I sometimes read the tabloid press. Not because I enjoy doing so, but because I like to see what the enemy is doing. Tabloid journalism in the UK is the single biggest contributor to ignorance and naïveté amongst the average Briton, especially when it comes to the world at large.
FRONT PAGE NEWS:
SOME STAR HAS ANOTHER STAR'S BABY
SECOND PAGE NEWS:
VITRIOLIC RUBBISH ON ANYTHING WHICH WILL MAKE THIS PAPER SELL
THIRD PAGE NEWS:
NONE - JUST A NAKED LADY AND SOME SEXIST RHETORIC ABOUT HER
FOURTH TO TWELFTH PAGE NEWS:
9-PAGE FEATURE ON HOW YOU CAN IMPROVE YOUR SEX LIFE BY LISTENING TO FARM ANIMALS INTERSPERSED WITH SHORT ARTICLES ON FUNNY OR WEIRD TRIVIA
Thirteenth page news:
There's a war on in Iraq and Chirac is no longer President of France PLUS BIG ADVERT FOR PLASTIC SURGERY
FOURTEENTH TO TWENTY-FIFTH PAGE NEWS:
WHAT THE RICH, FAMOUS AND PERVERTED HAVE BEEN UP TO RECENTLY
blablabla, adverts, insurance cons, schemes to rip off old people, holiday ads, horoscopes, recipes, useless gadgets, telephone sex for sale, etc. etc.
SIXTIETH TO BACK PAGE NEWS:
SPORT, GAMBLING, RUMOURS OF BIG MONEY FOOTBALL TRANSFERS
The type of "person" who reads the tabloid press is the same one who would spend a decadent amount of money voting in TV reality shows but would find it hard to name his/her local Member of Parliament, and would have little idea as to what policies they have.
OK, I admit, this type of person exists all over Europe, but on a far greater extent in the UK. You just need to take a five-minute walk down the High Streets of Orpington, Gravesend or Chatham to realise how widespread they have become. So when I was reading several articles and forums, not only from the tabloid press, concerning this weekend's crucial European Summit and treaty, I was horrified to see how naïve people are on this matter, and how fearful they are of anything non-British.
"Sold to Europe!"
"Bliar has tied us to a European superstate" (note spelling of PM's name)
"Let's get out before it's too late!"
"No to any undemocratic treaty"
and the list goes on.
In order to see what kind of journalism breeds this lack of understanding and mind-boggling isolationism, you only need to look at a tabloid newspaper's website.
One article which made me embarrassed to be British was this one:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007280672,00.html
And I decided to write the editor an email:
Dear Mr Pascoe-Watson,
Having read your article comparing Tony Blair to either Napoleon or Wellington, I find it hard to digest that Thatcherite jingoism can still have a place in 21st century Europe.
Times have moved on now.
The world is forming into power blocs of allies, including Europe, looking after each other's interests and assuring the UK of a higher profile and a louder voice at the world table.
Mr Blair did not sign up to the Charter of Fundamental Rights because it gets in the way of his draconian clampdown on British people's legal status. It means that all the historically retarded readers of the tabloids have encouraged Mr Blair to make the UK the most spied upon Orwellian nation on Earth, and you think it is a good thing, simply because this piece of legislation was not made solely by a British politician.
Let us face matters: you would prefer an independent British police state to a European law protecting your rights to be innocent BEFORE proven guilty, unlike the recent unilateral UK Home Office decision to detain people for long periods even if they may be innocent.
The Empire is long past. English-speaking countries are no better allies, not least the US, who made the UK pay every penny back for the Second World War, and still anti-Europeans harp on about how strong allies we are. Wake up little England, and smell the coffee.
If British anti-Europeans don't like the feeling of being in Europe because they feel the rules are being made elsewhere, just remember one thing: fighting your corner as a member who is taken seriously is better than skulking around on the periphery where nobody wants to notice you.
The only other leader who had any objections to the procedings this weekend was Mr Kaczynski of Poland - and just ask any educated Pole what they think of him.
The only reasons why Brits are universally disliked is firstly on evidence in the tourist resorts of Ibiza, Torremolinos and Corfu, and secondly on the political stage where the contributors to forums and blogs are right now vilifying any European project, whether it be for our benefit or not. And upon viewing their appalling spelling and grammar it is no wonder: they do not seem to take in basic linguistic rules, so they'll read and agree with every acidic demagogical syllable so artfully paraphrased in the negative to suit their small, monolingual worlds they wish to wallow in.
It is sad when a once-mighty nation has more voters in the Big Brother final than in the general election. It just shows you how little people really care about what is good for them.
Still, I admire your journalistic guile! Do you really believe what you write, though?
Yours Sincerely,
Raymond Goslitski
God, I needed that. I feel so much better now.
If the European Union has one failing though, it is that it has not promoted itself in the right way. It has good ideas, some excellent in fact. But it hides its light under a bushel. It doesn't seem to let people know why it can be a force for good, and what it has done to make our European continent a good place to live in. And that is where the battle against the hardline Euro-sceptics can be won.
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