I must admit I still believe in democratic liberalism*, in my romantic mind the CBC should represent the voice of liberalism and social justice free of corporate influence. The CBC is supposed to be the fifth estate in a functioning democracy. But I don’t think they are. The best word to define the CBC now is insignificant. They don’t really give enough value for the 30$ per person we pay. But even though I consider them a Canadian Institution I cannot defend them. They are inane and irrelevant. Make them get funding like NPR in the states with matching funds from the government. This makes me sad. Not really about the death of the CBC, but the death of liberalism. Liberalism's greatest supporters were journalists, religious movements with social agendas, universities, artists, politicians and unions. They forgot why they were fighting, got greedy and took their power and privilege for granted. Now they are irrelevant and worthy of ridicule. Living wages, health care, universal education, women’s rights, and generally being a social safety valve that enabled incremental social change without revolution. They were a pillar of our society’s greatness, now they are part of the problem.
*”Liberalism’s four principle features, or perspectives, which give it a recognizable
identity: it is individualist, in that it asserts the moral primacy of the
person against any collectivity; egalitarian, in that it confers on all
human beings the same basic moral status; universalist, affirming the
moral unity of the species; and meliorist, in that it asserts the open ended
improvability, by use of critical reason, of human life” John Gray