Tired of the constant smearing and silence from the mainstream media such as the BBC when it comes anti-lockdown points of view? If so, you’re not alone. Dr David Seedhouse, Professor of Deliberative Practice at Aston University and a member of HART, is concerned not just at what this skewed public discourse means for policy but what it means for democracy and our country’s capacity to make good decisions. Writing in the Conservative Woman, he says:
Over the past year momentous decisions affecting whole populations have been taken by small groups of scientists and politicians behind closed doors, immune to challenge. Well-reasoned, evidenced views that do not fit the constantly shifting official stance have been ignored, and there have been orchestrated ad hominem attacks on dissenters. We have been talked down to, herded like infants and forced by ad hoc laws to behave in ways that strip us of our dignity.
Just as bad as the poor decisions is the poor decision-making that condemns us to keep repeating the same mistakes.
The one thing Government diktats have shown these past months is that we are terrifyingly powerless. We have no effective means of questioning or educating government ministers and policy-makers, even when they spout the most dreadful nonsense. It turns out that public debate – and the very occasional opportunity to vote for our ‘representatives’ – is demonstrably a pretence.
At least now that we know the truth we can deceive ourselves no longer: the Western political system is closer to despotism than meaningful democracy. We have no say in what happens to us because to those who cherish power, we simply don’t matter.
There is an alternative. Collectively citizens are vastly better informed and capable than a closed circle of politicians and their fixated ‘expert advisers’, but our governments have no desire whatsoever to draw on our insights and wisdom. Nevertheless, we have the technology to engage hundreds of thousands of citizens in transparent, balanced, educated decision-making. We do not need to defer to self-interested politicians bound to political parties, protected by an establishment elite who see no need to change anything.
To address this problem, David and his colleagues have developed a new online democratic tool to allow people of all views to have their say.
We would welcome your involvement in this project. If you agree to participate:
1) You will join a private group on this website;
2) Over a one-week period you will be invited to offer your opinion on a key issue in the pandemic;
3) At the start of the week you will be able to agree or disagree with a proposal for debate, and offer your reasons (this will take no more than five minutes or so);
4) During the week you will be able to read others’ responses and discuss as much or as little with others as you wish;
5) During the week balanced educational materials for and against the proposition will be available on the website;
6) You will be able to witness a debate (live or recorded) with advocates for and against. If we can arrange it, you will be able to question them;
7) At the end of the week you will be able to respond again to the key issue;
8) We will review the results and changes in opinion and make a report available to all participants. We will endeavour to publish the results widely in public fora and academic channels;
9) You can choose to be anonymous or not at your profile page. We will not publish any personal details outside the private group;
10) We comply with GDPR requirements and will not use your information for any other reason than stated above.
As soon as we have sufficient recruits we will begin. We are seeking participants from any and every background. All opinions are welcome. Nothing will be censored, hidden, or withheld. Everyone’s views and the patterns of their choices will be immediately available to all participants, and there are filters to enable those who wish to ‘deep dive’ into the data to do so.
They acknowledge that by itself this is unlikely to make an immediate impact, but are happy to start small and add to the growing chorus of concern about where Western democracies are headed. They say: “The more people we can include, and the more often we can demonstrate the difference between echo-chamber politics and collective wisdom, the greater the chance we have of living in a truly democratic society”.
To participate, email “I agree to be a member of this project” or similar to Dr David Seedhouse at david@values-exchange.com.
Read the full article about this project at Conservative Woman.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
He sums up things pretty well:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/hxOQlFfnvIwq/
Yes – the establishmant in this cuntry has become totally corrupt and, imo, EVIL !
iane,
Was that a Freudian slip in your spelling of ‘country’?
It must be spiritually demoralising to work for the BBC, ITV and Sky, I should imagine. Lying and deceiving for a living can’t be good for your soul. Eventually someone will crack and say something truthful, off-script and live on air.
