The CBC Shop has “renamed” one of its products, after a Montreal man complained that its name was offensive.
Montreal resident Bryan Clark wrote the CBC to ask why it was advertising a CBC Radio 3-branded ballcap as a “Castro hat”. “How can the CBC in good conscience, as our taxpayer-funded “neutral” broadcaster, offer up such a symbol of communist oppression?” he wrote. “[The Cap] is a “loaded” symbol of a ruthless, murdering dictator.”
A representative from the Shop responded: “[The cap's name] is a widely used and accepted term for the style of hat and many stores and retailers all over North America sell Castro hats. To call it another style of hat would not describe it properly…. It is in no way meant to glorify communism and murder simply a style of hat. (sic)”
Clark wasn’t pleased with the response, so he sent his letter to the Canada Free Press blog.
The CBC Shop now advertises the cap as a “ranger cap.”
UPDATE: CBC Radio 3 is now holding a contest to come up with an even better name. Sneaky commies, indeed!
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While “ranger cap” is a more appropriate name, it seems a shame to give in to such vitriol. Castro remains immensely popular among Cubans, and their standard of living is among the highest in Latin America, largely due to the generous social programs provided under the island’s socialist government since the revolution. Cuba’s government is far from anything that could be considered democratic, but its leader certainly doesn’t deserve to be demonized by foreigners in this manner, and the CBC shouldn’t give in to angry commentators at the first whiff of controversy.
Some people need to find hobbies.
OMG, Castro wears pants, too! Everybody stop wearing pants, they’re a symbol of dictatorship and oppression!
That a CBC fan is an apologist for a brutal dictator is no surprise, having been raised on the socialist milk of the mother corp’s teat forever.
Castro executed thousands of political opponents in the early years of his reign alone. Under his rule, homosexuals, the mentally ill, and non-standard religious are deemed social deviants, a ‘crime’ which results in imprisonment. No reason to demonize the poor guy.
Clearly, GC Hood doesn’t have any complaints about Canadian political or social policies given his/her support of Castro.
“Cuba’s government is far from anything that could be considered democratic, but its leader certainly doesn’t deserve to be demonized by foreigners in this manner”. ARE YOU KIDDING? Or are you really that blind and brain dead? Cubans can’t speak out publicly opposing Castro without going to jail and probably shot dead! You are such a naive person!!! If anyone on this planet deserves to be demonized, it’s Castro!!!!!! If you think he and communism is so great, move there!! You live in a free country. Don’t sit back there and act like you know how it is live without freedom. Castro is someone who deserves to die for all the murders he has committing and you along with the CBC feel its okay to idolize this murderer!!! SHAMEFUL!!!
If Castro is so “immensely popular among Cubans”, one wonders why so many of them have fled to Florida in bathtubs and such…
So… what does all this have to do with the cap?
There’s always the Mao Suit.
Castro is a bad guy. No doubt about that. None of this changes the fact that CBC didn’t make up the name. That’s what these caps are called, and if you do a search for “castro hat”, you will see them advertised this way EVERYWHERE, including Amazon and Northface.
So to insinuate that CBC is behind some communist plot is extremely goofy. Perhaps you’d like some freedom fries with that hat? Or maybe some liberty cabbage?
I see some disaffected soldiers trying to get out tonight in fact. But still, thats a statistic. Here’s the correct deal - the man who complained is correct in all respects. The enemy of Our Way of Life is Communism. That is just a fact. The CBC reveres those who promote Communism. That is just a fact! A man who clearly understands Communism and Castro, (who shot people tied to trees, who loved Che Guevera a psychopathic murderer) protested the Castro Hat as Marketing Device.
Clearly the man who protested the naming of the hat is ethically superior to you who disagree. He is morally and ethically superior because he recognizes that there is no moral imperative that can define Castro as being equivalent to or superior to Canadians and their system .
Now, thats the “dumbing down” of the argument for the non book learned but it is no less relevant.
It looks like G.C. Hood and Kevin Potvin drink from the same Kool-aid tub. Trying to debate anything that goes against there utopian/lazy thinking and is like trying to say the CBC is a fair and balance network. Only in Canada can irrational thought be considered good for all.
As for the Canadian Broadcorping Castration to market anything with direct or indirect reference to a communist dictator only confirms what the 80 to 90% of Canadians that DON’T tune into the CBC knows……it’s out lived is usefulness to the Canadian public and should be sent adrift.
