…overkill
“Fake news” has become the meme of the 21st century after the 2016 elections in the US. But exactly WHAT is “fake news”? Is it false and misleading statements? Take the recent study asserting that drinking cow’s milk with all its delicious fat isn’t really harmful to you — as you’ve been told for the last three decades. Was the latter “fake news”, since it is now shown to be false? Does claiming “we thought it was “real” make it not fake and true?
So what’s the connection of “fake news” with truth? So, suppose Winston Jordan really believes the economy will grow by 20 per cent in 2020…even though he has no way of knowing whether Exxon’s projections will pan out – is his announcement “fake news”?? How about Trump’s announcement that his intelligence agencies don’t know their ass from their elbows — now that he’s backtracking on the original statement?
Is “fake news” that which is completely “made up” by the purveyor? So what about that news printed by the Chronic on the assertion by the GRDB that “rice exports up by 43%”?? If true, this would certainly be good news for the rice farmers, who still haven’t recovered from the loss of Venezuelan rice markets in 2015. But all the GRDB manager meant was: in comparison to the first half of 2017, exports went up. He made up that COMPARISON, which is silent about the fact that not much rice had been shipped back then. If he’d compared the shipment to that of 2014, he’d have gotten a different conclusion. Was he purveying “fake news”?
Yes! According to Thomas Fiedler, dean of Boston University College of Communication, fake news is “false information packaged to deceive the public into thinking it was produced by professionals with respect for truth.” It’s all about the PACKAGING of the information! And from this perspective, “fake news” has been around for a long, long time. At one time, it was asserted by some big ones in the European Enlightenment that the blood of blacks was BLACK!! You may roll your eyes at that bit of FAKE NEWS and say “C’mon!!”
But look how many people still think the statement “blacks are less intelligent than whites” — which originated at the same time – isn’t fake news!! They package the statement with all sorts of IQ test results from prestigious universities that are so self-fulfilling, it ain’t even funny.
So, dear reader, whenever you read the news, your default position should be to assume that, more often than not – especially if it’s the Government newspaper – it’s fake news!
Like when the Chronic reports, “Government working to strengthen immigration policy”, when Felix can’t account for 4,377 Haitians!!
…on paedophilia
“Paedophilia” is a mental sickness, where an adult has “a primary, exclusive, or sustained sexual interest in children under age 13”. From reports in the newspapers of men being CONVICTED of raping and sexually assaulting kids under 13, it’s clear we have a serious paedophilia problem in Guyana. Especially when — if we go by what happens in other societies, where they investigate such matters — what we’re seeing in the courts is only the tip of the iceberg.
And it’s for this reason we’re getting mostly fake news on the phenomenon that has prevented us from taking action at a societal level. Are we reminded that paedophiles just “can’t help themselves”, and will therefore repeat their heinous behaviour repeatedly? Are we told about alternatives to simply incarcerating them? Take Indonesia and Korea, which enacted laws to use chemical castration of offenders. They found that the compulsive behaviour is reduced tremendously, and therefore that hallmark of the paedophile – repeating his crime – dissipates.
Let’s get the real scoop on paedophiles, and get some real remedies in place!
…on sugar
With all the fake news from the PNC-led Government and the now board-less GuySuCo about “restructuring”, “diversifying”, “closing”, “refinancing”, “retooling”, “redeploying”, “consolidating” the sugar industry; all we know for sure is: 5,700 sugar workers were screwed royally!
