UK Politician Says EU Site Wants To 'Brainwash' Children With Propaganda About Democratic Principles
from the reading-too-much-into-it dept
The UK is famous for its tabloid newspapers and their particular brand of journalism. Here's a fine example from the Daily Express, under the headline "EU attempts to brainwash children with 'sinister Soviet-style propaganda'":
European Parliament chiefs are considering setting up a site to target young children with a "playful" presentation of their working methods and democratic principles.
The Daily Express story is mainly built around a few quotations from the politician Paul Nuttall. He belongs to the UK Independence Party, whose policy in a nutshell is as follows:
the rescue of the British people depends on withdrawal from the EU to regain our self-governing democracy
So it's no surprise that Nuttall has a slightly jaundiced view of anything the European Parliament does. Here are a few of of his comments in the article:
this exercise in funding kiddie propaganda really is cash for EU trash.
What's fascinating here is his choice of words: "kiddie propaganda", "vulnerable and easily manipulated", "a form of child abuse". Whether consciously or not, clear parallels are being drawn here with pornography and even child pornography ("kiddie propaganda") through the use of phrases that are familiar from those fields.
...
Our children need to be protected from this type of political propaganda because they are vulnerable and easily manipulated.
…
Political propaganda on vulnerable kids is a form of child abuse.
It's also striking that the image chosen by the Daily Express to illustrate the story is the classic perplexed child staring at a screen whose contents we cannot see -- the implication being that there is something bad there, but that we are powerless to protect the innocence of the young viewer. That, too, is something of a cliché in articles about pornography, and it's disconcerting to see it being wheeled out here for an article about promoting democratic principles.
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Filed Under: brainwashing, democracy, education, eu, propaganda, uk
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Although I suspect that many UK citizens will take that seriously.
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Why do people read newspapers?
Well tabloids are fun, I enjoyed them tremendously while in the UK, I just never took anything they said seriously though and when asking others they said the same thing.
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Re:
The former actually manage to maintain the illusion with many people that they're real journalism, even when they're acting worse than the tabloids. It's been years since I've lived there long enough to get a ground view of things, but the general view when I left was certainly that they're "real" journalism among some crowds. That's definitely worrying given the blatant lies and distortions they get caught with on a regular basis. I hope it's changed, but given the rise in people I seem to be aware of online who repeat their talking points, I doubt it, sadly.
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Celebrity gossip
Benefits claimants and their lavish lifestyles
Celebrity gossip
Rumours and hyperbole as political commentary
Celebrity gossip
Celebrity gossip
EU vitriol
Boobs
Celebrity gossip
These are the things printed by the tabloids on a daily basis. Anyone with a brain and a penchant for critical thinking will ignore these journalistic parasites.
There is a lot of quality journalism out there but these tabloids are tainting an entire industry with their non-journalism.
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What a wonderful tome.
If you believe all you read in the Express you are either a) an idiot, b) committed suicide as a result of the depression created from reading such utterly sensationalist crap.
In the Express:
Bad Weather = portent of the world ending
Anthing to do with the EU = portent of the world ending
In fact everything = portent of the world ending
As for the UK independence party, the less said the better.
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HOw many
20% are sheep..
70% either dont know how, DONT care, think its to corrupt,...
The problem tends to be a few...
SMART people that know POLITICS, dont want the job. That leaves those that DO want the job for their OWN PURPOSES..
Difficulty comes with REALLY running things as a democracy...
SHARING KNOWLEDGE..
FINDING TRUTH..
making things WORK..
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Hahaha
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Yeah, but, whose propaganda?
You get it from your classic fear-mongering politicians, your sensationalistic gossip press, and of course, your corporate-owned mainstream media.
In this case, it would be important to know exactly WHAT the proposed EU site intends to "educate your children" about, and how. Otherwise, it's anyone's guess as to what propaganda (if any) is being published, and by whom.
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Re: Yeah, but, whose propaganda?
You get it from your classic fear-mongering politicians, your sensationalistic gossip press, and of course, your corporate-owned mainstream media."
Not to mention your empire-building political oligarchies, such as the one that plastered my children's UK school with posters deceitfully insinuating that their daily milk was a gift from the bounteous EU. Or the one that fastened deliberately misleading signs and logos on practically every bridge and road in Scotland implying that they were financed by the EU - when said EU had simply contributed a portion, taken out of the taxes they exact from the UK. There are plenty more examples like those.
Don't let contempt for the messenger blind you to the danger in the message. This propaganda paints the EU as your benefactor, when it is actually your master - as the ordinary, thrifty folk of Cyprus are about to discover. And they won't be the last.
Any attempt by the EU to 'educate' your children should be viewed with great concern.
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http://tabloid-watch.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/we-do-not-normally-find-it-worthwhile.html
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Oh the irony
Lord Beaverbrook, 1947, owner of the Daily Express
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unless
�
Political propaganda on vulnerable kids is a form of child abuse"
Unless......
You are using a well known newspaper to spread yours!
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Wrong title, Glyn...
I think that is more correct.
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We would like the UK Government to spearhead and support a National Media Literacy week to educate the general population towards more active engagement with media, raise awareness of the impact of media on popular culture and promote more critical media consumption
Please sign and share
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/49014
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