Mudslinging Does Not Just Happen in Politics

Check this out. From the UK’s Daily Mail Online. It is an article about a film that is, maybe, no good, and the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). I haven’t seen said film so I can’t comment, but I want to talk about the article’s mudslinging at the BBFC, using a couple of excerpts. Actually it even goes as far as slinging mud at the EU.

“They have given the film an 18 certificate. As we all know, this is meaningless… thanks to the gross irresponsibility of some parents, any film that is given general release will be seen by children.”

Whenever this invalid “argument” is used I find it stunning that people are expected to cover in advance for others’ lack of responsibility. If a parent lets a child watch an M18 film it is not the censors’ fault, but it seems passing the blame is popular, and always presented as some valid infallible argument.

“As soon as it’s released on DVD, Antichrist will harm children… But when did this principle of protecting only children arise anyway? What about harming adults?”

The ones who have harmed children are irresponsible parents and movie theatres and DVD store owners who don’t ID customers buying restricted items. Next, the “adults” mentioned shouldn’t be referred to as such if they cannot think for themselves. Or, if you found the previous sentence too harsh, if the suggested “protect adults” notion is looked at from another angle, would you, if you are an adult, like an errant journalist to bascially just assume that you are lacking in sentient capacity?

Article author Hart also invokes many instances of ad hominem – hardly what I would call logic. The article, too, is full of sensationalism at the same time as it is devoid of logic. It reads like a dramatic imbecile rant. If sensationalism was Hart’s objective, he has succeeded.

But sensationalism is worthless. (So is mudslinging.)

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Notes: Joseph Pulitzer and Horace Greeley would have shook their heads at this being one of the “top ten breaking news” items in a newspaper. Research the history of the common newspaper to know more about sensationalism in the context of news writing, if you don’t already know about the concept.