 Toronto,
March 10, 2004
[source]
[Ultra-sensitivity
news latest] CBC
website bars use of the word "Jewish" by Brian Hutchinson INTERNET users who post messages
on a CBC [Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation] Web site have launched complaints
that the Crown corporation routinely removes the
words "Jew," "Jewish" and Israel from network chat
rooms devoted to online discussion of news
events. Meanwhile, vulgar expletives frequently appear
on the same CBC discussion Web site. So do the
words "Nazi" and "rabid Zionist." Even the incendiary phrase "red-neck greedy
selfish Albertocentric money grubbing pig" passes
muster with CBC censors, who
use special software
to seek and destroy postings containing words they
have deemed "inappropriate." People wishing to discuss Israel and issues that
relate to the Jewish culture must disguise their
messages, complains Roy Wilson, a
Peterborough-based realtor who regularly visits the
CBC's message boards. "It's disgraceful," Mr.
Wilson said. "If I want to initiate a serious
dialogue about Israel, I have to modify the
word. I have to type in "Isr*el or some such
nonsense. If I don't change the word, my message
won't go through. It is immediately filtered and
it vanishes." The word "Palestinian" is also auto-filtered
from the CBC's message boards, but the words "Arab"
and "Muslim" are not. "Christian" is not filtered.
Neither are the words "Buddhist" and "Hindu." No one at the CBC was available yesterday to
explain. The person responsible for monitoring the
CBC's message boards did not reply to e-mail
queries. Those complaining about the censorship say
their concerns have been ignored. A New York-based attorney who posts frequently
said that the CBC began filtering the words "Jew,"
"Jewish" and "Israel" last year, after one of its
message boards, devoted to Middle East issues, was
deluged with anti-Semitic and anti-Palestinian
comments. But such postings have not ceased entirely.
"I've been called a "rabid Zionist," said the
attorney, who posts under the handle JBG. "But if I
decide to respond, even in the nicest, most polite
way, I can't use the word "Jew." And I am a Jew. I
have to make up a word instead. It's absurd." To prove his point, JBG attempted yesterday to
post the following message on a CBC message
board: "As the Jewish festival of Purim
closes, I believe it is essential for the world
to understand what it means. It is a joyous
holiday, celebrating the triumph of the Judeans
over Haman, an evil dictator. Israel has on
numerous occasions [sic] supplied the
world with what should be occasions for
rejoicing. It has triumphed over tyrants such as
Hafez Assad of Syria and Idi Amin
of Uganda. Those triumphs, rather than being
celebrated, are roundly condemned." The message did not make it past the CBC's
auto-filtering system. JBG then substituted
"Juwish" for "Jewish," and "Isr at el" for Israel.
His post was accepted immediately. According to the CBC's own guidelines, posters
may not launch personal attacks against others;
ethnic and racial slurs are expressly forbidden.
"Posts containing inappropriate words will be
caught in an automatic word filter for screening,"
the guidelines note. But even a cursory search of the CBC's message
boards turns up dozens of violations. Some
offending posts have sat on the CBC's Web site for
months. For example, the word "frog" is frequently
used on CBC message boards to describe French-
Canadians. In December [2003], a poster
using the handle of QCLIBRE wrote that "Canadian
will not paid [sic] for bilingualist and
Quebec French frogs again." The word "dyke" is regularly used on the CBC
forum to dismiss certain prominent Canadian women,
among them a senior CBC television personality. The
racial slur "Chinaman" has also been successfully
posted. "What do you get when you cross a Chinaman
with a Rabbi?" one frequent contributor joked last
May. His post is still contained in the CBC message
board files. Anti-Americanism is common.
Masturbation comes up now and then. The full range
of curse words appear, from "prick" to much worse.
Almost anything goes, said Mr. Wilson. "Someone can
log on to a CBC board and accuse me of being a
child molester, which has actually happened, and
that will get posted," noted Mr. Wilson. "And
unless I launch a complaint, it will stay
posted." No one will explain why the CBC tends to filter
words related to Israel and Judaism have gone
ignored, the Web site posters say. [sic]
"It seems to me that the CBC is using technology to
bias the message boards against literate,
pro-Israel opinion," said JBG. Roy Wilson senses a
bias as well. A person can use the boards to
discredit another person, and say the vilest
things, "and yet I can't post the name of one
specific country, and one specific religion? I pay
for this service with my tax dollars, and I don't
like the way it's being run. I'm
incensed." 
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