Meet Barbara Sumner Burstyn, known more commonly as Sumner. The Cloud South Films website profiles her thus:
Barbara Sumner Burstyn
Producer and writer Barbara Sumner Burstyn is an award winning, widely published journalist, in New Zealand. She produced the multi-award winning documentary One Man, One Cow, One Planet. A selection of her written work can be viewed at: www.sumnerburstyn.com
Producer, Director, Writer
Present: Research, writing, directing, producing documentaries for Cloud South Films.Author: The Meningococcal Gold Rush report and the MeNZB Quick Guide. Public speaker: The bad science, manipulation and dishonesty surrounding the development and marketing of the MeNZB vaccine.Weekly columnist: The New Zealand Herald.
1998 – present: Free-lance writer; features, profiles and investigative articles: (in NZ) The New Zealand Listener, Sunday Star Times, design magazine Urbis, business magazine Unlimited, Air New Zealand In-flight Panorama, The National Business Review, contemporary culture publications Metro, Pulp, Investigate, Flash and Loop, Grace and New Idea. The Independent on Sunday (UK), Montreal Gazette (Quebec), Sailing (USA), Harpers Bazaar (Aust.) Ottawa Citizen, MacLean’s, Vancouver Sun, Readers Digest (Canada)Qantas Media Awards
Winner: Best Social Issues Columnist 2004
Finalist: Columnist 2004
What the profile does not say is that Ms Burstyn is a Canadian native, now living in New Zealand. Nor does it say that she receives funding from New Zealand on Air to make documentaries, including her recent film This Way of Life. And nor does it mention that she has some radical anti-war views.
We are not going to get into the details of them, but you can find out more here and here at Monique Angel's Yea or Nay blog. Such is the outrage at Ms Burstyn's comments that in just the three days since they were made, more than 16,000 people have joined a Facebook page condemning her views.
Ms Burstyn has attracted a real outpouring of anger, some of which has come from military colleagues of Jacinda Baker, killed in Afghanistan last weekend. And instead of making a tactical withdrawl as may have been prudent to do, she has continued to attack.
Whilst we absolutely denounce Sumner Burstyn's comments, we acknowledge her freedom to make them, and the freedom of others to respond. But we wonder if Ms Burstyn has paused for a moment to consider the cost of that freedom.
Our grandfather was seriously wounded at Gallipoli. Our father fought in WWII, and what he experienced and witnessed had a profound effect on his life. Throughout the years, brave men and women have gone to wars on faraway battlefields to fight to secure the freedoms that we take for granted today. Those freedoms have come at a huge cost.
So before Sumner Burstyn returns to her keyboard, she might want to ponder this:
Footnote: We will be monitoring comments on this thread closely, for obvious reasons. Freedom of speech can be a two-edged sword, and we urge you to exercise YOUR freedom of speech wisely.
11 comments:
I was always taught that with freedom of speech comes a responsibility to be respectful, logical in what you say, and when speaking out against government policies not to be personal, this woman did not just cross this line, she left it far behind. Her comments were not anti-war but ignorant and a deeply personal attack against LCpl Baker, a medic.
I don't agree with the facebook page, but I understand that in their hurt and grief, the friends of Jacinda Baker struck back against this personal attack, because Jacinda cannot. They did what they always do - defend their own.
Our defence force do a brilliant job, often without complaint, or argument, they are loyal, and professional, when they lose one of their own they should not have to be subjected to such horrible personal attacks against them or their fallen comrades.
KS, I love that poem, and thanks for posting it (if you hadn't I would have), to that I would add something I often hear from those that I work with, those that serve in our military:
"I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
Would Sumner Burstyn be willing to die to protect the freedoms she takes for granted? for herself? for her family? for her friends? for the stranger down the street who despises everything about her? Every member of our defence forces would.
It is deeply ironic that "it is the soldier" was written in 1970.
It was soldiers who shot and killed four, paralysed another, and seriously injured a dozen more at a student protest at Kent State on May 4, 1970.
Proponents of laws prohibiting flag burning often include members of the military and their supporters who support such measures on the basis of the sacrifices of men (and now women) in uniform.
The vote was extended beyond land holders in New Zealand, first to holders of mining licences, because of fears that the same sorts of protests that were violently put down by soldiers in Victoria, Australia, would occur here.
Soldiers have fought for freedom of religion, but also against it. Soldiers have been used to squelch freedom of the press, and speech and protest, not only around the world, but also in New Zealand.
But I'm not sure I'd credit ministers with always advancing freedom of religion either!
The poem's factually incorrect.
In any event, Burstyn's appalling anti-vaccination nonsense is far more damaging than her silly rants regarding Afghanistan, and are far more worthy of exposure for what they are.
I've been reading some of her old articles Edward; odd stuff.
The best piece I have heard for a long time on soldering is here:http://homepaddock.wordpress.com/2012/08/25/soldiers-cant-hide/#comment-114540
Jim Hopkins- brilliant As a former soldier I concur with his remarks about soldering
As an ex-NZDF soldier wounded in Afghanistan, I find BS Burstyn's comments gormless and insensitive. The work over there is shitty and largely thankless. We don't expect anyone to pat us on the head and say "well done" - but we don't appreciate when people put the boot into people that have lost their lives doing something they believe will make the world a better place. I suggest taking a deep breath, counting to ten, then heading back to Canada.
@ Richie Rich - thank you for your comment, and for your service of the NZDF. You guys are an inspiration.
Ahhh it's funny how militant morons try to convince the general public in NZ that you fought for our freedoms . It vastly shows your lack of understanding of the actual word . Maybe if the army wasn't 3/4 made up from high school dropouts and antisocial retards
She still cant even spell the name right
http://cloudsouthfilms.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/nzdf-vs-sumner-burstyn.html
As one of the proud admins of the facebook site in question, and a vet myself, might I advise that when we closed the site on Sunday night, the total membership had reached 24.857 strong.
And she still has the temerity to play the victim, lying about having to leave her home, and feel threatened, when for weeks she's been 23,000 miles away in Ontario.
She more than a disgrace, she is a liar and an oxygen thief!
I note with disdain - ANONYMOUS above comments regarding the intelligence and social or should I say antisocial persuasions of those in the services. Well sir/madam I am an ex serviceman and Vet dare I say it and at the risk of being called a military moron. You I fear ANONYMOUS is ill informed with regards to the military being dropouts and anti social retards. I urge you to investigate the minimum educational requirements before one is even considered for a career in the military. You have only mentioned the Army. There are two other arms of the service, the Air Force and Navy. i was Navy.......enough said I think. Don't forget ANONYMOUS research before making outragious statements like yours
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