Pilgerism

From Harry's Place

From the ever-more-astonishing John Pilger:

The issue here is not the fate of the Daily Mirror editor; the issue here is not, indeed, whether the pictures in the Mirror were fake or not. Unlike the government which, over the last year or so, has a proven record of lying to the British people, I think these pictures were published in good faith. They may not be true, but what they represent is true.

So The Daily Mirror-- by publishing the faked photos-- was telling the truth, while the government-- which pointed out they were faked-- was lying.

Excuse me, my head is spinning.

(Via Normblog.)

Harry, I hope you don't mind if I cut and paste your post. It is short and to the point which one can add little to. Except to urge readers to go and read the comments section.

Here is just one example:

The head-spinning - at least from my perspective - comes from thinking through the implications of what Pilger (a longstanding journalist of no small reputation) is saying: that it's all right for high-profile media outlets to print pictures representing something that you believe to be true.

In other words, if I believed John Pilger was a satanic devil-worshipping paedophile, and I faked pictures that apparently demonstrated this in practice and I persuaded the Mirror to publish them, this would be OK because sincere belief in the material would have been demonstrated right along the line - this apparently being a legitimate defence in Pilger's alternate universe.

Anyone want to put this to the test?

Posted by: Michael at May 14, 2004 11:23 PM

Great stuff!