A SLOW AND PAINFUL DEATH

By David Woodbury

Cover of Time magazine - 23 March 2017

It has long been said that truth is the first casualty of war but it may well be that truth is the first casualty of any intense human conflict. The current climate debate is a classic example with both sides using extravagant exaggeration to try and make their point. From those who deny any connection with human activity and climate change to those who claim the world will end within a decade. The reality is that this extravagant exaggeration is nothing more than untruth. It may well be that people have become so confused by the extravagant exaggeration that they have simply switched off.

The alarming realisation is that we now seem to be living in an age where truth is dying a slow and painful death and we have come to accept untruth as part of everyday life. Recently Channel 10 in Sydney was caught out in its show, The Project, editing a video clip to project a blatant untruth. It presented a brief clip of dialogue between the prime minister, who was touring evacuation sites during the recent bush fires, and a member of the Rural Fire Service volunteer named Jacqui. The clip was played in such a way that it appeared the Jacqui was having a pointed dig at Mr Morrison while he was touring the Mudgee evacuation centre in regional New South Wales.

MP Andrew Gee introduced Jacqui to Mr Morrison to which she replied: “He’s not my prime minister,” The panel on The Project had a good laugh and the video clip was picked up by social media igniting a firestorm of vitriolic comment about the prime minister. However, when the video clip was released in its entirety by a rival channel it was patently evident that some intentional editing had taken place.

The complete conversation between the woman and the prime minister was quite amiable and Jacqui’s dialogue with Mr Morrison revealed that she’s British and therefore, he wasn’t her Prime Minister. When Channel 10 took the time to speak with the Rural Fire Service it became quite obvious that Jacqui’s comments were light-hearted, she has no issues with the prime minister.

In trying to clean up the mess Channel 10 broadcaster Waleed Aly apologised and try to blame poor audio for the mistake, regardless of the fact that audio on the original clip was quite clear. Aly went on to say: “This was not a deliberate mistake on our part but was a mistake nonetheless.” Please do not insult our intelligence Mr Aly! One cannot help but wonder if this charade was but the tip of the iceberg and came unstuck because the original video surfaced.

The fact that the adulterated clip was released to social media is highly suspect as unfortunately social media has become the conduit for subterfuge and lies. Sadly, many people will read posts on social media and take them as truth. I am reminded of the quote: Tell a lie, make it big enough, tell it often enough and people will believe it. The quote has been attributed to various questionable characters from history including Lenin, Hitler and Joseph Goebbels. However, the reality is that there is more than a grain of truth in it, and nothing repeats a lie more regularly and effectively than social media.

There is little doubt that truth is dying a slow death and the manipulation of video clips, the use of word spin together with untrue and vindictive posts on social media, must bear much of the responsibility. I am reminded that Jesus taught our communications with each other should be straight forward: Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one (Matthew 5:37 – NLT).

There is little doubt that Ch. 10 will face any disciplinary action over their contrived video clip, and certainly, the social media companies will go to great lengths to wash their hands of the lies and distortion found every day in their media. While ever media companies and social media companies have little sense of truth and honesty, truth will continue to die a slow and painful death.

Sitting at my desk and thinking about this issue I cast my mind back to my formative years when the ABC was a trusted national organisation. If you were unsure of the pronunciation of a certain word you could be sure that if you listened to The ABC you would get the correct pronunciation. If you wanted an unbiased news account you listened to James Dibble read the news. Unfortunately today the ABC has gone down the road of many media organisations and doctored many if its programs to fit the political views of some in the organisation.

What lays ahead for humanity? Will we continue on this slippery slope of half-truths, edited and adulterated video clips and blatant lies perpetrated on social media? Are we raising a generation to whom truth is optional and unimportant? Perhaps the time has come when people have to actively challenge this perpetration of lies. A couple of steps we can take:

·         Be very discerning about those thing we choose to watch, hear and take on board.

·         Flood media outlets with emails etc. when they dabble in half-truths and doctored video clips.

·         Challenge friends on social media who re-post untrue posts or posts that border on half-truths or vindictive content.

·         Lobby your local member to bring about legislation that will make media and social media companies responsible for their content.