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Sunday 11 November 2012

Smoke and mirrors...again.

Sometimes it is advantageous to take a step back and think about the big picture.
Take the current hot news topic that is the Welsh care home paedophile allegations that have followed on from the Jimmy Savile storm.
Up close there's no real difference between the two.
Powerful people are being accused of the most heinous and perverse behaviour, and in general the public are quite rightly horrified.

We do appear to be seeing two distinctly different approaches in how the accusations are being dealt with though, and we should all be thinking carefully about why this is.

When the news broke about Jimmy Savile the press weren't slow in naming names and dropping very heavy hints about those who may or may not have been involved.
The blood was in the water and it was feeding frenzy time on Fleet street.
Headlines screamed at us on a daily basis about how stars of the seventies where quaking in their platform shoes.
Now cast your mind back a few weeks and ask yourselves if you remember any great push to dampen down the flames, or even a whispered plea to halt the hysteria and focus on facts.
Personally I don't recall any such thing.

Now jump into the present and it's a whole different story.
Philip Schofield has been slapped down for handing over a card with some names on it to the prime minister, even though no names were mentioned and no one could really see them.
Newsnight has been dragged through the dirt along with the BBC for 'not' naming someone.
This has now led to the Director General resigning.
The reaction from the establishment when considered in this light does seem to lean towards suppression of information doesn't it?
A push to move the attention away from the actual abuse claims
To me it also seems to scream that some people in society are fair game while others are certainly not.

Now to consider the big picture for a moment.
Who is really overly concerned about the Schofield incident, and who really thinks that Newsnight are guilty of more than poor judgement in thinking that as the establishment would have treated a hint about one of their own in the same way as they have the heavy hints in the Savile case?
How can any of these headline grabbers be considered more serious than the allegations of child abuse?

Lets consider some of the other water muddying exercises.
Who harboured any thoughts that allegations could have turned into a gay witch hunt?
I didn't.
I have a clear distinction in my mind between homosexuality and paedophilia.
There's already been a few mentions about how those investigating the allegations need to be careful that some are not made falsely to secure financial compensation.
Isn't that just a pre-emptive strike in sowing some seeds of mistrust as to what may be revealed?
It's akin to saying 'well whether guilty or not we will never really know'.

I think we should all be very careful to what we subscribe to and as I've said take a bit of a step back and look at the big picture here.
My view is that a can of worms is in the balance and those in power are doing their level best to ensure that it doesn't hit the tipping point because if it does then there's no way back for them.  

9 comments:

  1. Focus IS being drawn away from the allegations and we should ask why?
    Fair comment itsaxxxxthing.

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  2. I'm seeing a great many comments on social networking and media sites covering the allegations of abuse in Wales, and pretty often they seem to be focusing on everything apart from the actual abuse itself.
    I'm quite uncomfortable with that.
    It seems to me that this shows that an attempt to manipulate where the attention of the public is focused has been successful to a degree.

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  3. This has already went too far for it to be swept under a carpet.

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  4. Well I was surprised that the abuse case in Jersey sort of slipped from the national headlines so quickly, and until now (now that Jimmy Savile has been mentioned as a visitor to Haute de la Garenne) had been partially forgotten by so many.
    So I'll not be holding my breath waiting for convictions.

    I'll not vouch for the accuracy of the information in this link, but it makes interesting reading, and who could really absorb everything claimed and balance that out with the lack of action taken.
    http://www.highstrangeness.tv/articles/jerseydevils.php

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  5. Completely 100% true, or an attempt to discredit the claims.
    Who knows.

    This is just being reported now.

    David Mellor, a former Conservative cabinet minister with responsibility for the BBC, has come under fire after labelling Steve Messham, a victim of child abuse at a north Wales care home, a “weirdo.”

    Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday Politics show, Mellor, who is a regular contributor on LBC Radio, said Newsnight’s brand was tainted beyond redemption after relying on Messham as a witness.
    He told presenter Andrew Neil: “They relied on a man who the Mail on Sunday have revealed in two and half pages as a weirdo.

    “He’s already cost one and half million in libel damages and costs when he accused a policeman of sexually abusing him.

    "Why didn’t [Newsnight] show him a photograph (of Lord McAlpine) it’s extraordinary. The idea of Alistair McAlpine being involved in child abuse is so ludicrous somebody on Newsnight should have realised."

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  6. Yes indeed.....Hope yer keeping well ****thing. All the best!

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  7. Getting by Nuzz. Hope you are well to.

    I'm pleased to say regarding this that more people are scoffing at the establishments attempts to smear witnesses and distract the populace from the real issue than I expected.
    The more they shout the more attention they are drawing to it all.
    I suspect that something big may be on the horizon.
    On the other hand some sacrificial lambs may be found and accepted by people.
    If so then that would be a great shame.

    I'll have a guess at the future.
    Suicide of a major figure and a few non entities go to jail and then an attempt to draw a line under it all.
    Possibly some mps pushing that the media drove the man to take his own life and we need to consider the freedoms (such as they are) of the press.


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  8. Yeah same really, getting by, trying to stay free and stay strong. Interesting reading your take on it, I posted something about it yesterday, before having read your piece, sounds like we're singing the same song, but in a slightly different key.

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  9. I just posted on your blog update, but in a nutshell I'm just saying that an overview hints at the establishment using current events to tighten the screws.

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