tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post4925526969952375613..comments2024-03-18T18:05:25.821-07:00Comments on VISIONS OF THE NORTH: The Politics of ExplorationRussell Potterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11023313195827310776noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-57550202834861592602015-09-17T19:59:02.403-07:002015-09-17T19:59:02.403-07:00I've read Watson's Buzzfeed post and I can...I've read Watson's Buzzfeed post and I can see why the editors at his last job refused to print it - it is full of a lot of accusations and implications presented in such a way as to suggest they are truths. Watson repeatedly states an event or comment and then applies the most negative interpretation he can to it. Now, maybe that interpretation is in the end correct, but Watson hardly proves that to be the case in his article. <br /><br />If I was his editor I could have easily punched holes in Watson's conclusions, rightly pointing out that he lacks even a single "gotcha moment" akin to hearing Nixon admitting to wrong doing on the Watergate tapes, That is, any evidence that indisputably shows Geiger went too far. Instead, all we have is Watson's relentlessly cynical interpretations of events combined with inferred negative associations, but it's easy to take each instance he provides and produce a perfectly innocent explanation. At worst Geiger may have a large ego which rubbed people the wrong way, but that hardly makes for a scandal!<br /><br />Honestly, I think you should go back and reread Watson's Buzzfeed post with a more cynical eye. Ask yourself if what you are reading is a proven fact or just Watson's (perhaps self-serving) interpretation. I think a lot of people eager to bash Harper (and he may very well deserve it) are just taking Watson's word on it in this case, but at the expense of Mr. Geiger's reputation.Alan Hochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08112466487543830050noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-70642595319252284562015-09-17T11:57:27.362-07:002015-09-17T11:57:27.362-07:00Don, thanks for your comment.
If the implication ...Don, thanks for your comment.<br /><br />If the implication of Paul's story is not that there were outright lies, why was his radio interview with Danny Riendeau titled "The Franklin Lie"? Right from the start, with Ryan Harris -- the senior Parks archaeologist -- in attendance, credit was given to him and his team. I don't see how it matters what ship Geiger was on, and none of his statements that I have heard or read are in any way deceptive. Were some of the others present miffed at his becoming the spokesperson? That could well be, but that doesn't come anywhere close to a deliberate falsehood.Russell Potterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11023313195827310776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-20997138883133424582015-09-17T09:08:39.052-07:002015-09-17T09:08:39.052-07:00The bias of this post is evident from the moment i...The bias of this post is evident from the moment it uses the phrase "plastered over the Internet" to describe the posting of Watson's article on Buzzfeed<br /><br />The issue is not whether Geiger outright lied. On his part, it's a more subtle matter of suggestion and misrepresentation--and on the part of the Harper government, it's a question of trying to shape and control the ways in which facts are presented so they appear most favorable to Harper. <br /><br />I urge people to read Watson's long piece on Buzzfeed; I found it much more persuasive than this post.Don LePanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06681500757076591723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-26856464756356546722015-09-16T04:44:12.887-07:002015-09-16T04:44:12.887-07:00What I find the saddest part of all this is that w...What I find the saddest part of all this is that while divers are currently exploring the wreck, politics (both petty "office politics" and federal) are grabbing the headlines! <br />I have read numerous discussions with various people involved in the search, discovery and exploration of the wreck, and it seems to me credit for success has been spread around generously. <br />How many of us would love to be part of that dive team? How many of us were a wee bit envious of Ryan Harris and his video "live' from the wreck last April? The sense of excitement we all felt watching that.......that is where our energies should be directed! <br />I may be naïve in thinking it, but I do hope that people will put aside the squabbling and just focus on solving this age old mystery. Who would have thought prior to finding the wreck of the Erebus that when divers are there exploring, the lead story would be who gets credit for what? Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08685387404989395574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-56716610351569167832015-09-16T01:28:48.730-07:002015-09-16T01:28:48.730-07:00Everything I've read on this subject, includin...Everything I've read on this subject, including Watson's unconvincing story, just backs you up, Russell. So far it looks like Mr. Watson is so fixated on condemning the Harper Administration that he is inventing a scandal where there isn't one. He really needs to produce more compelling, undeniable evidence that, say, Geiger tried to pressure people into giving him the credit or something similar before he can be seen as more than just a reporter with a grudge who has gone off the rails.Alan Hochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08112466487543830050noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-19262683822562084842015-09-15T23:44:45.149-07:002015-09-15T23:44:45.149-07:00It is interesting that in the 170 annyversary of t...It is interesting that in the 170 annyversary of the departure of the Franklin expedition, instead of being celebrating it in harmony and happines we (*) are involved in such media and political convulsion. It reminds me a little the controversy about who found the Northwest Passage. The Erebus was all this time there at the bottom of the sea, as the Northwest Passage was always in the arctic too, waiting to be found. Finding both has been a matter of time, the result of a serie of steps, without the previous one you would not have ever given the next. But there is a key step in this chain of discoveries without which the searches could have been looking in the wrong places forever, and that is the Inuit testimony. They deserve the credit, a pity they didn´t have the means to find the ship by themselves, <br /><br />(*) "we" in the metaphorical sense, I mean the Franklinite world-see the importance of handle properly pronouns.Andrés Paredeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17283802897907742244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-86773681890385685982015-09-15T18:01:02.975-07:002015-09-15T18:01:02.975-07:00Indeed so. I don't think the way the Harper go...Indeed so. I don't think the way the Harper government has handled this whole thing does them any credit. But as I'm not a Canadian, my voice isn't part of that. I've been at work on this story for decades, and I'm afraid the 'small picture' is the one I'm best at.Russell Potterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11023313195827310776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3873756940955163469.post-78769602844067362532015-09-15T16:45:05.250-07:002015-09-15T16:45:05.250-07:00Mr. Potter, while you focus on the facts, Canadian...Mr. Potter, while you focus on the facts, Canadians are focusing on an election. The big picture is the current government, its policies and how it manipulates.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com