In India people worship large piles of newspapers in shrines
Now, I don’t want to piss on anyone’s parade – and I surely won’t do so in this case but the following bit of news will raise more than a few eyebrows here, in the more jaded West:
Thousands of devotees in India are congregating daily to worship at a temple dedicated specially to newspapers. Worshippers bow reverentially to a large pile of newspapers prominently displayed inside. They believe they spread knowledge, propagate human values and prevent people from committing wrong.
The first thing we may conclude from this, is that Rupert Murdoch hasn’t, as of yet, bought up any of the Indian newspapers.
Furthermore, it would also seem to be the case that, while England’s former colony has exported their cuisine to its old oppressors, England hasn’t returned the favour by exporting its tabloid press industry to India.
Colonial powers are often accused of taking things from their colonies and not giving anything back in return but when it comes to those bloody tabloids I think India had a lucky escape.
So, while they are building these temples, we, in the West, have long become used to the fact that our newspapers are mostly cynical, money making machines. Like sycophantic soothsayers, they tell both the king and the court what they want to hear – and while they serve their masters they keep the serves and servants happy with their bread & circuses headlines.
Yes, it is easy to laugh at people building shrines, but happy is the country that still can worship the press. For spreading knowledge, and propagating human values, and preventing people from committing wrong…
Now, don’t you wish our press was worthy of such sentiments?
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