What we are witnessing is falsehood and misinformation
What has happened can be put directly: two school pupils recorded a conversation with a teacher into which they deliberately introduced the idea of a fellow pupil identifying as a cat. The recording was then, not by accident you understand, made available to the Mail titles, where the underlings of the legendarily foul mouthed Paul Dacre went off without checking their facts.
No matter that the school concerned repeatedly told anyone prepared to listen that the story was not true, and that there was no pupil identifying as a cat, the right-wing press wanted to believe that children were allowed to identify as cats, they had a recording apparently backing up their belief, it served their culture war paranoia, and listening to mere facts was out.
This belief spread to the increasingly desperate and downmarket Telegraph, which amplified the Mail’s Trans-bashing line while still having no factual evidence. At this point, Mic Wright published a post calling out the Tel (read it HERE) and it might have been thought that the farce could not get worse. But that thought would have been sadly misplaced. It got worse. A lot worse.
The following day, the Tel quoted “Britain’s strictest head” Katharine Birbalsingh, who also had no factual evidence. But Sideshow Birb had an opinion, and that was all that mattered. “‘I know of a child who identifies as a hologram’ [ho yus] … [she] says children allowed to self-identify as animals and moons should be moved to a different school by their parents”.
In waded the Mail on Sunday and alleged journalist Mary Harrington to howl “Pupils identifying as cats. Teachers too scared to speak out. And a bid to smash every rule and boundary … What we are witnessing is an all-out war on parental authority - but the ultimate victims are our children”. No, what we are witnessing is an orgy of bad faith lying and bullying.
A pile-on under a totally false pretext. Joined by the likes of Helen Carroll, who also claims to be a journalist, Tweeting “Looking to speak to a mum whose secondary school age child identifies as an animal. Can be anonymous and fee paid on publication”. She has now deleted the Tweet. The ridicule raining down on her may have had something to do with it.
But the damage may have already been done: hard-up parents see the opportunity to pay for that much-needed new washing machine, sofa, bed, wardrobe, TV, or just to clear accumulated debt, and cobble up yet more false claims that the press can then feed into their hatred generating War on Trans. Meanwhile, few are thinking of the children caught in the crossfire.
Those for whom gender dysphoria is part of the everyday challenge of getting through life. Those who are already marginalised, othered, vulnerable, fearful and often lonely. The filth in and among the press doesn’t give a rat’s arse about that. So there may be the occasional fatality? They should care. They didn’t care about Lucy Meadows; they won’t care about the next victim.
Why is trust in the UK’s press so low? You may ask that. I couldn’t possibly comment.
https://www.patreon.com/Timfenton
4 comments:
Trust in the press isn't low. It is virtually nonexistent (except in braindead Gammonia). It has been that way since Hillsborough and MacFilth.
Nor is it confined to the press. Broadcast "news" is little more than a sick joke read out by conscience-free zombies.
Corporate media are an aggregate of everything wrong in a deluded and corrupt society.
Michael Scanlan's reply to the deleted Tweet from the Fail's creature was a peach:
“ Hi Helen,
My large adult son goes around lying for money, trying to stoke up fear and division, creating and propagating culture wars and, worst of all, ignoring all objective evidence. I am scared he is identifying as a journalist. I am happy to talk about this.”
The Mail and Telegraph don't seem to have any qualms about identifying as newspapers.
Nothing new... remember from the 80s "ba ba Black sheep is banned" and "can't say brainstorm because it offends epileptics"? It was the same thing. Never happened, or it was a joke and the right wing press ran with it. The difference is now, thanks to social media, it gets debunked much quicker.
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