Enemies of Reason Poundshop potshots at the media moral maze.

When you hear what you want to hear…

I'm sure I recall a few years ago the millions who protested against the Iraq war being portrayed in the papers as somehow not reflecting public opinion or being a bunch of bastard troublemakers who were up to no good, and probably smelled and had dogs on strings and drank cider.

Easy to dismiss a few million protesters like that. Easier still to snort at celebs like Annie Lennox worrying about the slaughter in Gaza, as I'm sure the haughty cunts will in their columns this week, alongside unfunny cartoons by Gary.

Yet when it's a percentage of 43 (yes, forty-three) people in a 'focus group' saying they feel like the wogs are coming over ere and taking our jobs and cancil azis, innit, then that's quite clearly conclusive proof that this is definitely happening, and no further investigation of any kind is required in the slightest:

Well that's game, set and match for the Express then, thanks to the racist-pandering bullshit farted out by Hazel Blears yesterday. Of course it's always the same: we all selectively interpret what we see and hear, and I'm no different.

Though I'm not quite sure if there'd been a focus group of 43 white working class people who'd said they all loved immigrants and didn't believe the bullshit about council housing lists, then the Mail, Express, Sun and other usual suspects would have been just as firmly behind their views as they are today. Hmm, not so sure.

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Related posts:

1. The stories you never hear about
2. Lesson 3 of journalism: be cautious and question things, if it goes against what you want to hear