SPIN, LIES AND FABRICATIONS

SPIN, LIES AND FABRICATIONS

Consider the following statements and decide what have in common:

“There is no such thing as Society.”

“We are the nasty party.”

“Hug a hoodie.”

Each of these phases has been used by the Left and the media to castigate the Tories. But, though each is commonly attributed to assorted Conservative politicians and widely believed to have been used by them, only the first of these phrases was actually spoken by a member of the Conservative party. This was Mrs. Thatcher herself, but the context in which she used it is as remote from the Left’s spin as it could be!

The second phrase was created by selectively snipping the actual words used by Theresa May at the Tory Party conference in 2002 so as to totally twist and distort the meaning of the words she actually did use.

Whilst the third phrase, though attributed to David Cameron, was totally made up by the Left themselves!

“There is no such thing as Society.”
Since giving an interview to Woman’s Own in September, 1987, Margaret Thatcher has been hounded by this one phrase. But in what context was the phrase used?

During the interview she was discussing the nature of society and the way, largely thanks to the Welfare State, people’s concepts of what society ought to do for us have changed. In effect she was challenging the view of Society as a single edifice, the monolithic “They,” as in “They who must do something about it,” whatever “it” may be!

Rather than decrying the actual existence of society, she was suggesting that society is individual men, women and their families and how well that society works depends on us.

In the section of the interview from which her words were taken, she was discussing how the Welfare State has taken upon its self responsibilities that previously were up to the individual, “But it went too far. If children have a problem, it is society that is at fault. There is no such thing as society. There is living tapestry of men and women and people and the beauty of that tapestry and the quality of our lives will depend upon how much each of us is prepared to take responsibility for ourselves and each of us prepared to turn round and help by our own efforts those who are unfortunate.”

Can anyone disagree with the sentiment of that extract? She was not denying the existence of society but putting forward the view that society is not a single monolithic structure, it is US! How well society truly works depends not on an army of faceless bureaucrats, but on ourselves and what responsibilities we are willing to accept. That we now fear to intervene when we see something that is not right speaks volumes of the brainwashing that has taken place since the conception of the Welfare State.

“We are the nasty party”
During her speech to the Conservative Party Conference in 2002, the then Party Chairwoman, Theresa May, was discoursing on the image the party had and made the perfectly true observation “You know what some people call us - the nasty party.”

No sooner were these words out of her mouth than the press, that guardian of truth and justice in our country, trumpeted far and wide that the Tory Party chairwoman had admitted that the Tories were the nasty party! Ignoring the nastiness of the Tories, perceived or otherwise, was she REALLY saying that? No, of course she was not. She was merely pointing out that the public’s general perception of the Tories.

It does really speak volumes about the efficiency of the New Labour Spin Machine that so many people believe that she actually did utter exactly those words!

Here you have one of the hallmarks of soundbite journalism and selective spin. Look for the phrase that can be taken out of context and twisted in meaning. Change some words or snip away those you don’t need, but do it to produce what is, in effect, a lie that people will believe. Then push that lie as being the truth. By the time anyone gets round to reading what was actually said it will be too late for any attempt at correcting your version.

“Hug a Hoodie”
Now here is an example of how you can put words into a person’s mouth. Even now, though the initial furore has died down, if you asked people, “Who said “Hug a Hoodie?” they are likely come up with the response, “David Cameron.” Yet, to the surprise of many people, those words never even passed his lips!

In a policy speech on Youth Crime, made in July 2006, David Cameron made several observations on the conditions that need to be in place before any serious attempt could be made to combat the problem. Included in these observations were two sentiments which not only showed a large degree of compassion, but also had more than an element of truth. “First, we have to understand what it is that makes such a large portion of our youngsters go off the rails and second, all too often the one thing missing from their lives is love.”

There are few people who have worked with Young Offenders who would disagree with the sentiments his words contained. Yet, no sooner were these sentiments past his lips than the jeering voice of New Labour Thought Control, in the guise of Vernon Croaker, then a Home Office Minister, boomed out, “He wants us to hug a hoodie!” Not only was this yet another example of the insidious drip, drip, drip of Spin from the Brown/Blair axis, but it was also a comment of breathtaking arrogance and hypocrisy! This, from those same people whose Left Wing Social Engineering policies, enacted almost non-stop for the past 50 years, created the current situation regarding Youth Crime!

Now these three examples of spin, lies and fabrications do make one wonder how much of the Tory’s image problem is down to the smoke and mirrors of the propagandists of the Left. If, for example, one was to look more closely at the allegations of Tory Sleaze that brought down the Major Government, how much truth would one find? A particularly pertinent question when one considers how many of the smears depended on the input from one Mohamad Fayed? One thing is certain; New Labour’s Spin Doctors would not like you to find out the truth.