In spite of my better judgement I keep logging on to The Sun’s website to read what kind of bizarre spin they’re putting on the news. Normally their mix of jingoistic half news and Tory supporting “politics” amuses me in much the same way as watching folk hurt themselves on You’ve Been Framed, but today I’ve developed a rage at a very specific aspect of their website.
Throughout the site, at the bottom of every article, there is a comments section where registered users can let loose their own brand of misspelled, FULL CAPS “opinions” for everyone to see. The comments often rival the worst that you can find on Youtube, or any other site with a large group of users. Just like Youtube a large proportion of the most vocal users appear to be a largely illiterate and demented.
The comments themselves have never caused me much annoyance. In fact I would go as far as to say that they add to the amusement value of many of the articles and especially when the commenter charge in having only read half of the preceding article. I’ve actually lost count of the number of times that someone has blamed Gordon Brown for something that he couldn’t possibly have any control over.
No the comments are fine, but I am annoyed by the fact that the sun chooses to prevent people from commenting on certain stories while allowing free reign on others.
Today The Sun is running a story about the ongoing court case between Goncalo Amaral and the parents of Madeline McCann over the banning of his book on the case. In the book the former police officer alleges that Madeline’s parents accidentally caused her death and then went to elaborate lengths to dispose of her body and cover their tracks. I’ve actually read the book as it was posted on Wikileaks.org last year and I believe that the author makes some very valid points. The writing style was sensationalist, and very accusatory, but the underlying theory does merit investigation. I accept that it’s natural that the McCanns should be outraged at the accusation of being responsible for Madaline’s disappearance, but at the same time they should accept that they are bound to be investigated in some manner. It seems to me that even if they did not, as the book alleges, have a hand in their daughter’s disappearance that they were at the very least negligent in their parental responsibilities.
The book has been banned, at the request of the McCanns, due to its controversial nature, but I feel that this is fundamentally wrong. If we are not allowed to hear all sides of an argument how can we judge which side is right?
In a similar vein The Sun, which has been hypercritical of the Portuguese police from the day and hour the story broke, has branded Chief Inspector Tavares Almeida’s allegations “outrageous” and described the police officer as “sick”. In my opinion this man, and his former superior who authored the book under discussion are merely articulating a view that has been widely circulated since Madeline disappeared in May 2007. Without sufficient evidence to refute the theory it remains perfectly valid. Let’s not forget that this entire case turned into an outrageous media circus within days of the disappearance being reported. The McCanns themselves have been repeatedly criticised in foreign media for their apparently nonchalant reaction to discovering their child’s disappearance, their uncommonly calm and detached demeanour on press conferences after the story broke and most of all for leaving all three of their small children alone in an unlocked apartment, in a strange city, while they went out for a meal.
The whole case offends me, but what offends me more is that The Sun doesn’t have the courage to leave their comments system turned on so that people can make their opinions, critical or otherwise, known on the article. If the McCanns have nothing to hide then they’ve nothing to fear from conspiracy theories. Equally if The Sun is determined to keep advertising itself as a paper of the common person in the street then it needs to let the man in the street have their say no matter how far that might diverge from The Sun’s opinion.