Originally from: Pat Gardiner
                        
Dear Coleen

This is part of an article some of my friends had a few days ago. It might help.

"I was watching a TV programme last night covering the exploits of a couple of Australian con-artists.

We can all be conned, I certainly have been. The revelation in last night's programme that most of the victims seemed to continue to believe in the innocence of the pair, despite losing their money and the efforts of the police came as no surprise.

Spin merchants and con artists come out of the same stable.

Circumstances make the farming community exceptionally vulnerable.

Farming people are remarkably uniform in their opinions over a range of matters. Blair, Prince Charles, supermarkets, the EU, the superiority of British food, field sports, America, vegetarians – all draw very similar responses from all but a few mavericks. Many of the local equivalents of these views are shared with rural communities elsewhere in the world, so it is not just Britain.

These are not the same responses that you get from the rest of the population, which has much more varied views on the same range of subjects.

I'm not suggesting that the rural community are clones. Choose a different set of subjects and their views would be very diverse – just that on that particular list, there is a remarkable degree of agreement. In the circumstances that arose over animal health, this particular list mattered.

The con artist or spin doctor does not work against the prejudices of his audience, he reinforces them. Because of the remarkable uniformity of view, in this case it was really very easy.

He tells you exactly what you want to hear. You like him for that reason. He or she, then slides in the "con" mixed up in a mass of statements that you will find congenial. If you are not alert, you swallow the con.

In fact, the only people actually likely to be telling the truth, on the matter in hand, are those you find exceptionally irritating.

It took me a lifetime in business, working with some of the best spinners in the world, to learn that.

ooooooooo

I'd read the Farming Weekly every week for years, so it came as no surprise to me that I was going to be unpopular in fighting the State Veterinary Service. These crooks had all the most popular cards – and they were well capable of playing them.

It was pretty obvious that what I had to say would ruffle feathers on the very people whose support was needed to force reform and defend my home and my wife.

Experience taught me that I would never be accepted by the farming community because of the fight back. I was lucky that it did not really matter. Whilst nobody likes to suffer abuse and to upset people, farming is simply not that important to me.

I was just about ready to write a book on business matters, when this all blew up and disturbed my plans.

So, I was in for a long hard slog and knew that perfectly well. The only defence and weapon was absolute truth (within the constraints of errors and omissions.)

It is slowly beginning to dawn on even some of my most vociferous opponents that they haven't caught me out on anything other than my spelling. Given the millions of words, that should have been pretty easy for some of these obviously talented people. However, none of the biggest loud-mouths ever bothered to actually check any of the facts. They were probably scared of what they would find.

They could have done so quite easily. Others did.

I see the most consistent opponent has degenerated to the theory that since the media have not picked it up, I must be lying."

Regards Pat Gardiner