MORE LESSONS IN MENDACITY
Even when a reasonably reputable source publishes something to make us think again, Twitter will try and ensure we don’t. Below is yet another case-history to prove my point.
What you see (left) is one “trending” topic on the social media site this morning. The vast majority of tweeters do not drill down into the detail of an article: suffering as they do from ADD, they merely note that (1) this is the WSJ speaking – a trustworthy source – and (2) yes, this Delphic business oracle with no axe to grind is giving those evil Covid “deniers” a jolly good bashing, which of course they thoroughly deserve. Bu as always, things are not what they seem.
Here we are now at the second level of MSM direct “reporting” from the primary source, and at last the real story is spelt out:
Here – because the source is federal data – the WSJ feels on safe ground when it shows that (as many of us have been saying since June) additional deaths are due to indirect Covid factors.
But even then, The Journal shrinks from spelling out the Truth: it is the reaction to Covid19 by the authorities that has caused excess deaths over and above previous years.
There comes a point when brainless incompetence is very difficult to separate from malign intent. In the UK, the first wave decision to plonk infectious hospital Covid patients into care homes was put down to SNAFU. It cost thousands of needless deaths. Yet here we are in the so-called third wave, and some murderous idiot in Whiteminster is suggesting the same thing again:
‘The Government has strongly defended its care home policy after it was taken to task for the publication of guidance stating that Covid-19 in-patients can be discharged into care homes without a test if they do not appear to be infectious. The memories of very similar advice published last year are still fresh, when officials – desperate to clear hospital beds – discharged elderly patients into care homes in droves’
After eleven months of this farrago of farce, how could any well-meaning Minister or Sir Humphrey whose avowed intention was to protect the vulnerable proffer such crass advice? How could senior Ministers signalling their faux virtue in protecting the NHS blow £200 million on pop-up hospitals, knowing all it would do is highlight that NHS leaders have underinvested in staff?
It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that both politicians and NHS admin staff are being set up to be fall guys….paving the way for more technocracy in government, and accelerated privatisation of public health provision. That’s why we must move on from the symptoms, and not just identify the cancer, but be prepared to speak its name.
Yesterday, I quoted National Union of Journalists spokespeople as criticising Ipos because “journalists still have little or no protection from editors seeking saleable stories regardless of ethical considerations”.
The only way to cure that problem is to break up the alliance of all those who look down on the citizen. And that’s a long-haul problem.
The Slog 