...for they were
either politicians or reporters, which, of course, comes to the same thing.
Ford Madox Ford – The Good Soldier (1915)
Almost every morning I use the iPad to run a quick check on news headlines. I
used to rely on Ceefax for my daily fix but those days are gone forever. I
don’t usually read past the headlines apart from an occasional yen to get some
detail, but an outline is usually enough.
I also find myself skipping from headline to comments and if there are no comments I move on. In other words, I’m hardly
ever interested in what the average journalist has to say about a story. Only
if the story is written by a tough-minded curmudgeon am I likely to read it and
there aren’t many of those around, especially in the mainstream media.
Which finally leads to the point of this post, because in my
experience there is something important about unyielding scepticism. We are
stuck with a major social dilemma where mainstream opinion has to be – well
mainstream. Otherwise it could not fulfil its social function, its need to suck up to the establishment and foster political correctness. Fear shapes behaviour, which is why the news is mostly alarmist.
Doom and gloom rules the newsroom. Always has.
As a species we are not particularly intelligent and accept
the most absurd garbage if it is socially acceptable to
do so. A sharply critical outlook is required to detect the garbage but here’s the
rub. Detecting garbage ought to be a positive and respected
social skill, a welcome addition to the tools of social discourse.
Unfortunately it isn’t, because it can’t be, because socially cohesive
consensus would flounder if critical analysis were to be valued as a welcome
corrective to the garbage and to the establishment viewpoint.
Support your local curmudgeon.
7 comments:
How much are you asking for, AKH?
I would like to disagree, but that post is somehow depressingly accurate.
Ceefax, yes, remembered.
Garbage in, garbage out, as my young ones (well in their 50's) keep telling me.
Very true.
Most newspapers are fodder for the masses but the elite need one or two newspapers that speak more or less the facts if only the better to manipulate the masses. You know the titles...
With so many very small-minded kids glued to their little screens, it doesn't seem that there is any hope, apart from their 'friends' telling them all what they've just eaten, which may help Tesco.
My mobile phone contract expires in September, and that's when Scrobs pulls out - except for a fiver kept in for emergencies!
Sam - jokes about Corbyn will do.
Mark - it certainly depressed me.
James - it's Red Button now, but looks much the same.
Demetrius - and garbage in the middle to let it all through.
Roger - I don't trust any of them enough to accept what they say without filing under "Maybe".
Scrobs - my mobile only does calls and texts. Enough for me.
Post a Comment