Right in the centre - Calling a spade a spade!
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- Published on Friday, June 17, 2016
By Ken Waddell
Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press
“To "call a spade a spade" is a figurative expression which refers to calling something "as it is”, that is, by its right or proper name, without "beating about the bush"—being outspoken about it, truthfully, frankly and directly, even to the point of being blunt or rude and even if the subject is considered coarse, impolite, or unpleasant.” –Wikipedia-2017
The phrase is traced back as far as 1542 in the English language.
Unfortunately, there is an unwillingness in the media to “call a spade a spade”. The mass shooting in Orlando this past week is such an example. There is a willingness to call it a tragedy and horrific. That’s correct, as the shooting was both tragic and horrific. However, in this case, and in the case of many mass killings, there is a huge hesitancy to attribute the actions to what is often the main source. The killers are terrorists and they often are Islamic militant terrorists. To say something less than that is, in many cases, less than the truth.
To identify the motivating background of a killer or killers in no way disparages a particular faith group. The motivating background, when it is well known or documented, is part of the truth, part of the whole story.
If the killings are done by militant extremist Islamists, it needs to be said in the same way if it was militant extremist Christians, militant extremist Sikhs, militant extremist political rebels or if it is the work of a person who is simply out of their mind.
The first time that I remember the reluctance by media to state the truth about terrorism was when Russia was being attacked by people from Chechnya. There was a huge reluctance in the media to identify them as Islam extremists. The truth eventually came out, as it usually does. The described “Chechnyan rebels” may well have been rebels, but they were also Islamic extremists.
By not being truthful about the news, the media sidetracks itself into such things as offensive cartoons about groups. That is another way of perverting the truth, as the cartoons usually portray people groups and events in such an over the top fashion that offence taken can be justified. Cartoonists should not be making fun of anyone’s faith.
All the major faiths or religions in the world lay claim to being peaceable. All have, at one time or another, had a segment who strayed from that tenet of the faith. However far a segment of a faith group strays from the peace claim, be it for a day, a generation or longer, should not brand the whole faith.
It is said in the Christian Bible that, “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” That is true for every individual who has ever lived. It is also true that every faith group has fallen short, not only of God, but their own stated goals.
It is this lack of media of truthfulness to form a true description of events, of motivations, of backgrounds that gives rise to indignant uprisings in thought and political action. The morning after the Orlando shootings, Newt Gingrich, former US House speaker, was asked why some major news outlets were not identifying the evidence attached to the shooter.
He said, “The elites are dishonest” and that people hate dishonesty and that is what gave rise to Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. Trump and Sanders are running for US president and both have ridden a wave of voter discontent with the glossed over, varnished reality that has become mainstream politics and mainstream media in the United States.
US voters are in a turmoil because the presidential election has opened up some very real problems from racism, to gun control, to the overly political correctness that stifles real debate. People are totally fed up with the fact that the “elites” that Gingrich refers to control so much of the economy politics and media of their country that theoretically is supposed to be governed for the good of all citizens.
Whether it is the high tragedy such as the Orlando shooting or something as simple as the price of bread, the public needs the truth. Calling a spade a spade should always be a good thing.
