Deceit
I don’t like being lied to … let me clarify that, because no-one really LIKES being lied to, and like most other people in my day to day life I lie to people (the little white ones that make life easier or make myself look better, medium sized lies to save face or avoid hurting people, great big whoppers like the time that thing happened on the docks, you know, the usual) and I am lied to … this I can handle most of the time, it doesn’t make me angry, people are people and if there’s one thing The Wire and House have taught me its that everybody lies.
Fine. Its not great but it is what it is.
But god dammit if being lied to in the public sphere doesn’t make me angry. Reliably angry. Apocalyptically angry. Angry enough that even if I agree with your original point I wont buy what you’re selling on the principle of it. Angry enough that I’ll whine on and on and on and on about I to whoever is nearby until they tell me to start that blog up again and express myself.
Gits
So what dear reader (hello, is anyone there??) has wound me up so much today? Referenda on AV mostly, or more accurately the advertising in the build up to said referenda.
Now its worth saying that despite my vote in favor of it I'm not convinced by AV as a voting system, I think you could make a much more convincing argument for true PR in some way shape or form and I dont think you can deny that the impact from true PR would be dramatic. But today thats not what i want to write about; oh no. I want to write about this:
this:
and this:
One of these things is not like the others. Can you guess??
Yup in the mother of all shocks, the reactionary argument is put forth a lie to get us the general public to do what they want. Not just a lie but an offensive, grossly misrepresentative and knowing lie. The pragmatic points against AV were lead by the cost argument which was in any clear analysis, complete and total bollocks, much of the cost coming from staging the referendum in the first place (thus not really a reason not to vote for av) and for vote counting machines (IMHO neither necessary or desirable see http://bit.ly/kXRsMH or http://bit.ly/jXXUHV) leaving £26 million for education.
Even if it did cost the full £250 million, which we know it doesnt, without context the figure is meaningless. In terms of the Uk budget its NOTHING, less than we spend on the driving standards agency, less than we spend on legal advice for the government, half what we paid hewlett packard for consultancy last year, less than half spending of government funded "big science" research and comparable to the amount we spend each year on education ... in pakistan. I know spending is always limited, but if you're going to moan about crazy government spending, bitch about something that will conceivably make a difference to the UK budget defect
And this ranty anger comes before we discuss the need to spend £25 million pounds on education. I mean seriously, how little does the no to av campaign think of us if they're convinced we need to spend £25 million teaching people how to list things in order of preference? Most people manage it every time they eat!
Alas it seems the lesson is that F.U.D. works (http://bit.ly/Cn4P), and that countering it is expensive and requires and engaged audience, it is with this in mind that i want to explore a thought: A government department of fact checking. The ministry of lies if you will, a bunch of people paid to tell us when politicians are lying, i think it would be a wonderful idea, and one i want to go into.
