The Sun and transvestites
The Sun opens its story “Nazi terrorist is caged for 16 years” on the conviction and sentencing of Martyn Gilleard, would-be promoter of a race war, with the line:
A CROSS-dressing Nazi racist was jailed for 16 years yesterday on child porn and terrorism charges.
Let me begin by saying that I am delighted that Gilleard was sent down.
I’m guessing that Gilleard had attributes other than being a Nazi, a racist and a transvestite. Maybe he drank lager, smoked tobacco or was particularly keen on the music of Johnny Cash. We don’t know, because The Sun doesn’t see a necessary connection between those attributes and the fact that he had child pornography and wanted to promote a race war. It does, though, want to suggest that because he was a transvestite, he’s weird and it’s no surprise he’s a paedophile. It is disingenuous at best and outright dangerous at worst.
xD.
July 1st, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Couldn’t agree more, but what do you expect from The Sun? It is not a proper newspaper. We should stop treating the gutter press as if they were part of the civilised discourse.
July 2nd, 2008 at 12:23 am
Would it were so simple, PZT!
I don’t think it is a proper newspaper; however, it is not going away, its owners have a right to publish and it is the most read daily in the UK. I think we have to work for gradual change; indeed, it has improved over the years. I’d add that the Sun is neither the sole cause nor the prime mover but part of a vicious circle that is dumbing down public discourse in the UK. Rather than going after particular political points made by the Sun et al. as part of this (so, excepting when we are actually making a rebuttal or counterpoint), we need to explain why a better debate is needed and, as far as we can, improve the debate ourselves.
If anyone knows how we do that…answers on a postcard to the usual address.
xD.