Enemies of Reason Poundshop potshots at the media moral maze.

Do you think bastards at the Daily Express phrase questions in their Have Your Say section in order to provoke a particular kind of response?

As noted by 5cc, the Express has a few questions it likes to churn around on a regular basis - as soon as one 'Are immigrants a BAD THING or a good thing?' question drops off the scanner, another one pops up in order to keep the bile frothing and foaming away.

Today's list of questions is this:

Should Britain bring back the death penalty?
Is our Government lying to us?
Has Labour conned Britain?
Do we let too many immigrants into Britain?
Do you resent migrants getting better treatment?
Should law-abiding Muslims help stamp out fanatics?
Is this Government an absolute shambles?
Will ethnic ghettos create tension?
Should foreign criminals be booted out of Britain?
Are wind turbines an ugly waste of space?
Should the Archbishop resign over Sharia row?
Should sharia law be banned in Britain?
Are you fed up with the benefit system being abused?
Should scroungers lose their council houses?
Should Britain's Christian traditions be defended?
Are we tough enough on terror?
Should Muslims get benefits for 4 wives?
Should Sharia law be tolerated in Britain?
Should we kick out all foreign criminals?
Have you had enough of Labour dictating to you?
Is Britain too soft on terrorists?
Are you fed up with Brown wasting your hard-earned money?
Is Britain letting in too many immigrants?

I think you can see they're looking for a wide spectrum of opinions and some healthy debate, and aren't ever trying to shepherd their more rabid readers into predestined conclusions.

Let's start with duplications. I reckon there's not a tremendous world of difference between 'Should Sharia law be tolerated in Britain?' and 'Should sharia law be banned in Britain?', though they both imply that sharia law exists already in Britain, which of course it doesn't. Textbook Express stuff though, giving its readers the impression that something outrageous has happened then letting them get all hot under the collar without checking the facts (well, if the journalists aren't going to, why should the readers?)

I also like the fact that 'Is our Government lying to us?' and 'Has Labour conned Britain?' are next to each other. Just in case you didn't get the message once, you've got another opportunity just a couple of millimetres away to see that, yes, Labour/NuLab/Jock McBottler have done bad things and conned us and taken OUR HARD-EARNED MONEY IN TAX!

Another two questions next to each other are 'Do we let too many immigrants into Britain?' and 'Do you resent migrants getting better treatment?'. The latter of which has another hidden implication, that of course migrants are undoubtedly getting better treatment already. I guess they're trying to get you to comment on both questions one after the other, seeing as they're next-door neighbours on screen. And just a couple of inches away is 'Is Britain letting in too many immigrants?', which looks at first glance to be exactly the same cunting question as 'Do we let too many immigrants into Britain?' but of course is very, very different indeed, which is why the Express needed to ask both very separate and different questions. I'm sure we can all see that.

Not content with having asked 'Is Britain too soft on terrorists?' the Express feels the need to ask the similar but very different question 'Are we tough enough on terror?'. Again, you can see that on first glance they appear to be exactly the same fucking thing, but that would be to miss out on the subtle nuances of meaning that the Express wants you to investigate. Likewise with 'Should we kick out all foreign criminals?' and 'Should foreign criminals be booted out of Britain?' - yes, very similar, but so different, so challengingly different.

I actually checked. I didn't believe it at first. I thought, no hang on, they're just a couple of different 'entry points' to the same discussion thread. Oh no. No, they're not. They're supposedly different questions, asked on different days.

I have to take my hat off to the question-setters, though. I love the balanced and objective way they attempt to try and get people to think rationally and intelligently about an argument. You can see this with 'Is this Government an absolute shambles?' and, my personal favourite 'Are wind turbines an ugly waste of space?' - well gee, I don't know, but seeing as you put it like that, I wonder what you're trying to tell me that you'd want me to say?

And those are just the questions. I'll have a little look at the answers later, once I've put on the full body armour and gas mask. I have a feeling it won't be pretty.

Related posts:

1. Express questions slip seamlessly into self-parody
2. This week’s neutral and balanced list of Express Have Your Say questions
3. Daily Express & Daily Star racism: It’s not going to stop
4. The Daily Express: 10p cheaper than the Mail, and 10 times more stupid
5. Inside the mind of the Express