Viagra available on the high street
(from The Telegraph 18 June, 2009.)
A highly worrying trait in incomplete journalism can be seen in the article from The Telegraph. This trope succeeds in overcoming the ‘England-as-Britain’ trope at face value by ignoring any reference to labels or information within Britain (but outside England) which is important to the article. Hidden ‘England-as-Britain’, through carefulness or carelessness, presents the article content blithely without using any potentially inappropriate terminology. The Telegraph begins by declaring that Viagra can be purchased countrywide:
pharmacists at Boots stores across the country will offer men a half-hour consultation to assess the problem and offer a course of the prescription-only drugs.
(Italics mine)
Most readers will pass this by without a second glance. ‘Britain’ and ‘England’ and the ‘country’ are so synonymous as to render any further thought merely a distraction. Beyond an reference to a generic British male, “Erectile dysfunction affects one in 10 British men” tagged on at the end of the article, no location limiting lexis lets readers know that the information in the article refers only to England. These days ‘England’ is far less common than ‘Britain’, even when accuracy requires ‘England’ be used. As is, the article appears complete. The completeness of the article would never be questioned unless other information was known.
A day later, The Herald reports,
It is arguably the most notable cross-border health difference to date between Scotland and England. Viagra is being sold in high street stores from today, but Scots will have to drive to Newcastle if they want to buy the drug over the counter.
(from Viagra sold over the counter … but not in Scotland June 19, 2009.)
The most insidious and destructive instances of ‘England-as-Britain’ are when no location identifier is printed at all in the news article and additional knowledge needed to complete the article’s accuracy is omitted. In its place are generic labels, such as ‘country’, ‘state’, and ‘nation’. These are empty discourse declarations requiring definitions before they have meaning. What makes this variant on the trope so destructive is that it appears innocuous but actually hides the existence of any non-English British state entirely.