Yes – but only after their career has ended! The history is pretty conclusive on this.
Well, quite a few well known politicians have ‘accidentally’ said things near a live mike! Wait and see; after all, there are loads more live mikes around these days.
Probably 98 percent of the people who visit this site suspect that many COVID storylines that wouldn’t fit “the narrative” are “off limits” to journalistic inquiry. To me, this shows the prevalence of a diabolical form of “groupthink” in newsrooms. This is why and how we get “pack journalism.”
I’m a FREELANCE journalist who has tried to get “contrarian” pieces published at mainstream sites, with only very rare success. A piece I wrote many months ago – about likely/possible “early spread” – DID get published at one little-known site. I think my piece is original – and, yes, important – because it provides EVIDENCE that a real “search for the truth” is NOT occurring. This “evidence” involves public health officials and editors and journalists.
To me, this larger point is far more frightening than this virus.
Here it is for those who didn’t see it (everyone here).
https://uncoverdc.com/2020/07/13/covid-19-is-a-real-search-for-the-truth-now-taboo/
Thanks for that link. It’s an interesting article, and the concept that the SARS-Cov-2 virus emerged rather earlier hasn’t made it in the usual media. In fact, the idea that it was around in late 2019 is ignored by many. Those of us who had minor infections in late December (before the new one made it publicly), and offered the option of a valid sample for relevant testing to see what it might have been, have been ignored, in effect.
I still know more people who had covid-like symptoms between October 2019 and February 2020 than had an official covid diagnosis here in Suffolk, and I’ve heard similar tales from the West Country and elsewhere. But why would anyone bother to look? It doesnt sell vaccines.
Latest news someone told me, a school up the road is “riddled with cases”, well not surprising as the poor little buggers are being tested twice a week. You find what you look for and ignore the rest.
Instinctively you warm to this analysis of the failings of news and politics that are so propagandized and have no checks.
But :
“Collectively citizens are vastly better informed and capable than a closed circle of politicians and their fixated ‘expert advisers’, but our governments have no desire whatsoever to draw on our insights and wisdom.”
Really?
I think there is a lot to contradict this broad assertion. Not least in the present scam where – in actuality – the possibility of getting round the MSM is massive.
Let’s face it – this site – and a look at Round Up demonstrates that a large proportion of the population could be better informed. But are they? Will they be? I have yet to be convinced by this proposed mechanism.
We live in an era where the ability for individuals to disseminate information is greater than ever before, so why is it that ‘democrats’ (small ‘d’) assume that the problems now can be solved by even more democratisation of information?
I’d argue that the problem is one of a lack of group action, not individualistic information democratisation. Ultimately, the MSM presents a unified front, is financially secure and relies on the individual’s tendency to follow herds in order to push an agenda. They are unassailable by contrary information presentation precisely because their power is not intellectual but psycho/economic. It’s political power.
Individuals are vulnerable, they have there own life problems, financial worries, insecure employment that is contingent to an extent on what they say in public (they have to tow the line or face persecution) etc. Corporate and state power suffers very little in this way. Only through groupings of individuals who can put aside their differences and unite on certain propositions that matter most will power transfer hands. At the top of this must be the priority of establishing a system of mutual support. People cannot allow their fellows to be picked off without defence.
Yes. I don’t want to be classed as ‘cynical’ – but it is a massive problem that won’t be soluble by good will, motherhood and sliced bread.
At root are systemic problems that involve issues of control and checks to it : the need for balance. This isn’t a problem that starts with the media – although its a vital component.
I don’t mind being classed as cynical, I’m too old to bother. The problem is that anyone/everyone who gives out facts on this issue and others ( sorry Rick but climate change is the other obvious one) is routinely deplatformed.
I only occasionally dip into UKColumn, mainly to read Iain who posts there now rather than his own site. They are pretty harmless types giving some decent interviews at times and not too extreme in views. Now they have overstepped the mark by giving air time to a bloke who has suffered badly after an injection. So now they face the full force of the state onslaught.
