I was left with a
degree of uncertainty this morning. It has quite spoiled my day. Normally I’m up
at dawn, sitting in the dark, with tea and radio to hand, and I’m told
what to think for that day. There are some things now I know to be immutable
truths:
The government is both incompetent and heartless.
Wind power is the
future.
Shale gas is bad
Leveson is good.
The Press is bad
The internet needs to be regulated
Independent Schools are bad
The Republicans
are fools.
Obama is God
Starbucks is bad.
The Right Honourable Margaret Hodge, Chairman
of the Public Accounts Committee and the doughty champion of fair taxation is
good. No mention is made of her shares in a family company (Stemcor) It is 'allegedly'
making millions and paying 0.01% in tax. An obvious oversight I’m sure will be remedied, 'explained' or ignored.
So far so good. I'm surrounded by tablets of stone, modern commandments. 'Though I walk in the shadow of death' Wormtongue is there, drip feeding news and telling me how to interpret it. No chance of forgetting. It is persistent, like rain, reminding me what's right day after day.
Until today.
Until today.
Today the guidance faltered. Like a SatNav losing signal, and as a result I feel rudderless.
I've been picking up suggestions
that Presidient Morsi of Egypt
is 'bad'. He is over-riding a large section of public feeling in his attempt to
impose an Islamic Constitution, and a mass of Egyptians are rioting or, if you prefer, protesting.
But what am I to
feel about the Belfast Assembly taking down the UK flag from public buildings? In
doing so they have outraged a large section of public opinion in Northern Ireland, and they are doing much the
same thing as the rioters in Egypt
– making their feelings known. Am I to support one lot of rioters and not the
other? Is one set of rioters morally superior to the other and by whose criteria? No clear guidance has been given yet, though I'm sure it is only a matter of time…as is the next war. There is a steady drumbeat for involvement in Syria, and maybe Iran. It is the sound of a public being ‘prepared,' opinion subtly formed.
6 comments:
The media is so biased and one-sided, if I want to know the truth, I have to be my own journalist and research it myself.
In today's world, it's no longer who's right or wrong, but who can go viral and bend public opinion despite the facts.
If you can access Al Jazeera I'd recommend that. Not perfect but hard core news with mininum 'interpretation'. I watch it quite often and it reminds me of old fashioned newspapers, dense with news so that you feel 'full' when its done. Big contrast with modern 'sofa' news where cuddly presenters allow spinners to promote this message or that, interspersed with small gobbets of news for those suffering from attention deficit disorder.
Like Maria mentioned, to be informed I tend to get the half truth from the only place the conservative truth comes from then find the rest of the truth from all the rest of the liberal media so that I can get the fair and balanced view I was supposed to be getting in the first place.
yeah, riddle me that and riddle me how one person is god? I got lost there lol!
It's why a free press is so important, Angela, and it would be nice to have such diversity in other channels of the media
I believe there are still journalists, although a few, who maintain a fair degree of independence and they are reliable when you read them - in spite of whether you agree with their opinion or not. It's hard to find them though.
I agree with Maria Zannini: today we're given all the necessary tools to do research and grasp the meaning of the world events by ourselves, with the help of multiple sources. There can't be any such thing as "I don't know" anymore.
The fact that you can 'search' for a wider balance is true enough. My beef is with a monopoly broadcaster that purports to be neutral but in fact interprets news in a way that encourages a 'right' view of the world as opposed to the 'wrong' view of the world. It's a bit like the medieval pulpit with its only one truth. The fact that you can search for alternatives doesn't remove the fault. Too many people don't realise they have to search for alternatives.
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