LET´S RIDE

Every journalism school should put this quote in bold over the class door: “if someone says it´s raining and another person says it´s dry; it´s not your job to quote them both. Your job is to look out of the fucking window and find out which is true”. It goes without saying that Jonathan Foster- the author of the quote- nailed it. Unfortunately, journalism today is based on feelings, never on facts. What madness is this? We are heading to a very dark place indeed. It seems to me that most of the people who claim to be journalists are, in fact, far from it. They don´t conduct an investigation properly because the fear they feel of the Establishment. Look at the system of justice which is tolerant of corruption but intolerant of critics. But nobody cares. Nine persons are arrested daily in England for criticizing Islam and any reporter dares to talk about it. They claim that these citizens are being arrested for posting allegedly offensive messages online as police set up their campaign to combat social media hate speech. About  half of the investigations are dropped before prosecutions were dropped. Many civil liberties campaigners believe- including myself- that the authorities are over- policing the internet and threatening free speech. In other words; they should police the streets and no the twits. As a result of that, free speech is at risk.

 Journalism, I used to believe, is the activity of gathering, creating and presenting news and information. But now most of the journalist don´t sneak too much on the politicians. They are simple afraid of the consequences. It´s not only the powerful they fear but the social networks where anyone can be easily hammered by an illiterate mob. People who are so easily offended are the ones who run the world. There is no crime worse than telling the truth.  

The less thing you expect from a journalist is decency. A 65 years old lady was sentenced to prison for criticizing Islam on Facebook. Where are the reporters? Why haven´t we seen an interview of that poor lady on every single TV in Europe? The answer is quite simple, it´s a question of cowardice.  I am not mistaken when I say that the Fourth State is called that because most of the journalists are on all fours.

History reveals that the more democratic a society, the more news and information it tends to have. But now all the big media corporations are the same to me. They hide things like the rape of many European women by some refugees brought here by the same politicians who refuse to tell you, like the journalist, the real truth. Europe is doomed by the stupidity and arrogance who wants us to look the other way.  An epoch shrouded in misery

We, Westerners, need to show them some bravery. After all, courage is, like John Wayne used to say, being scared to death and saddling up anyway. Let´s ride then. We are, after all, the best civilization of the world.

Sergio Calle Llorens