Spin and Invisibility Cloaks

Editorial

There is a lot of spin appearing already around the upcoming May 14^th Election but with all the strange stories of leaky emails, a mysterious shrinking tower in Prince George, the even blacker secrets of carbon sinks in Dark Woods one should not be surprised at other spin doctoring in the media.

Now it may be real or imagined but has MLA Bennett become an Independent?  His advertisements and latest flyer make no mention of his membership in the Liberal Party. His latest flyer certainly gives no credit either to the Liberal Party or those citizens who provided the seed funds and countless hours of volunteer work for the many valuable projects that government administration matched, which makes one wonder what is going on.

One must also question the purpose of the unscientific Readers Choice Awards supplement to our local, Black Press owned, Townsman.  It is wonderful to recognise some of our favourite businesses and politicians but it was noticeable that for those on whom we depend for our well-being there was no favourite, nurse, RCMP Officer, teacher, dentist or church for example. It appeared room ran out for winners of equal standing to have their photographs printed and that was a shame.  Readers can have fun surmising the reasons and goals.  There is no award for answers.  Playing favourites can be a difficult game. 

Another perceived difficulty for many is the mixing of business and politics.  It might be questioned when a business is used to promote political office or when political office is used to promote business. This situation can be interpreted as ethically questionable especially if one unduly influences professional decisions of the other or if one stands to gain from the other.

Sometimes what is not stated sheds us much light on what is going on, as what goes into the recycling bin.  Spotting the spin, which often wears the cloak of invisibility is often more interesting than the visible face value.