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Last week, an unusually large number of strangers told me they hated me. Restaurant owners, people walking along the beach, a guy feeding chickens. It wasn’t so bad, actually: I’d smile sympathetically, tell them their feelings were completely understandable, and ask if they’d be so kind as to speak with me anyway (which, being perfectly nice people, they invariably did).

This was in Greece, where I was reporting on a tourist island’s refugee crisis — or, as some locals put it, giving them “bad advertising.” They hate the talking-about of the problem nearly as much as the problem itself.

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In Canada, some Conservative candidates are reportedly avoiding the talking-about of problems through key democratic channels, debates and the press. Politicians may believe that voters won’t punish them for this. They may be right. And that may be the problem. How can Canada protect and stimulate the flow of information if a critical mass of citizens so believes information to be dangerously partisan — to be, that is, “bad advertising” for their own political allegiances — that they hate even the most basic information media and messengers?