DRUG REPORTING SUPPORTS OFFICIAL PERSECUTION

Dear Editor,

Re. "Man's sentence on drug conviction altered," Question, July 25.

Most media reporting on drug-related court cases is hate propaganda, pure
and simple, intended to make us fear and/or despise those who use one of the
few harmful recreational drugs the state has declared illegal.

If the purpose of our drug laws were to protect us from harmful drugs,
wouldn't we have prohibited alcohol and tobacco too? No, let's face facts
here, these laws were implemented for one reason and one reason only: To
persuade the majority to support a brutal government pogrom designed to
persecute a totally innocent minority.

Fortunately for the politicians, the media are eager to lend their support
by encouraging us to despise, or at least to be unsympathetic to, the
minority under attack. No need for government coercion here. As to why the
media support a brutal government pogrom like our drug laws, I can only
surmise that tragedy, suffering and war sell more newspapers and lead to
higher TV ratings tha n happiness, contentment and peace. (Either that or
most media people are bigoted ignoramuses.)

How does the media win our approval, or at least our acceptance, of such a
manifestly evil crusade?

First, you immerse us in a torrent of "objective" accounts of the mayhem
without allowing the victims' stories to be told. Gradually we are persuaded
"they only have themselves to blame." This particular item is just another
example of this type of hate propaganda masquerading as news. Your political
masters will be pleased indeed.

Second, you never miss an opportunity to allow those who profit from the
drug laws (cops, drug experts, prosecutors, politicians) to tell their
stories while allowing only the occasional op-ed or letter from those who
oppose the law.

Was there ever a greater gift to the modern nation-state to help it ride
roughshod over the rights of its citizens than the mass media? I think not.
You really can fool (nearly) all of the people, all of the time.

Alan Randell

Victoria