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June 29, 2008
Believable rumours
Recently e-mails have been circulating in Britain, and no doubt the rest of the world about various things the government here is up to. Or not up to as the case may be. The problem the government faces, and this applies whether it is a polictician or a civil servant speaking, is that we no longer believe anything they say. We know they lie on all the big issues, so why wouldn't they lie on all issues? Facts, when they are incovenient to the party or the civil service, tend to get buried in irrelevant data in the hope that no one will challenge them.
This is why it is so easy for rumours to become believable.
A few days ago I posted an item entitled The Islamification of Britain. I was provoked into writing that partly by a rumour e-mail claiming the holocaust was not to be taught in British schools, and partly by my very real understanding of the fact that there is a definite bias in Whitehall and Westminster against the Christian Church (I have to say not helped by the extreme Evangelical and "Catholic" factions constant contrariness and threats of splits). Muslim organisations are favoured on a wide range of matters when it comes to Community development, social aid and even promotion of their religious views, some of which, I have to say, are decidedly offensive to Christians and others. I know that the stated object is to create an "inclusive" society and to "redress the historical imbalances" but the consequences are something Labour needs to consider very carefully. In this bias they have created an isolation culture for the Church of England and other Christian communities and fostered an "Islam is superior" mindset among many uncommitted to either. And not just on this issue - Ms Harman's latest Bill is a classic case in point. No one in their right mind supports inequality whether it is based on gender, race or religion, but now she is promoting a Bill which will enshrine in law "positive discrimination" forcing employers to discriminate against white males.
Yes, I know that is not the intention - but it is the way it will be applied!
Likewise the legislation Jack Straw wants to ram through Parliament allowing the use of anonymous evidence. We already have that in Children's and Family Courts and it makes it ever so easy for a lie to go unchallenged and for justice to miscarry. Yes, I do know what Jack Straw is concerned about, some very serious crimes are going unpunished because witnesses are being "got at" and intimidated, but there must be other sanctions that can be used here to deal with the problem - like better protection and less 'fishing' by defence attorneys who make very good use of the law which requires full disclosure. That too was intended to ensure that justice was done, but the complexity of the bureaucracy that went with it in Whitehall has made it almost impossible for the police to do their job and stay within the requirements of the paperwork. Any slip, any ommission, and the defence can scream "mistrial". The more the government meddles, the worse it all gets.
So, back to my original premise, why are the rumours so instantly believable? Put very simply, the governing class has lost the trust of the voters on everything from Europe to crime. Government reports are invariably biased to support the ideology of the day and the outcome the particular minister or department wants. Statistics are invariably abused and used to blind people to the fact that they are, at best, biased by the method of collection and meaningless to anyone unless seen against a background of analysis of a wide range of influences. So no one believes anything in a Report, since the outcome is frequently contradicted by the reality experienced by ordinary people on the street. The view from Whitehall is invariably rose tinted by the rarified atmosphere and the special glass in the windows. The media have also lost our trust, we no longer believe what we read in the newspapers or hear on the radio or see on television. We know it has been edited and biased to reflect the view of the writer and editorial policy and in the absence of that trust bond, we are prepared to believe rumours, especially those founded on a kernel of provable fact - as was the holocaust story. That story has its origins in a report that stated one school was shying away from setting the holocaust as a project at GCSE level.
The masters of the Nu Labour propaganda machine have only themselves to blame. They have corrupted Whitehall (It didn't take much!) and they have turned so many rumours into "fact" (Remember the BIG scandal of the kid with "Glue Ear" who couldn't get instant treatment? never mind the thousands who still can't get treatments for life threatening conditions under the same Party that gave us that one!) over the last forty years that we should not be surprised when people believe the lie and ignore the fact.
Posted by The Gray Monk at June 29, 2008 03:28 PM
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