5 ways a 14-year-old crushed an arrogant interviewer

[FourScore]

5 ways a 14-year-old crushed an arrogant interviewer
By Christina Mozaffari | Posted: August 13, 2013

If everybody performed in interviews like 14-year-old Rachel Parent, I would be out of a job.

The young Canadian activist founded an organization called “The Kids Right To Know,” which campaigns for mandatory labeling of foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs). She has organized and spoken at rallies against GMOs and just happens to be one amazing spokesperson.

Here’s the proof: Parent challenged investor and TV host Kevin O’Leary to a debate after he called GMO protesters “just stupid” and suggested on his show that they “stop eating” as a way to “get rid of them.” O’Leary accepted, and last week Parent was a guest on the show he co-hosts, “The Lang & O’Leary Exchange,” from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

O’Leary made it clear early in the interview he had no intention of taking it easy on Parent because of her age. That’s not unfair given Parent’s activism and visibility in her movement. Still, there’s a fine line between respectfully challenging and bullying. O’Leary managed to end the interview looking like a condescending bully due to Parent’s stellar performance.

One of the first questions he asked her, “You know what a lobbyist is, right?” set the tone for the 13 minutes that would follow...

MORE ON THE 5 WAYS SHE HELD HER OWN: http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/5_ways_a_14yearold_crushed_an_arrogant_interviewer_15006.aspx

[NYC_SKP]

1. "If you don't use the word 'stupid', I won't use the word 'fascist'! You go, Rachel!

[burnodo]

2. kick

[90-percent]

3. one thing i saw

he framed his questions unfairly;

"So you're for letting people starve in Africa because you'll deny them GM corn?"

All she wants is GM labeling, in part because it's released to the public with only the blessing of it's maker.

Screw the unintended consequences of the general public acclimating to GM labels, maybe they should just let the fucking free market decide by labeling this stuff in the first place. Don't they believe in the free market?

-jim

[burnodo]

5. and proper oversight in testing

Monsanto testing its own GMO's is like Clapper investigating his own organization

[laundry_queen]

19. O'Leary is up there with Darth Cheney for biggest asshole on earth

He's unbelievably sociopathic. Zero empathy, ever. Money money money. It's his only love. WHY the CBC gives him a platform is beyond me. Amanda Lang's 'zingers' are usually anything but. They are weak sauce and she's no match for the looney money grubber. There are few people on TV I HATE but he is one of them. I cannot watch that show. I watch CBC all day long until his show then the channel changes. He's insufferable. He's definitely one of the most despicable people on the planet. I'm fucking embarrassed that he's Canadian.

[JHB]

27. Sounds like the "Hannity & Colmes" formula, from your description...

...or "Crossfire" in its Pat-Buchanan-vs-weaksauce-centrist-labeled-as-"left" heyday.

[bravenak]

4. She was way too prepared for him.

He acted like a child.

[burnodo]

6. One thing I will say

Even though I found his arguments fairly childish and unnecessarily combative, Fox News could NEVER have a reasonable conversation on any subject like this one was

[bravenak]

9. I'd hate to see her deal with " tides go in tides go out" O'reilley.

The spittle would be flying everywhere. I just didn't like him treating her like she was stupid and calling her a shill. That was too much.

[burnodo]

10. She really was very impressive.

Kudos to her.

[Enthusiast]

23. He is a typical corporate SHILL.

He looked like a fool.

He wasn't prepared for someone that well informed.

[JHB]

28. Actually, I think I'd LIKE to see that...

It might make Billo's show worth catching once.

[bravenak]

34. I love th way his chins jiggle when he's mad.

I could zerbert them.

[laundry_queen]

20. He always does.

He's a tantrum throwing binary thinker. Or tri-nary (black, white, money).

[RussBLib]

7. what an impressive young woman

and O'Leary is the one coming off as a shill and an arrogant know-nothing.

Time and again Rachel says she's not anti-science but O'Leary wants to pose it as "you want poor people to starve?" What an ass.

[LittleBlue]

8. Very impressive. And the two supposed "media" types

disgusted me. They might as well have been paid advocates for Monsanto.

He was essentially asking her if she wanted children to die.

