| I'm a great fan of Fast Forward, mainly because even though you’re more of an arts and entertainment magazine, your news section, I find, offers more information than any of the big mainstream papers on local issues. However, I just recently lost a fair bit of my respect for Fast Forward, after seeing the Calgary Downtown Association’s recent anti-panhandling ads in your magazine.
I understand the importance of the media to be unbiased when presenting issues (whether they are news stories or advertisements), but these ads you've decided to allow in your magazine are a disgusting generalization and stereotyping of poor people. They suggest that nearly all panhandlers are addicts of some kind and generalize (very dangerously) that all panhandlers are homeless. I've known quite a few panhandlers that are on some form of disability assistance and have to panhandle to cover their food costs or the rest of the rent.
Finally, these ads use statistics from a study commissioned by the CDA, not any sort of credible organization that deals with poverty. These ads disgust me as a human being and bring your magazine down to a low equivalent to that of the Calgary Sun.
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