Plato was perhaps the earliest, if not the first, to make the distinction between appearances and reality.  His allegory of the cave aims to testify that the fire in the cave that project shadows are not reality itself, but are mere appearances of a hidden reality.  Reality for Plato is our journey out of the cave and into the bright light of the world with the sun beating down on our face.  Reality is the truth and the good.  Appearances the false and the bad.

We find this distinction everywhere.  Yet specifically when we read news Article we should try to sieve out truth claims among the false claims.  In some instances however the reality of the article is hidden from us to such a degree that upon closer examination, what we end up with are mere appearances.  The below article is such an example.

On Wednesday the 3rd of October 2018 the BBC and other major news outlets, published a short article about the suspension of a group of Plymouth university students belonging to a Conservative society.

They were banned because a leaked Photo ‘appeared’ to show members ‘sporting racist and anti-Semitic messages’ scrawled onto blue t-shirts with a black marker pen (below).

Of the markings the BBC go on to mention – most of which I found are incomprehensible even when magnified – they claimed with an air of uncertainty that some appeared to have a star of David drawn on their neck, while other messages (which we cannot see nor decipher from this photo alone) ‘were said to reference right-wing figure Enoch Powell, Donald Trump, Tony Blair and Soviet Russia’.  Despite the ambiguity, inexactness and downright uncertainty ( as well as the mistake that there is no such thing as Soviet Russia ) of much of what the BBC claims are scrawled onto their tops, they further proceeded to reference the Mirror as saying one student had ‘F*** the NHS’ scribbled onto their shirt.

But a closer look reveals a blur over the top of what appears to be the word ‘the’ followed by a small ‘u’ or badly capitalised ‘n’ followed by two other letters – one being either a H or a U ( possibly the number 4?) and the other an S or the number 5.

Despite what is scrawled on his shirt, one cannot escape the following conclusions that A: this photo had already been manipulated before publication, B: that it contains a blur as a way of censoring something we don’t even know (a google search reveals that there is another photo of a blur in between the letters resembling an F and a K.  Either way we still do not know if this has been edited in) , and C: that whatever is written under the blur is unclear, ambiguous and open to multiple interpretations.  For example, could he be referring the National Students Association (NUS)?? The fact is we don’t have conclusive proof.

Still Let us think for a second.  Why would anyone in their right mind allow themselves to be photographed with ‘F*** the NHS’ written on their shirt? What could be the reason behind their resentment? There are three possible explanations. Either he has had a troubling experience with the NHS which resulted in some trauma, he is ignorant to the point of idiotic, or that excessive alcohol had something to do with it.

Still despite the ambiguity surrounding the content of the photo, the BBC contradicts themselves when they tell us where the above photo was taken.  In the beginning of the article the BBC states that the picture was taken in a nightclub in Plymouth (despite the photo resembling a pub).  But then they later go on to say that the picture is believed to have been taken at a party.  So the BBC first claims that the photo was taken in a nightclub but then proceeds to tell us that it is believed to have taken at a party.  Now, I guess the question is can you have a party in a nightclub?  Personally I don’t know anyone who has had a party inside one, but I know a ton of people who have partied in a nightclub.  So I wonder if this is where the contradiction stems from?  This may seem like a trivial point, but when you take in the article as a whole it becomes an important dissection of analysis – particularly if we want to try to distinguish truth claims from false claims.

Since reporters and journalists like to report Twitter responses, the BBC proceeds to quote a Twitter message from the Conservative Party member Johnny Mercer who states that these students should be ‘ejected and barred for life’ from the party.  Naturally the BBC followed on from this to quote the reaction from Plymouth University itself which stated that it ‘does not tolerate anti-Semitic or racist behaviour under any circumstance and will take disciplinary action in line with procedures in the event of incidents such as this’

But what exactly was racist and antisemitic about it?  The BBC claimed earlier that the they had sported anti-Semitic messages but then go on to describe that of the star of David drawn on their necks.  How exactly is that anti-Semitic? Perhaps if they had drawn daggers piercing it I would understand and the reference would make sense.  And the Hitler moustache? Well, I doubt that this man represents the behaviour of Hitler in any shape or form despite his choice of joke (remember Harry?).  But again we must remind ourselves that since the image had already been manipulated upon publication, who is to say that this or the entire photo hasn’t been touched up, edited and downright manipulated? ( personally I don’t believe that entirely, but I don’t rule it out either).  Until further evidence crops up we will have to suspend judgement for now.

We cannot and should not rule out the forces of fake news and political propaganda, especially in an age where everyone, everywhere has the ability to fabricate for their own political or otherwise purposes.  Indeed if we play around with this idea for now, it’s not difficult to see some kind of connection between the antisemitism that embroiled (or embroils if you believe it is ongoing) the Labour Party and the painting of these ‘Conservative’ students as propagating antisemitic sentiments also.  Perhaps we could conclude ( at a stretch ) that this is the work of someone left leaning ( perhaps a labour voter ) who is targeting the Conservatives with manipulated sources.  Indeed, it would be unwise to follow this line of reasoning based on the scant evidence that exists.

Yet, the point of this post is to show how one should adopt a reflective stance when reading the news.  We should all be sharpening our critical thinking skills, and asking provocative questions when confronted with articles and reports from whatever source they stem from.  For if we become lazy of mind we risk misreading the hidden messages saturated within – and it is there where we find the reality of truth and not just the appearances.

Thanks for reading.

To read the BBC article, click here.

Have I missed anything? If so please get in touch.