But what bothers me about it is …
For reasons that remain unclear the Arts and Media Correspondent for the Independent on Sunday, Anthony Barnes, thought it would be a good idea to ask John Beyer of MediawatchUK what he thought about a new Channel 4 “reality show”.
The show will follow three heroin addicts as they go through the process of “cold turkey”. Beyer’s comment is exemplary:
Drug abuse is a very serious problem, and if they can persuade people not to take drugs it can be a good thing. But what bothers me most about it is that on the one hand they say they want to show the reality of drug abuse and then on the other they show movies which tend to glamorise their use.
Did you get that? He applauds the programme as discouraging drug abuse, but claims that what bothers him most about it is that Channel 4 also shows films that glamorise drug use (Such as? Pulp Fiction, possibly. Any others?).
This is not true. Nothing bothers him about the programme – he is broadly in favour of it. He is mindlessly using the connective phrase “But what bothers me most about it” in order to make an entirely separate (and highly questionable) point about Cannel 4’s film schedules – and in the process he makes his whole comment incoherent.
Unless he really is saying that if the reality show did glamorise drug abuse then he wouldn’t be bothered about it, because that would be consistent with Channel 4’s general drug-glamorising policy?
When will journalists learn? Even as a rent-a-quote, Beyer is poor value. Much better to give “Bishop” Michael Reid a call – he’s reliably loopy, and much more colourful.
It could be argued that religious belief is a drug – it certainly depends upon a denial of reality mixed with giving away large wads of cash to folk who rip you off.
The difference is I’ve never heard of a smack dealer who promised eternal life from his product, or a junkie who would believe him if he did.
Actually it’s worse than that…
All religion is BLACKMAIL.
“If you do what the priests (“god”) says, you’ll go to heaven, otherwise you’ll go to hell.
BTW
Yep. The sole reason sime people are religious and all pious is because they think they are going to get something out of it, when they go to the other side. (What other side ?) They also think we should do the same.
Deluded and conned or what ?