Theology is a wonderful thing, our
present media a little less so. In Catholic teaching there are sins of
commission and sins of omission. The former are easy to understand being highly
active like murder or theft. The sin of omission is far more passive, more sly
and deceitful. It is failing to do something you should.
I think of this when I read page
after page of events in Venezuela, or heart warming stories like the fat German
rat caught in a grid and freed by well meaning fireman. The trick is to read
between the lines and ask yourself what are they not telling us. For the
political aficionados it’s quite obvious Tom Watson is on maneuvers,
positioning himself to replace Jeremy Corbyn at an opportune moment. It must be obvious to the media
too, but nothing is said.
Similarly France, where another
discreet veil has been drawn. You can understand why the French media downplays
or chooses to ‘reinterpret’ events. It’s very much a tool of the state. Not too
sure why the British media feels the need to follow suit. But then again….
For thirteen weeks – every Saturday
– thousands upon thousands of French people have taken to the streets in Paris
and other cities protesting against Macron and his neo liberal policies.
The first casualty was an 80 year
old North African woman, but since then twelve people have died, four people
have lost their hands — grenades, forty people have lost eyes to bullets and
stinger grenades, two thousand wounded. Thousands more imprisoned, and still it
goes one, along with the repression and state dirty tricks.
Some of the marches are infiltrated by state sponsored and less savoury groups that provoke the violence that frightens the respectable. Some police, who clearly want to get in on the act carry their own hammers
Some of the marches are infiltrated by state sponsored and less savoury groups that provoke the violence that frightens the respectable. Some police, who clearly want to get in on the act carry their own hammers
This has been going on for thirteen
weeks. The first week BBC, Sky, ITV were all over it. Now it is barely
mentioned other than the occasional misleading innuendo from the French
Government that anti Semitism in France is the result of the yellow jackets.
Other, possibly more likely culprits are less often mentioned.
Every so often a more serious journal - the Guardian or Spectator - might
throw out an article on the Gilet Jaune, but that’s it. So why does Venezuela,
five thousand miles away, get attention denied to events just across the
English Channel? Events not seen since the Algerian Civil War. Why are we
dependent on blogs and unreported eyewitness accounts when we pay a compulsory
£154 a year license fee for a BBC that looks the other way? Perhaps the answer
lies in regulating the Internet so that such questions need no longer be asked.
Fiorina, 20, who lost an eye on December
8
'It was my first demonstration. I
had thought about it, but not to that exten. I was surprised. I knew that
during demonstrations, there were always dangers, but not to such a degree. I
did not expect to lose an eye, especially coming from the police. It did occur
to me that there could be some fighting. I was very surprised by the violence.'
Exhaustive list of casualties
2 comments:
I spend a lot of time reading headlines, often click-bait action words to stir anger or curiosity. I suppose some swallow it whole, but I've always been a skeptic.
I wish I knew how to fight back media hypocrisy. If more people could question or refute blanket lies the media might fall back into some semblance of accountability.
What bothers me is why is the media and so many of the politicians so hell bent to change the facts. What is their true purpose?
Sorry for the delay, Maria. But ref your question
What is their true purpose?
Control
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