Plucky Canucks Claim 'Time' Ripped Them Off
Don't anger our neighbors to the north! That's the lesson from this week's accusation by Maclean's, long known as the Canadian Time. In an unusually angry editor's note—particularly harsh when you consider that it comes from Canadians, who are best known for their comical accents and decaffeinated American ways—the folks from the cold country suggest that Time magazine has ripped off their redesign, noting that both mags feature cover boxes, Monday pub dates, and right-wing hack columnists. (Maclean's takes particular pride in its "witty and provocative covers." The current issue features a secondary character from an animated sitcom that first aired eighteen years ago; we suppose that's what passes for edgy in Thunder Bay.)
The editors note suspiciously that "a bundle of back issues was dispatched to New York in February 2006," but when one considers the well-established fact that no one at Time has any idea what the hell they're doing, particularly concerning the redesign, we suspect that a box of glossies packed with stories (fishing in Banff just isn't fun anymore, whatever happened to Kim Campbell, etc.) of limited interest to even Canadians languished in some storeroom for months until it was forwarded to Richard Stengel out of residual spite.
We do recommend reading the note in full: it's a perfect example of the passive-aggression that characterizes a country whose motto—a mari usque ad mare—is best translated as "we will bore the shit out of you on both coasts." Still, we're unconvinced: While we understand how residents of the vast frozen tundra one passes over to get to Alaska might feel that they've invented the concept of "white space," the idea that Time stole its concepts from a magazine with less influence than U.S. News & World Report seems a little far-fetched. They shit that particular bed all on their own. On the other hand, should the editors of Maclean's be willing to repatriate Graydon Carter, we're willing to re-evaluate the whole thing.
