Wednesday 28 November 2012

Opinion masquerading as information

It’s not unusual for communities in Wales these days to produce websites promoting themselves and community events.  Most of them are informative, and are community ventures, and many make at least an effort to reflect the bilingual nature of the communities they serve.

There are exceptions, though.  Some provide very little detail about who has produced them and why.  The other day, I happened to stumble across this website for Llanegwad.  At first sight, it’s little different from many others, listing all sorts of useful information.  It even has a section about the Welsh language, and some helpful guidance to the meaning of some place names.
It goes downhill rather, however, when it comes to this little piece about the Language and People.  It reflects a viewpoint, of course (and although it’s a rarer viewpoint now than it used to be, we’d be deluding ourselves if we didn’t understand that it’s not as rare as we might like).  And it’s a viewpoint which people have a right to express. 
Quite how it fits into the idea of a community information website is rather a different question - 'information' it is not.  It is opinion masquerading as fact.  I can’t really believe that it reflects the reality of opinion in Llanegwad.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

The copyright of the site you have identified is owned by ARTdesigns, same as W & B Rees & ARTdesigns copywriters of the ':Llanelli History' website. The 'proprietor' is Benita Afan Rees of Glanymor and Tyisha Communities First.I'm surprised that 'The Proprietor" is publishing such misinformation almost vitriol about the Welsh language, particularly as it is part funded by the Welsh Government, and Carmarthenshire County Council.

Surely, there must be some mistake?

Anonymous said...

what an awful piece of writing and there doesn't seem to be anywhere to complain - I do not speak the language but i cant understand the vitriol from some Welsh people to it and i feel this is increasing of late

Rhodri Williams said...

That website is a joke, a bigoted joke at that. The fact that Welsh is being slagged off so much recently can only mean one thing: it's doing well.

Anonymous said...

Of course it's anonymous with no name, contact address, phone number, just like disgraceful Bilingo website - so cowardly.

Anonymous said...

There is no contact address for the site itself - so I've gone to the sponsor with my opinion on this drivel!

Jim.

Anonymous said...

More about it here from a few years ago:

http://alanindyfed.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/welsh-language-under-attack.html

G Horton-Jones said...

John
Life is a masquerade old chum.
As is often the case links prove to be invaluable.
The Llanegwad case left me bemused it reminded me of a day I worked at Heatherton Sports Park near Tenby and having given a commentary in English, Welsh, German and French to a group of visitors. A lady came up to me and said you are not Welsh are you? Yes I said I am from Swansea Well then she said what are you doing living here.
The link provided me with details about the former Llandeilo to Carmarthen rail link the restoration of which recently generated 1200 signatures
in support

Welsh not British said...

Wow what a hideously ugly website, it's like something from the days of netscape.

As for the content, it looks like some sort of brainwashed self loathing brit nat.

Probably best to forget it even exists and to never visit it again.

Unknown said...

Your attentions appear to have shame the site proprietors into closing it down! It now reads

"The Llanegwad site has been on line for the last 10 years,

but it has been getting harder to update content on a regular basis.

Almost all support has come from outside the local area.

Promises of content and translations in the Welsh language have been made on many occasions

but have never materialised, most likely due to the amount of work involved.

All Welsh history CDs and Parish Records CDs have been discontinued.

So a big thank you to all who did submit articles and took the trouble to support the site.


Page updated Thursday November 29, 2012"

Though the patronising and offending language page is still accessible directly.

Anonymous said...

Victory! Always pays to make a fuss :)