unfair as it may be, the truth is that what happens in the media is in many respects more important than what actually happens, to the extent that it becomes the belief system of many more people than those who were merely there. History is a bitch. And, in the end, all it amounts to is the clip- pings. It is important that those clip- Pings be as accurate as possible. So. The moral dilemma is that when the submissions and scoresheets arrived for the Western Magazine Awards, one of them was a piece from West Magazine, titled Watson’s Folly. It was a had done often enough to other people, notably politicians, but also to a few businessmen and even the occasional activist or other writer. - Why feel sorry for Watson? He is surely a politician, too. And can dish it out. And therefore should be able to take it. Yet what appears on the pages of magazines is no more an acci- dent of fate than the choice of what appears on our TV screens or in movie theatres. In the case of print, we are talk- ing about the power of editors and publishers, as opposed to the power of directors and producers, but it all amounts to the same thing: somebody decides what's going into the product. In this case, the editorial deci- sion, obviously, was to ‘‘get’’ Watson. This, by the way, is something the Vancouver media have been doing for decades, it seems. Watson is intense :y disliked by the local media mafia, for the reason, I think, that he has made his own disdain for the herd reflexes of the media perfectly clear, So every once in a while he has to be stabbed again. The writer went along for the cide on a trip onto the Pacific last summer when Watson tried to harass tuna boats. It was, by all accounts, one of Watson’s leasi- successful missions. Some trips work. Others don’t. To me, the amazing part is any- body having the courage and will to go out there again and again, not only in the face of the in- evitable tensions and terrors of high-seas confrontation, but also in the face of put-downs, rejection and constant criticism. The West piece was vintage in- tellectua! snobbery. Playing God, the magazine writer crafted a caricature of Wat- son, drawing on all the usual cliches: Captain Ahab, John Wayne, a guy whose “‘interest flags if the conversation strays too far from his favorite subject — himself,’’ a guy who ‘‘needs a next chapter for his autobiography.”’ Whew! What a mean-spirited portrayal! It was utterly convinc- ing. Or, at least, if I didn’t know Watson so well myself, I would think so. Here is a guy who has repeatedly risked his life to defend the natural order, probably the most truly selfless individual I know, a guy whose sensitivity is such that he has to put up a lot of psychological defences just to ward off the various attacks he has to endure, being presented as a mere egomaniac. And worse, the writer tried to pass off the hatchet-job as being some kind of in-depth analysis! The ‘Canadian Syndrome”’ is at work here, of course: Dumping on Canucks. We really do hate heroes. That’s probably more a factor in the decay of the country than anything else. We tear our heroes down, repudiate them, cannibalize them. Anyway, I can’t be objective about this particular piece, ’'m afraid. It might be the best profile of the lot, although that would be a sad commentary on the state of the art, to my mind. I'l] have to ask the awards executive whether | should withdraw as a judge or just ignore that one piece and ask someone else to pass a judgment on ite aaa se Drivers guilty of drinking RECENT CONVICTIONS in North Shore courts have resulted in fines and penalties for drinking and driving . WEST VANCOUVER: Murray McClaren, 40, 283 Wooddale Road, North Vancouver (over .08, $1,000 fine, one-year driving suspension); Rosalind Comber, 32, 1018 Kennedy Avenue, North 8 es) "Ny Vancouver (over .08, $500 fine, One-year driving suspension); Harold Brian Vail, 36, 803-1775 Bellevue Avenue, West Vancouver (impaired driving, $500 fine. PLEASE HELP US... | to provide milk, bread, fruits : and vegetables, etc. FEED THE HUNGRY IN OUR COMMUNITY © $20 helps us buy a weekly bag of groceries for one family ¢ $60 helps sustain a family for one month © $720 assists thal same family for a year Please help those in need. Ali donations are tax deduciible, CLIP AND MAIL WITH YOUR GIET TODAY _ YES! { want to provide food for the hungry, 5g ‘ QOs2 1 $600 $720 Omer $__, Water use record set GREATER VANCOUVER Regional District (GVRD) water users have set a new record for water consumption in the region. Last year, 37! billion litres of water was consumed in the metro- politan area. That, according to the GVRD, is the equivatent of 760 ° titres for every person in the region every day. The previous one-year record of 357.3 billion litres was set in 1987, The one-day record fer use of water in the region, 1.96 billion litres on June 29, 1987, still stands. Water is supplied by the GVRD to member municipalities at a cost of less than five cents per 1,000 litres. YOUR BEST ASSURANCE FOR FAST COMPREHENSIVE REAL ESTATE SERVICE SUTRUE KRAMHS ORD ike Nakayama Bus: 922-6166 Res: 984-7574 ve MONTREAL TRUST REAL ESTATE International Women’s Day Thursday, March 8 FREE LECTURES 8:30 - 9:30 p.m. Several college faculty will be dedicating their lectures to women’s issues on this day. The community is invited to attend. COMMUNITY FORUM 5:30 - 7 p.m. Information tables will be set up by local community groups, and free wine and cheese and a hot and cold buffet will be offered. Room H402. THE MARY CATHERINE PATERSON LECTURE, 7:30 p.m. Room A117 Shelagh Day will be speaking on ‘Women’s Legal Rights in the 1990s: Progress and Resistance’’. A schedule of the day’s events is available in the Student Society office (Room N116) or by calling 984-4953. CAPILANO COLLEGE 2055 Purcell Way ¢ North Vancouver « 8.C. 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