Chris Grayling writes: time to rebut Labour's "fake news"
"Fake News" has been around for millennia: for example although the Emperor Nero was one of the worst rulers who ever lived, almost the only crime of which he was probably innocent was that for which he is best remembered.
The allegation that Nero set fire to Rome in 64 AD, watched the blaze from a tower and sang "The sack of Ilium" while the city burned (changed centuries later to playing the fiddle while Rome burned, which is flat-out impossible as the violin was not invented until at least a thousand years later) appears to have been a clever libel invented by one of his many opponents.
With the exception of a letter from Seneca to St Paul the apostle, all the few surviving primary accounts of that fire were written several decades later. Of those which describe Nero's role, the one which appears least exaggerated when compared with what evidence we have, the history by Tacitus, states that Nero was at Antium, thirty-five miles from Rome, when the fire broke out, and hurried back when he learned that Rome was burning to organise disaster relief and fire-fighting efforts.
The story of the Great Fire of Rome appears to have been an early example of cleverly deceitful propaganda, but there is much more of it around today.
Transport secretary Chris Grayling has written an article on Conservative Home about how
Conservatives must get better at rebutting Labour's fake news.
There are honest people and to put it very politely, there are also sadly some people who do not take enough care to tell the truth in all the political parties and in the media. A wise person should apply a certain amount of scepticism, in the proper and original meaning of that word, e.g. to start with an open mind and use your intelligence to check the truth of what is being said, to information from any source whether it is the press, social media or any political party.
Nevertheless I think Grayling is right - and yes, MRDA but I really do think he is right - to call out as some of the worst purveyors of fake news in Britain today certain members of the Labour party in general and Momentum in particular. As he writes,
"Time after time they push messages about us which are completely false, or which completely distort the truth. In one recent example, they claimed that we rejected a Labour attempt to make it a legal requirement for landlords to ensure that their properties were fit for human habitation.
The reality was very different. The Conservative bill gave local authorities more power than ever before to clamp down on rogue landlords. Labour’s headline chasing amendment was legally flawed. But it made for an anti-Conservative campaign portraying us as heartless when we were the ones taking real action to solve the problem. And many believed it.
More recently, their campaign to claim that we thought that animals were not sentient only ground to a halt when several media outlets had to apologise to Michael Gove for misrepresenting our position. But not before many constituents had accused me and other MPs of not caring for animals.
We’re going to see much more of this fake-news approach to politics from Labour over the coming months and years. They will portray us as uncaring and unthinking, and will use false examples to make their case.
Labour supporting think tanks will continue to pump out intentionally inaccurate information about the Government’s record. Hardly a day goes by without a Conservative MP reporting another outbreak of complete fiction from the left."
"But it is a reality that we have to deal with. We will never convince the determined left of the falseness of their propaganda. But we have to sow real seeds of doubt into the minds of the reasonable people who see their messages. Quite simply, we have to discredit their fake news. "
You can read the full text of the article here.
The allegation that Nero set fire to Rome in 64 AD, watched the blaze from a tower and sang "The sack of Ilium" while the city burned (changed centuries later to playing the fiddle while Rome burned, which is flat-out impossible as the violin was not invented until at least a thousand years later) appears to have been a clever libel invented by one of his many opponents.
With the exception of a letter from Seneca to St Paul the apostle, all the few surviving primary accounts of that fire were written several decades later. Of those which describe Nero's role, the one which appears least exaggerated when compared with what evidence we have, the history by Tacitus, states that Nero was at Antium, thirty-five miles from Rome, when the fire broke out, and hurried back when he learned that Rome was burning to organise disaster relief and fire-fighting efforts.
The story of the Great Fire of Rome appears to have been an early example of cleverly deceitful propaganda, but there is much more of it around today.
Transport secretary Chris Grayling has written an article on Conservative Home about how
Conservatives must get better at rebutting Labour's fake news.
There are honest people and to put it very politely, there are also sadly some people who do not take enough care to tell the truth in all the political parties and in the media. A wise person should apply a certain amount of scepticism, in the proper and original meaning of that word, e.g. to start with an open mind and use your intelligence to check the truth of what is being said, to information from any source whether it is the press, social media or any political party.
Nevertheless I think Grayling is right - and yes, MRDA but I really do think he is right - to call out as some of the worst purveyors of fake news in Britain today certain members of the Labour party in general and Momentum in particular. As he writes,
"Time after time they push messages about us which are completely false, or which completely distort the truth. In one recent example, they claimed that we rejected a Labour attempt to make it a legal requirement for landlords to ensure that their properties were fit for human habitation.
The reality was very different. The Conservative bill gave local authorities more power than ever before to clamp down on rogue landlords. Labour’s headline chasing amendment was legally flawed. But it made for an anti-Conservative campaign portraying us as heartless when we were the ones taking real action to solve the problem. And many believed it.
More recently, their campaign to claim that we thought that animals were not sentient only ground to a halt when several media outlets had to apologise to Michael Gove for misrepresenting our position. But not before many constituents had accused me and other MPs of not caring for animals.
We’re going to see much more of this fake-news approach to politics from Labour over the coming months and years. They will portray us as uncaring and unthinking, and will use false examples to make their case.
Labour supporting think tanks will continue to pump out intentionally inaccurate information about the Government’s record. Hardly a day goes by without a Conservative MP reporting another outbreak of complete fiction from the left."
"But it is a reality that we have to deal with. We will never convince the determined left of the falseness of their propaganda. But we have to sow real seeds of doubt into the minds of the reasonable people who see their messages. Quite simply, we have to discredit their fake news. "
You can read the full text of the article here.
Comments
I think that about a lot of things, I am not gay, clearly, but it would not really bother me if 2 gay people bought a house next door, to my mind what goes on in their home is fine, so long as its legal, and so long as there are no laws banning straight people.
Religions are a bit like that, if someone has a personal faith then question it by all means, but so long as they dont push it in your face, then just leave them to it.
I must say i dont like the idea of the bishops bench in the house of lords, but in general, in the UK, I think the idea that we dont mix religion and politics is a very postive thing indeed
But I agree with Jim that the world will be a much better place if we are tolerant of diverse views and that certainly includes different views about religion, which within reason should apply in every direction both between the different religions and between those who have a religious faith and those who do not.
E.g. tolerance does not extend to anyone who practices any form of human sacrifice, to death cults like DA'ESH, to forms of child abuse like FGM, or indeed that we should not use any influence we have to prevent atheist regimes like the former Soviet Union or China from persecuting and murdering believers.