Wednesday 8 January 2014

Why words matter

I was listening to the radio this morning - a bad habit, I'm coming to realise - and was interested to listen to a piece about gambling addiction on Radio 4. Now, apparently, the Commons is due to debate the pro's and con's of a certain style of gambling machine, which accounts for some 50% of sales being made through book-makers on the high street. Not a lot there to upset my oats and, by and large,
the commentary burbled away at the back of my consciousness, focused, as I was, on distinguishing the relative delights of dried apricots, hazelnuts and shaved coconut (try this on porridge, it's good). The piece was just about to wrap up, when I heard the spokesman for the National Book-Makers Association (I'm paraphrasing here) make an extraordinary statement, which did result in a slight dropping of my jaw and a delay in the spoon-to-mouth paradigm. What he said was "We need to find socially responsible strategies for selling alcohol, fruit machines and energy..." Are you with me on this? It's subtle, but let's just dissect that for a moment. Suddenly, ENERGY, upon which we DEPEND, which is now controlled by the faceless, unaccountable, all-powerful MARKETS, is being equated to alcohol and fruit machines - neither of which are depended upon for our livelihood but are, rather, objects of addiction. For energy to be casually slung in the same category as these speaks volumes about the sinister and creeping oppression being wreaked on us innocents. Watch out folks. Words say it all.

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