Another couple of emails on this subject:
"Hi Ken
I agree100% with you and this was the line I took in a Three counties radio phone in when I asked that very question. I actually said " what kind of a world have we created when an elderly man can't bend down to talk to a child in the street without fear of being being shouted at by a fearful parent. Do you know what his answer was???" I don't want a dirty old man talking to my kids on the street! We have paedophile paranoia whipped up be the media and to which our poor public institutions must respond - its a tricky balancing act but we are NOT CRB checking parents in playgrounds nor banning them!!
sincerely
Dorothy
Hi Dorothy
I think it fair to say that, whatever the "actualite" of the circumstances surrounding the playground issue, the "communications side" of it has not necessarily been handled that well.
Some of the comments on the local paper's site indicate that there is quite some divergence of views as to the "facts" of this matter.
Wrt paranoia I would suggest that the suitable "response" to "media induced hysteria" (which most certainly exists wrt many issues, not just paedophilia), is not for public institutions or the politicians running them to roll over and do what the hysterics want, but for the politicians to show some real leadership and stand up to the hysterics.
Allowing the tabloids and the mob to dictate policy will lead us further down the very unpleasant path that we have already been travelling for far too long.
Kind regards
Ken "
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Ken;
ReplyDeleteUntil we move away from government by media we shall never put this type of thing to bed.
The role of the media has changed in recent times, especially TV news and political coverage.
The main TV news broadcasters now have twenty four hour news stations, they appear to often be driving and making the news rather than just reporting it......I wonder if they feel the need to do this just to fill air time.
Since Parliament has been televised, so image and presentation has become more important, often more so than content or substance.
Newspapers sell more copies when they sensationalise headlines and thus it is percieved by a badly educated electorate that there are dangers all around and Paedos hiding behind every tree.....I wonder what direction this campaign by the media will now take given the fact that women have been recently convicted of paedophillia crimes.....Will young parents now not trust any adult, let alone just men? Will there be a backlash against certain TV advertising campaigns for baby products that have in the past shown women rubbing the baby all over and rubbing their nose on the baby's bum?...I wonder if any ad agency will change their campaigns just in case there is such an outcry.
I think we need to stop all the crazy paranoia over so many aspects of everyday lives but, how will we do that, because at least a generation has known no difference and that is the generation having kids now? Will they just pass on to their children their distorted views and predjudicies?
Enjoy paranoia responsibly.
True Tonk
ReplyDeleteIts not just the media selling paranoia, its the general public who are willing to buy it.
I think a great deal of people are so bored and disillusioned with their lives that a good scare story actually gives them a sense of purpose.
People like that wake up one day and realise they are middle aged, unhappy and have not acheived anything that really matters to them. Thats the stuff that mid life crisis are made of.
Those of us that take life by the handlebars dont have the time to moan and discuss about the latest health scare or big brother contestant. Trouble is, when people see that they dont try and make the effort to be like us, they take the easy option and try to bring us down to their level by: Taxing our 4x4s, scaring our kids, making us carry id cards and refusing to sell us lemons for our gins.
Its all bollocks.
"Will they just pass on to their children their distorted views and prejudices?"
ReplyDeleteYes they will. How can they not?
I see some of the other parents at school, who I cannot help but feel are a little moronic, making their little darlings wear school supplied reflective jackets for the oh-so dangerous journey of car door to school gates. A journey of sometimes less than 3 feet.
Imagine what the kids are thinking, and thus what thought patterns they are developing...
Given this predisposition to go along with whatever madness is being promoted of the day, employing zero critical thinking and objectivity, overcoming paedo paranoia will be very difficult indeed.
One day she will get her just desserts - after The Punctuation Police catch up with her.
ReplyDeleteIt's a pity that some of the energy politicians, the media and the public devote to whipping up this paranoia cannot be used to tackle the real problems facing this country, in a sane, rational manner.
ReplyDelete