Authors now, more than ever before, need to keep banging on about freedom of speech, and working as hard as possible to defend and protect that democratic right whenever and wherever necessary. For most of the post war period the Leftist infiltration of all the great organs of state, right across the western world, has proceeded unckecked. Now we see the reality of the loss of our freedoms and rights which we took (and still take) for granted in almost every corner of regular social interaction; social media, press and media, local authorities, governments, universities, education, and a huge range of social services are awash with Woke stupidity, cancel culture, divisive bigotry and prejudice, racism and shallow hypocrisy. Common sense has been all but eradicated, and accuracy in reporting and commentary has been abandoned in favour of political bias.
Take the case of the New York Times, long respected for its insights and its robust journalism until………………….until when exactly? When did it start to change and has it already reached the point of no return in terms of its reputation as a serious newspaper? Frankly I’d read USA Today anytime over the NYT if I wanted to know what was going on in the US. I remember, for example, that the good old USAT gave me far earlier and far better perspectives of the looming financial meltdown in 2008 than the NYT ever did. Nowadays it appears to be wilfully abusing its right to free speech by pursuing a bizarre Anglophobic political campaign in which it regularly prints fabricated stories and false observations of life in Britain. Why? To what end? To read the NYT anyone would think England is still locked in a Dickensian time warp and that the long gone British Empire is still central to the lives of British people. As I chomp through my ‘boiled mutton and porridge’ lunch I read that Britain couldn’t possibly boast any decent restaurants (American’s criticising our cuisine, really?), and also that Britain is so broken that people can’t actually travel in or out of the country! Seriously? Such deliberately counterfeit journalism, riddled with hyperbolic imagination and stacks of erroneous ‘make believe’ is busily and quickly undermining the cornerstones of this once great journalistic leviathon. Its anti-British drive is risible, but also perplexing. Is it just a bunch of blinkered Democrats having a pop at a perceived enemy? Are they more hung up on British history than the Brits ever were? What is really going on and, more importantly, why?
What do you think?
#AuthorsForFreeSpeech #writingcommunity #TheTimes #DailyTelegraph #newyorktimes