I can’t imagine, that if its serious this new site not suffering the same fate. ‘If’ its serious, I am cynical enough to think it might be a put-up job to keep dicontents happy talking to themselves.
The Brits might pour scorn on the French , but when it comes to street confrontations there is a lot to be learned. Macron is scared silly of having another ‘yellow-vest’ type confrontation on the streets of Paris about covid/vaccines especially close to elections. If people are serious about removing the foot on the neck they have to step up the ‘peaceful’ marches in central London and create some real confrontation that will resound around the world, nevermind the Beeb.
God, where is the emotion and anger of the 60s and 70s?
Agree, because based on the lack of impact of the 500k+, or whatever large number, of peaceful demonstrators it is clear that such actions do not, and most likely will not, make the slightest bit of difference. Also logical debate has been shown to be a complete waste of time. But the drip feed of furlough and other state funded help ensures nothing will happen; revolutions are fuelled by hungry people.
“MSM bias” is actually the biggest and most important (untold) story of our times. I imagine 99 percent of the people who visit this site can identify this bias in COVID reporting (or non-reporting as the case may be). But I hope most visitors to this site also realize that this same bias is found in the “coverage” of countless other stories. It’s not just COVID stories that are giving the world a flawed “narrative.”
I’d add that Big-Brother type censorship efforts that have rapidly accelerated with COVID are also making it far less likely that other bogus or dubious narratives ever get challenged. So, we haven’t seen anything yet. Our “new normal” is now a world where the real truth is even harder to ascertain.
For anyone interested in examples of bias, the Observer coverage of the London march (Sun 25th) is a real classic.
Evidently, the story was about police officers being injured.
Did you see any of the footage? After the march, back at Hyde Park a large group of police appeared from nowhere and started attacking and hitting the innocent crowd of people singing and playing music. Then the crowd fought back…and won. The police subsequently just disappeared, and people carried on partying! But I’m suspicious that this was set up, so they could get their pictures.
The Guardian story is all about how angry the Police are that 8 of them got injured.
Judging from HelenaHandcarts excellent report above it sounds like they deserved it.
The estimate is that there were 1,000,000 at the London march yesterday, and no coverage on BBC, ITV and Sky..? Draw your own conclusions.
And 1,000,000 cannot all be wrong!
Who estimates this?
It really doesn’t matter if it was 1m, 100k, or ‘tens of thousands. If you only follow the BBC it simply didn’t happen.
If it was a million those predominately young people will have 20-30 family, friends and colleagues.
Half the country will know by Monday lunchtime.
A drone shot here shows the size of the crowd. Stretching at least from Bloomsbury, all the way up Oxford Street as far as the eye can see.
https://twitter.com/ToniaBuxton/status/1386241222919041027
So the largest demonstration since the Iraq war, is completely ignored by the BBC and The Guardian and given negative headlines elsewhere ie “clashes with police in Hyde Park”.
A 12 year old, who doesn’t understand the word disinformation, is the BBC’s conspiracy disnfo expert and chose to whip up hatred of the protestors on Twitter, rather than do a balanced report. I’m guessing she’s been hired as the useful idiot to be thrown under the bus, when the time comes.
This is dystopian level censorship.
The largest UK demonstration for 20 years….And the MSM ignore it. Shame on them, they’re disgusting. But the truth will out, and their cover up(s) will ALL be exposed one fine day!
I’ve thought about this long and hard and concluded that there is no real way to “drain the swamp” until the newsrooms have also first been (largely) drained. Alas, this isn’t going to happen either. Thus the only solution is for more entrepreneurs like the man who started this site to do the same thing. We need a heck of a lot more sites like “Lockdown Skeptics.”
