'Occupy Wall Street' movement

Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and author Chris Hedges talks about the 'Occupy Wall Street' movement

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/World/1239665833/ID=2149202610

Kevin O'Leary of CBC's Dragons' Den and Shark Tank cultivates the persona of a ruthless truth-teller.

But he came across as a shallow blowhard during an interview with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges in New York about the Occupy Wall Street movement.

The Twitter-verse backlash against the bullet-headed Toronto businessman was equally brutal.

Hedges, a former New York Times foreign correspondent and prolific author on social issues, sympathizes with the protesters camped on Wall Street.

He might have been forgiven for thinking an interview on Canada's public TV network would be a little more high-toned.

Instead, O'Leary tore into Hedges, whom he misidentified as a protest organizer, and denigrated the protesters with oft-repeated criticism that they're unfocused and leaderless.

"They want to reverse the corporate coup that's taken place in the United States, that's rendered the citizenry impotent," Hedges replied.

"I don't usually appear on shows who descend to character assassination," said Hedges, clearly surprised by the personal attack but refusing to be baited. "You sound like Fox News."

He went on to praise the ideas of Canadian thinkers such as John Ralston Saul, and the prudent banking system that helped Canada avoid the 2008 financial crisis that's one of the motivating forces behind the Wall Street protest. 

Viewers clearly felt the blustering O'Leary was no match for the even-tempered, articulate Hedges.

Warren Frey noted the late Steve Jobs "once chewed out Dragons' Den (expletive) Kevin O'Leary all the way to the Apple parking lot," linking to a Globe and Mail article where O'Leary compares himself to the "tooth fairy" beside the "ferocious" Apple visionary.

Source:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/social-media-pummels-cbc-kevin-o-leary-nasty-185457737.html