When cultural relativism takes over your BBC news

On January 26th the BBC News (World) twitter account sent the following Tweet.

BBC World tweet Djiin

Obviously, the answer to that question is a resounding no.

Nevertheless, the BBC News website found it appropriate to promote a film titled “Egyptian village blaming fires on ‘evil spirits’” on its Middle East page which – true to the dictates of cultural relativism – ‘impartially’ presents two supposedly equally ‘legitimate’ sides of the story – but with the accent heavily on the one which is a bunch of superstitious baloney.

Djiin 3

Djiin 4

So, when the head of the BBC’s Middle East bureau promoted that film on Twitter with the question “Why does the idea of evil spirits – or ‘Djinns’ – still hold power for many in Egypt?”, it apparently did not occur to him that one of numerous possible answers might be because a Western media organization – which is supposed provide audiences worldwide with factual, evidence-based reporting of news – treats bizarre superstition as though it were a serious news story. 

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