Don’t laugh, but I actually had the same idea as this site. I was going to call mine “Covid Contrarians.” But someone beat me to it. Plus, I couldn’t surpass the excellence of this site. But my idea envisions expanding the site from just COVID topics. Pick your subject (any topic that’s largely off limits to mainstream journalism inquiry) and plop the word “Contrarian” after it: Epstein Contrarian, The Economy is Great Contrarian, China is Going to Get us Contrarian …
The topic doesn’t matter. Whatever it is, our journalists, researchers and citizen correspondents will, from Day One of operations, have a monopoly on subject matter the mainstream press isn’t going to cover, or will cover in only ways that gibe with the authorized narrative.
If “the narrative” is dubious and the narrative actually is the Thing that matters (and it is), the only way to change faulty narratives is – not politicians or even democracy – it’s real watchdog journalism. Which we don’t have … and won’t get unless someone does it himself. A lot of someones preferably.
Hi Bill,
I agree with your sentiments and the good news is that there are a growing number of DIY journalists and reporters who, collectively, are making an impact. ‘peyrole’ mentioned UKColumn – which I recommend, then there’s The Lotus Eaters, Spiked, James Delingpole, New Culture Forum, Paul Joseph Watson, Politico, Reasoned, Mahyar Tousi etc. – the list goes on – and is growing. I’m hopeful that as the legacy media declines and the new media grows, the imbalance and bias that so riddles the BBC and their ilk will be get exposed more and more.
I included “Epstein Contrarian” as a possible outgrowth of my Covid Contrarian site. I want to make clear that I don’t think Epstein is still alive. I included him (and I could have included his main accomplice, Ms. Maxwell) simply as an example of a story where “conventional wisdom” is wrong. The “conventional wisdom” surrounding Epstein and Maxwell believes/accepts that both were arrested for running a “sex trafficking” operation … but this isn’t true. Look at the actual charges the government brought against both individuals – none deal with actual “trafficking.” Or, if these two people were trafficking young girls for sex they were trafficking these people only to THEMSELVES. The fact is they were running a major, international sex trafficking operation that continued for decades. It actually continued after Epstein was jailed in Palm Beach. The point is that prosecutors and the FBI are NOT going after the real customers/clients of this sex-trafficking operation – all the VIP “johns” who are “off limits” to prosecution or even investigative inquiry. In short, these people are being protected by bringing charges that don’t really deal with real sex-trafficking. So too are the FBI, DOJ which knew about this for decades.
Germane to my above post, the press is also not investigating the real, important story.
So true ….
I would love to see a movement where all pub owners in the UK ban all politicians and their scientific lackeys from their premises, along the lines of how Rod Humphris treated Keir Starmer, and the group of Welsh pubs which barred the First Minister of Wales.
Trivial in practical terms, of course, but symbolically quite powerful. We, the people, do not want you, the self-styled elites, on our premises.
Perhaps restaurants, wine bars and hotels, other sectors of the hospitality industry which have been treated abominably, would like to join in to humiliate the swaggering incompetents of the political class.
It’s not just MSM that are churning out propaganda. Universities, doctors, schools, councils, police, government are all subjugated, influenced and manipulated by target culture, hidden agendas and bribes. Science is bastardised for profit and power. Education is used as a weapon of political grooming and thought control to maximize profit for vested interests. Medical care has been warped into a weapon of mass surveillance and thought control. TV entertainment is dumbed down to the lowest form of crass behavioural nudging to groom a compliant population. Even mumsnet seems to be infested by a behavioural nudge unit, promoting total compliance and the idea that the state must be involved in every aspect of your daily life.
Every institution supposedly set up for public benefit has morphed into a crock of shite.
Democracy doesn’t work if free speech, open debate and holding a different opinion are forbidden.
This mornings aim is to get discussion of a million people marching into the school. One million angry people is nigh on 10 times the size of all our armed forces.
As the BBC were having a bit of a snooze during Saturday’s march, how about we wake them up on the next one by marching past Broadcasting House?