The Danger of Tabloids.

I saw the headline news item in a tabloid newspaper today. It told the story of how a Polish migrant on his way to Britain had murdered a 9-year-old girl in Calais.

First of all, let’s state the obvious: Murder is a terrible thing, doubly so when the victim is a child. It is, therefore, innately newsworthy. But a point has to be made here.

If the murderer had been a local resident, it wouldn’t have made the British papers. If he had been a Polish migrant on his way to somewhere else in the EU, it probably wouldn’t have made the British papers. If he had been a British national, it probably would have made the papers but it almost certainly wouldn’t have been headlined. The reason it was given such prominence was because he was a Polish migrant on his way here. It’s there by way of propaganda. It aims to feed the xenophobic tendency, which would have it that:

1. Foreigners are less trustworthy than us.

2. Those from Central and Eastern Europe are less civilised than West Europeans.

3. Migrants are violent and criminally-minded, and are therefore dangerous.

Ergo, the Polish migrant is a dark, uncivilised brute who is to be feared, and it is a dangerous folly to allow him access to our green and pleasant land. I mean, look what they do when they get to Calais, for God’s sake. They murder 9-year-old girls!

I can understand the economic concern over the issue of excessive immigration, but this isn’t about economic concern. It’s about xenophobia pure and simple. It’s what the tabloids do; they feed people's fears so that the masses will feel comfortable having their prejudices validated, and thus buy the newspaper. The publishers get more advertising revenue that way.

And people continue to fall for it. That’s the real danger. Look at the way the Polish community in Northern Ireland is being treated by the locals, for example, and ask which side is being mindlessly violent.

It’s why I continue to observe the majority of people without ever wanting to join their damn club. And it’s also why the few special folks I encounter now and then are so precious.