By Klaus Rohrich
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
A column by Susan Kastner in last Saturday's Toronto Star reads like a primer in character assassination. Under the heading of "Ah yes, one remembers it well" Kastner proceeds to savage Barbara Amiel Black and digs up all the slights (imagined or otherwise) that Kastner feels she has suffered at Lady Black's hand (no pun intended) since their University of Toronto days.
Writing with a barely controlled mix of seething rage and cruel sarcasm about all of Barbara's alleged personal torts against her and mutual friends, Kastner savages Black for everything from having too much money to having too large a bosom. And while many of the stories Kastner has recalled in print are probably based in fact, they do not negate the fact that Barbara Amiel Black is an intellectual of a stature that Susan Kastner only ever dreams about achieving.
The gist of Kastner's beef against Lady Black is that
Having had four spouses is hardly a good reason for such a savage and personal attack, particularly in a vehicle, such as the Star, the newspaper that has done more to damage the institution of marriage in Canada than any other.
Barbara Amiel's professional status was achieved through her very powerful intellect and her diligence in pursuing her career. Kastner writes that she flunked out of university, due to her "putting dating before studying", which is something that Barbara did not do. It appears that Kastner has failed to realize that everything in life has a price. If one spends one's time pursuing romances instead of attaining good grades and sharpening one's intellect, then the price is a lackluster career.
Having an ample bosom may be a trait that draws envy from women because of the attention it generates from men is hardly a valid reason for condemning someone as a person. What would Kastner have Barbara do; have her breasts reduced?
Kastner's indictment of Barbara also includes the allegation that Amiel had two nose jobs. So, what?
Having been hired and fired by Barbara Amiel during her tenure as Editor of the Toronto Sun is another sore point in Kastner's litany of woes against Amiel. Kastner wrote that she was fired after having written six columns because of "lack of depth". Judging from Kastner's Toronto Star column, it would appear that Amiel was more than justified and should be lauded for giving Kastner a total of six opportunities to find some depth.
Clearly Kastner has indulged in at least five of the seven Cardinal Sins. She is envious of Amiel for her social status. Her pride keeps her from seeing what her own role in the relationship was and her anger keeps her from realizing she is covetous of Amiel's life. Maybe a little less sloth and a little more diligence would have made Kastner's life better.
Obviously these sores have been festering in Kastner's psyche for years and this column is the fetid vitriol oozing from that overwrought pustule. The Toronto Star has opportunistically provided the vehicle for Kastner to vent her spleen. But then, the Star has a vested interest in savaging Barbara Amiel Black. After all, Barbara and the Star have been at loggerheads for decades and thus Susan Kastner's sophomoric grudge presented a perfect opportunity to get a good kick at the paper's perennial adversary. But then, one would expect no less from Toronto's yellow press.
Kastner's piece does nothing to damage Barbara Amiel Black's stature as a writer or an intellectual, for that matter, but it speaks volumes about Kastner herself and how terribly devoid of self-respect she must be to stoop to such levels of gleeful malevolence. As for the Star: what else would one expect?
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