[laundry_queen]

21. They aren't really 'media'

aside from having a show on CBC. One is a 1%er CEO money grubber who made his mark on TV with Dragon's Den by being an asshole, and on the business network here in Canada. The CBC thought he would be good as a ratings grabber, I suppose. He's just one of those asshole CEOs who thinks he knows it all about making money, and really doesn't care about anything BUT money. A hurricane could hit Alberta, while a blizzard buried India, and he would be more worried about his stock prices than the fact that the world was coming to an end. He's a dickhead, a sociopath, a narcissist and a rich, arrogant know-it-all with beady eyes and a 'smell the fart' look permanently plastered on his face. He's an overachiever alright.

Amanda Lang was his 'partner' on the BNN. The CBC thought she gave as good as she got. I think she lets O'Leary get away with way too much, and besides, her education isn't even in business, so she buys into what all the 'conventional' business TV personalities think of as good business. It shows (says this BCom student).

[Enthusiast]

24. I'm with you....nt

[MrMickeysMom]

11. WOW!!!! Wasn't HE the jaggoff winner of this 2 to 1 "interview"

Who's the fucking SHILL now?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

33. I picture him trying to explain to Monsanto how he lost to a 14 year old girl....

[MrMickeysMom]

38. HA!

THAT is for sure!

[alittlelark]

12. This up and coming generation impresses me

I hope they can mitigate the damage we have allowed to happen.

[blackspade]

13. This young woman kicked O'Leary's ass

What a condescending prick.....And ignorant to boot.
Lang sounds like a fool as well.

[Fumesucker]

14. Sometimes I think it's really too bad seppuku is not a Western tradition

This was one of those times.

[onestepforward]

15. WOW!

She allowed me to exhale and relax for a moment about the future

What a bright light to help lead the way. Bravo!

[Owl]

16. Rachel is an amazing person! O'Leary is an amazing shit-head!!!

Rachel gives me hope for the future.

[Saviolo]

17. Ugh

I have so little respect for Kevin O'Leary. He's insufferable to watch. He's a pure capitalist at any cost. Profits before people for him. He said as much during an episode of Shark Tank (the US edition of Dragon's Den). A fellow was proposing a pickup truck rack made locally in the USA, and O'Leary asked why it was made for so high a cost in the US when it could be made so much cheaper elsewhere (in China, for instance). The man said part of his business plan was to create jobs locally in the US, despite the higher labour costs, and he wouldn't outsource his labour. Bottom-line O'Leary didn't like that and backed out. The guy didn't get a deal from the Shark Tank, but went on to make his product in the USA anyway.

Insufferable smug asshole. He gives Canadians and entrepreneurs a bad name.

Here's the guy that O'Leary shut down:

[Spitfire of ATJ]

18. The condescending tone and false choices by O'Leary were offensive.

[Enthusiast]

25. They were offensive.

He is a RW propagandist of the highest order.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

32. I expect him to get into trouble over this incident.

[Enthusiast]

36. They will probably replace him with a more effective liar.

There are no limits to the money they have to spend on messaging.

[Berlum]

22. RepubliWanking Bully, Great-White-North Style

What a corporate toady the host is, shilling for mutant corporate crapola and attempting to diss a little girl so he can advance a soulless, money-grubbing, mechanistic corporate agenda.

[B Calm]

26. Very smart 14 yr old!

[Quantess]

29. Hooray for smart teenagers!

I was a smart teen also, but at age 14 I was still lousy at interviews and public speaking. She's only going to get better.

She did amazing! How would it feel to have a junior high schooler mop the floor with your ass on tv?

[Oakenshield]

30. She's really darn impressive.

To be such a articulate activist at her age.... I wonder what kind of career she'll pursue once she's an adult. I'm sure she'll be successful.

[Flo Mingo]

31. He's rebutting her as though

he's worried his Monsanto stock prices will drop. What a douche nozzle.

[cui bono]

35. Particularly nauseating was the end, where he condescendingly told Rachel when she gets older

she'll see the error of her ways and change her mind. That's your last hurrah O'Leary???

[MisterP]

37. it's like what a Progenitor from "Mage: The Ascension" would say in battle