I want to talk about something that affects shooting but also other many other things in today’s society. I am not one for wearing a tinfoil hat but for a long time now I’ve felt that there seems to be a lot of common policies and agendas in various Governments worldwide and a hell of a lot of fake news where there really is no balance. To my mind it is no wonder we have such a fractured society with people unable to think for themselves being spoon fed biased opinion from the mainstream media.
I was in the gym today and in the background was BBC news and in the space of ten minutes I was hit with the following.
1,Trump bashing- The usual about how he is a racist and that he is seeking to make race an issue in the united states, of course no mention of the many democrats and opposition groups who seem to solely rely on race as their only argument and making it the issue. no mention of some of the positive facts that IIRC African American un-employment is at its lowest level in years in the US. Of course we see these similar tactics and arguments from certain groups and politicians in the UK too. We currently have a UK cabinet with a Home Secretary born to a Ugandan Indian family and a Chancellor of the Exchequer descended from Pakistani Muslims (the first asian to hold the position), but no many opposed to their political beliefs label them as “sell outs.” Now I believe in getting into a position based on merit but so many people who obsess about race and diversity should surely be happy for them right?
2, Talking about the recent shooting in the US, a horrible incident for sure, but there was a lot of emotional rhetoric about the age of many of the victims and how the killer brought a gun in from another state with more permissive laws. There was also a mention of a figure in the 240s of the number of mass shootings in the US to date. Now a quick search of Wikipedia(yes I know not always reliable puts the figure at 196, a lot lower and it appears many are likely gang and crime related. Another source states a figure of 280. This really depends on your definition as the FBI do not include domestic incidents and gang activity as a mass shooting whilst no doubt those with agendas will to boost the figures.
No mention that 94% of all mass shootings were thwarted by law-abiding armed citizens or that since 1950 94% of mass shootings in the US have occurred in gun free zones.
or that on a per capita basis many European countries have higher rates of mass shootings
3, After that we move on to the Duchess of Sussex and something to do with Vogue magazine and empowered women. This year it seems that Jacinda Ardern has been chosen
I’ve got to ask why?
Why Ardern, former president of the International union of socialist youth,a graduate with a Bachelor of Communication Studies in politics and public relations, recently crapped all over the rights of New Zealand firearms owners by enacting kneejerk and draconian gun control laws after a terrorist murdered several people in New Zealand Mosques.
Why should she get praised for this? This is exactly what the killer wanted, but of course you might not know that since his manifesto in which he stated this has been ignored by the Main stream media and possession of it can get you 10 years in jail in New Zealand.
She also advised the UK Home Office on a policy review in policing, I was unable to find out what she done but I ask what qualified her? I’d say she certainly knows how to play the PR game.
and of course we have the recent nonsense over the allegations that British hunters have been going to Iceland to hunt puffins, shared on twitter by Chris Packham(who you might remember also falsely accused UK shooters of shooting lapwings), some people have researched this claim and it seems that puffin hunting is carried out in a 10 day open season usually with nets. It seems some foreigners did visit Iceland to hunt puffin but none were from the UK. Also if being consumed what is the issue with this exactly? It is no different to fishing? People criticise it because there isn’t any “sport” in hunting a puffin. Well I’m sorry mate how much of a chance did the chicken you got in the supermarket have?
So where are all the journalists? Why is no one investigating? Why is it deemed OK to spread this fake or misleading news everywhere? Where is the balance? We get the same nonsense rammed down our throats every day but you don’t often hear alternative view points or discussions. We are bombarded with disinformation.
Recently Packham has been milking the fact that he was uninvited from the game fair, but of course nothing is mentioned of him ensuring representatives of the shooting community were not present on a live UK TV show to discuss the issues. Of course having him questioned live and hit with facts wouldn’t have suited his agenda and it would have been a new audience for the shooting representatives not preaching to the converted.
Now if you are someone with a mind of your own then generally we can see through the bull, but too many people aren’t and if you are a shooter or simply someone that doesn’t want to see more pointless legislation, or taxation being directed at innocent people from authoritarians with agendas then we have to get involved. We have to phone in to radio station debates, comment on twitter feeds. Educate people. We clearly aren’t going to get the chance from the mainstream media if they concede to demands from extremists to ensure a programme is one sided.
In short there is a a lack of balance in the force and its up to us to correct it.
Rant over, as always please leave a comment and tell me what you think.
