What is a wedge issue?
A wedge issue is a clever distraction that is used to draw public attention away from a more serious issue.
They cause the public to spend time and energy arguing over a different topic, while the government continues to push ahead with unpopular policies.
A very recent example of this is the proposal to ban smoking in cars. How many of you heard your local radio station discussing this, or saw articles about it in the paper, or were talking about it with colleagues or friends? The vast majority of you, right? Why did this topic suddenly pop out of nowhere, while the country is going down the tubes and we're being hit by cuts and charges?
Think about it, before the proposal to ban smoking in cars, if someone asked you to list the top 10 things that needed to be done to fix the country, would that ban even cross your mind?
If you got to Google News, and type in "Ireland smoking in cars" it returns over 13 MILLION results, from news articles in papers and radio websites across the english speaking world. And this is just a proposal.
Now type in 'rape crisis network ireland funding cut' and it returns 7 results. This is despite the fact that
their funding is in real danger of being cut off, and has only been extended by a short period.
their funding is in real danger of being cut off, and has only been extended by a short period.
