Thread by @Norlaine

It's a difficult thing to understand for normal, rational people who expect things to be a certain way. Let's take newspapers as an example. We expect newspapers to be devoted to giving the public an unbalanced account of the events of the day. 1/20

Newspapers used to be local, and usually small. Now 100s of newspapers are owned by a very few large corporate interests...And to the people owning the newspapers, they are an asset. They could be any asset. They could be making sleeping bags instead of newspapers. 2/20

The news isn't even the point. Newspapers make their money on advertising. They are not selling information to the public...They are selling your eyeballs to advertisers. So, the actual news, the quality of reporting, the accuracy, is of very limited interest to the owners. 3/20

They may decide to use their assets (newspapers) to support certain parties or candidates in an election... They may direct a certain angle through which news is delivered, but they don't really care much about the news itself, generally, as long as they don't get sued. 4/20

They tend to like sensational news, because that gives them more eyeballs that they can turn into advertising revenue. 5/20

So the actual reporters, editors, etc who might really care about the news, are gradually encouraged to deliver the news in such a way as to draw clicks and eyeballs. 6/20

But it is the revenue that matters, not the news. The income is the goal. Indeed, companies have found they could make more money selling something else and they get out of the news business. That's part of how news sources got so monopolistic. 7/20

Now, for the opposition parties in Ottawa, a similar principle applies. The CPC doesn't care what the subject of a scandal is, they don't really feel aggrieved about any dealing between WE and the government, or SNC and the government... 8/20

They really don't care what went on between JWR and the government, they don't care about her and, indeed, had nothing good to say about her until she became useful to them. 9/20

The CPC have been throwing scandals at the wall since they lost in 2015, to see if anything will stick. Because it isn't the issue that matters to them. They just want to be back in power. Remember "swingset-gate"? Remember the "secret palace" they tried to float? 10/20

No government is perfect, comprised as they are, of humans. But one really has to wonder about the moral compass of a party who will go to such lengths, to even fabricate "scandals", in an effort to get the political upper hand. 11/20

The CPC have MPs like Poilievre & Rempel-Garner, who have honed their skills at being outraged and shrill. But they are just playing their parts. They don't care about these issues. The issues are not the point, just as the news is not the point to news conglomerates. 12/20

The point for the CPC is getting control of Canada and Canada's resources. Changing laws to fit conservative ideology, getting rid of that pesky charter, etc.

In one way, the CPC is different from the news media. The news media can't just make things up. 13/20

If they could, we might see stories about Martian invasions and UFOs in our daily papers instead of just in the supermarket tabloids. News media have restrictions. Politicians can lie w/ impunity. For some reason they are not held to the same level of truth as advertisers. 14/20

The news is free to report on what politicians said and, while they should, they are not forced to fact-check these utterances. This is the loop-hole that allows misinformation to begin from credible sources, such as trusted news outlets. 15/20

Now, if you are a conservative supporter, you might well think this Liberal government is just lurching from one scandal to another. What a terrible bunch of people! You might think... 16/20

On the other hand, if you are not a conservative supporter, you may be aware that the CPC has a team that is digging all the time for dirt. If anything happens, if a Liberal misspeaks, the spin doctors are working up a "scandal". 17/20

Not to mention there are plenty of skeletons the CPC left behind when they left power, like sexual misconduct in the military (which they knew all about and did nothing), that they are trotting out when there are no current missteps to exploit. 18/20

And, not as a partisan, but as an observer, I have to wonder how such duplicitous behaviour on the part of the CPC could, in any way, translate into good governance should they be elected. Surely, such thirst for power should be a red flag? 19/20

If a party is willing to lie, cheat, and engage in unwarranted character assassination to gain control, this does not bode well for how they would wield power, should they get their hand on it. Something to consider. 20/20

*unbiased! An unbiased view! Jeez, typing too fast or something!