It's been a while now that I've been observing the news, especially those written by Canadians outlets. And one thing that gets on my nerves from time to time is when I see articles written with a heavy Canadian bias in relation to world affairs. Consider a CBC article from today, as an example:
“Canadians living in Florida are bracing for Hurricane Dorian as the monster storm pummels the Bahamas with catastrophic force.”
Yes, let's focus on the minority of Canadians bracing for impact rather than the massive numbers of Bahamians and Americans facing that same danger - that's a great idea. The news of Hurricane Dorian makes me immediately concerned for everyone affected.... whether they are from the United States, the Bahamas, or Canada is completely irrelevant. I consider it even a bit insulting that such an article would focus on Canadians when they are mere pebbles in a sea of affected humans. Are Canadians worth more, CBC, by simple virtue of being Canadians? Must you explicitly mention that Canadians are affected to elicit an empathic response in your audience? Or is this an attempt at making Canadian citizens feel like even they, as individuals, have a chance of appearing in a CBC post one day? (The fact that the CBC is a federal crown corporation is not lost on me.)
Though I can't speak to exactly what they were thinking, I'm guessing that this was simply an attempt to capture a different type of reader - but if that's the case, count me concerned. Regardless of borders, we, as humans, are all in this together. This type of article emphasizes our differences during a moment where they are especially unimportant. And because of that, in my mind, this article does more damage than good.
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