Now one makes the argument “Move there! ” In fact, if I were a younger man and possessed of some knives, and had access to pistols, I would. Why? It is not a bad land. It is political in all respects.. but still you are more likely to be hurt by a criminal than a political.
Furthermore, in a country , and island like Cuba, one who is erudite can find friends in Government with whom once shares common philosophies.
There is only one thing that could possibly prevent someone moving to Cuba…lack of personal safety from the masses. Unless you are working for the CIA or something , you are safe as houses…except for the guys who would rob you … but that’s not a lot different from New York. Money, buys safe hotel rooms. Mostly though, and with many friends who have spent time in Havana, you are going to be left alone. Drink some rum. Look at the buildings Americans used to own ! HAHAHAH Mussolini made the trains run on time…Castro stitched up Lucky Luciano and his filthy mobster ilk.
A serious problem we have in Canada is that the filthy mob lice in Montreal, have formed common cause with the Cuban expats. The major success of Castro was making a smear on the pavement of the Italian mafiosas from America. America is a Mafia mobster nation . They must not be permitted to sue Canadian entities for taking part in the Cuban thing.
Castro? Isn’t that a peculiar district in San Francisco?
Why don’t you rename it the Lefty Liberal Bolshevik Commie Cap?
Yes, no one besides the communist CBC would ever offer something called a “Castro hat” in their online store.
Ahem.
Methinks the CBC is over moderating ……..Again!
What kind of loser walks around wearing a CBC Radio3 Castro hat?
The CBC cannot possibly defend the use of the term Castro Hat to describe the cap pictured. The the name was meant to further reinforce the CBC’s image as a leftist organization. The generic term is in fact Ranger cap…. that would imply affinity with the United States Special Forces, colloquially called the Rangers… can’t have THAT, can we?
Castro, Trudeau & the CBC. Birds of a Communist feather….and the worst part is that my tax dollars finance what the CBC of old has become.
Deviant comes to mind.
The “Commie Broadcasting Company” loves Leftist dictators - but let there be a right-wing one, all heck breaks loose. Hugo Chavez? No big deal. Ferdinand Marcos of the Phillipines? He’s gotta go!
over 20% of the population flees the country but he’s “immensely popular among Cubans”. G.C. you are a fool.
Just like a Che Guevera shirt is not meant to glorify communism and murder…right?
The term ‘Fatigue cap’ is just as frequently used (it’s issued with military uniforms commonly called ‘fatigues’).
The complaint is silly, of course . . . political correctness run amok, and a torrent of people who can’t distinguish the iconicity of Castro (a fact) from idolization of Catro (a dubious interpretation). Ironically enough, the process of merchandizing such iconic items (the cap, or the Che Gueverra t-shirt) so dilutes the meaning and dissolves the real historicity of the personality involved that the debate (Castro - hero or criminal?) disappears. Capitalism (wearing it’s hip-youth marketing mask) wins the game.
G. C. Hood….your glowing comments about conditions in Cuba are absolutely hilarious. Nice try comrade….but the truth is quite different than your hallucinations.
Ding dong…..is anybody home.
If the CBC were to sell doll figures of George Bush, Hitler, or Castro would they need to call them something other than their proper names? The style of hat is associated with Castro. It makes perfect sense to name it like that. If someone were to ask me about a “ranger cap” I’d have no clue what they were talking about. If you said “Castro cap” I’d know exactly what kind of hat you were talking about.
When Nazi-style hats become fashionable next season will the CBC need to find some euphemism to use in place of Hitler hats? Grow up CBC, you shouldn’t be caving to whiny little punks making a stink about what you call some piece of disposable fashion you sell on your site.
The CBC’s aggrandizement of Castro is interesting. I wonder why it’s a crime for Cubans to leave Cuba? As to the highest standard of living relative to the rest of Latin America—that doesn’t impress me much!
Nothing like a wardrobe malfunction to bring out the trolls!
As if CBC invented the term… sheesh. Do a Google search for “castro hat” and you get 30,400 results. You can buy them on eBay and Amazon, branded with logos from the great Communist bastions like Corona beer, Quicksilver, O’neill and Sloppy Joe’s restaurant.
Now search “ranger cap” and you get 811 results. Not only does nobody know what a “ranger cap” is, but they get confused with the Smokey the Bear “ranger hat”.
Still, it’s pretty sweet to find an issue where the angry conservative crowd can lobby FOR political correctness and censorship!
