a non story story

December 9, 2005 in Old Blog Posts by Mentalacrobatics | 6 comments

A man found guilty of forging a visa and student pass in his passport gets deported from Kenya. No big deal. No story there. You don’t mess around with your official travel documents unless you want trouble from the authorities no matter which country you are in. But put the man in a dress and swiftly the BBC deems the story worthy of its website and all of a sudden we are discussing, “a society that holds conservative views on sexuality.” The piece is leaning dangerously into employing the logical fallacy of an ad hominem argument :

  1. Kenyan police arrested a man who dresses as a woman
  2. Kenya holds conservative views on sexuality
  3. Because Kenya holds conservative views on sexuality that must be why they arrested the man who dresses as a woman

You almost forget the criminal offences he committed.

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6 comments

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December 9, 2005 at 7:29 am

cute_angel

cute_angel’s avatar

whoever said anything about a fair and balanced media? this is the kind of BS lens through which the western media views africa. and we wonder why we’re always being asked if we played with lions back home *disgust*

December 9, 2005 at 8:27 am

Mentalacrobatics

Mentalacrobatics’s avatar

I am a big fan of the BBC. But some of the stories it carries on its site just do not make sense.

December 9, 2005 at 8:54 am

prousette

prousette’s avatar

I watched the story on the news bulletin and was about to make the same mistake BBC did, the news item did not mention that he had forged documents, it was put in such a way that the only thing he did wrong was dress as a woman, but for BBC to go a head and make a splash with it on that angle as well that kenya is conservative blah…. taints its credibility.

December 9, 2005 at 9:02 am

Mentalacrobatics

Mentalacrobatics’s avatar

It made the news bulletin? That is crazy.

December 9, 2005 at 1:45 pm

Ms K

Ms K’s avatar

LOL well, just goes to show………

Ok I don’t know what it goes to show but just because its the BBC doesn’t mean everyone who works there has their head screwed on right. Know what I mean ;-)