As I explained in my last post, Shamiza Baig responded and categorically refutes the rumours on social media claiming, without any evidence, that she was the one to orchestrate the Hijab Hoax and was present at the press conference. Another piece of flimsy “evidence” conspiracy theorists clung to was that the Huffington Post also blurred the older lady’s face, ergo — according to their theory — HP was covering for Baig to save her embarrassment. In reality, Occam’s razor applied, as it usually does, it turns out that Huffington Post made an editorial decision to blur out the grandmother’s face as well to further help protect the identity of the little girl, although it was likely more of a symbolic gesture because all of the mainstream media and politicians like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had already used the girl’s name, recklessly sharing it with the world.
Anyhow, below is the perfectly reasonable (I know HP publishes some pretty unreasonable opinion pieces, but one should still be able to trust them enough to not cover up an elaborate cabal if it came to their attention) explanation from Huffington Post News Managing Editor Andrew Yates.
There you go, folks, a perfectly reasonable explanation for why Huffington Post blurred the grandmother’s face after the fact. If Huffington Post were actually trying to cover for a Muslim political activist creating a hoax do you think they would want to draw more attention to her by being the one media outlet to blur her face? Almost always the the most logical explanation is the correct one. I’m glad to see some people who peddled this conspiracy theory are willing to admit when they’re wrong, correct the record, and apologize.
Now, finally, I’m moving on to far more important and pressing issues. I will re-litigate the Hijab Hoax story once Raving Canuck finishes fundraising (thanks to our latest generous donor who gave $100 today) and collects all of the communications at the TDSB involving the incident. Those emails should give us truth and closure on this matter that unfortunately became an international spectacle.
Raving Canuck 