Er, excuse me? I believe that this style of hat was ACTUALLY popularized by the lovably irascible Col. Sherman T. Potter of M*A*S*H. And army guys don’t get more upright that the Colonel. If anyone wants to argue with me, let’s take it outside.
Paul - go read the 1st post in this thread. It’s a typical CBC fan waxing nostalgic about the utopia that Cuba isn’t. Where’s the political correctness of the posters who disagree with his/her depiction?
It looks to me that most of the comments are taking GC to task for his/her CBC induced ignorance, naivety, or love of brutal communist dictators. Where you get politically correct censorship out of this - I don’t know.
But then, maybe you’re drinking the CBC kool-aid too.
The kool-aid cost $1Billion a year that could go to health care or the fight against global warming!
“As to the highest standard of living relative to the rest of Latin America”
Baloney! Chile’s is much higher - and no one flees that land by boats through shark infested waters to get away.
obc,
Do you think that this may have as much to do with the embargo as the leadership? The US is terrified of Cuba, because if they lifted the embargo, they just might actually demonstrate that communism could work.
Rusty~
You’ve got to be kidding! Cuba trades with the whole world - Canada, the EU, Russia, China, Venezuela among scores of others, and you claim the American embargo is at fault?!? What nonsense. And as far as their “world-class” medical care is concerned, isn’t it funny that Castro himself had to send for a Spanish doctor when he was deathly ill? I wonder how many other Cubans get to be treated by Spanish doctors when they are seriously sick.
Tammy nailed it: Castro ripped off Col. Potter. End of discussion.
The neoconservative/neoliberal (same sh!t in different piles, really) complaints show a typical irony deficiency, but, more importantly, are also hypocritical (or ill-informed) in defending globalized capitalism, which talks a lot of sh!t about a free market and deregulation, but calls in the troops and tanks on the thinnest pretexts of ’security’ (meaning, usually, ’securities’) whenever the interests of global capital are at risk–or even questioned. So which regime is the real fascism?
Sustaining public debate about alternative social and production relations is only one of the critical public services maintained by the CBC (notwithstanding management’s lack of leadership in cpitulating on the cap name).
So spare me your crapitalist moralizing, get a sense of humour, and tune in from time to time. The red pill is good for you.
Well, seeing as the Helms-Burton Act punishes non-US corporations and investors who might have ties to Cuba, I have to say yeah… the embargo has a huge impact on Cuban society.
Of course I understand that you need to pretend that it doesn’t, because to acknowledge this would screw up your narrow little view of the world. Oddly enough, this is why you don’t like media organizations like CBC, or BBC, because they might challenge how you see the world, and you can’t have that. You need everything in black and white.
Nobody has ever nailed the rightwing mindset better than Stephen Colbert when he moaned about reality having a leftwing bias.
This is another fine example of looney leftist liberal logic. If the “Castro Hat” is the accepted term, then by God, stand by it!
A representative from the Shop responded: “[The cap’s name] is a widely used and accepted term for the style of hat and many stores and retailers all over North America sell Castro hats. To call it another style of hat would not describe it properly…. It is in no way meant to glorify communism and murder simply a style of hat. (sic)”
Instead, you give in to a single complaint. Spineless. How can anyone take you people seriously?
Perhaps you could rename the CBC. I find the name offensive. How about it?
It’s *called* a Castro Hat!
This has nothing to do with bais in reporting or about how the CBC allegedly loves Fidel Castro. It is irrelevant that Castro has imprisoned political opponents ect.
When you see someone with a toothbrush mustache, you call it a “Hitler ‘Stache”. That doesn’t mean that you approve of Adolf Hitler’s political policies; that’s just what it’s called.
Come on, people, have a sense of humour!
One more time for Gabriel and others, please go back and read post number one by G. C. Hood.
The ‘right wing’ responses are to someone who thinks Castro’s an alright guy and outsiders like us have no right to criticize his brutal dictatorship. You’re right, it has nothing to do with the CBC’s bias - there are already several good threads going which elaborate on the CBC’s obvious bias.
GC’s position is pretty far out for most (maybe not you) people. That’s what has generated the responses.
Mike, I appreciate your efforts to swing this back to an argument between pro-Castro and anti-Castro posters, because only a fool would believe that CBC listed the hat under its common name as some sort of leftist plot.
But you first took a swipe at CBC leftism in your first post, and it was repeated by the likes of Downey, Joey, Glen, Andrew, Pat, obc and Don - so its disingenuous to now say “it has nothing to do with the CBC’s bias.” Pick an axe and grind it.