As the tussle between Ed Miliband and the Daily Mail intensifies, what a 'task' it's been trying to 'choose sides' and pinpoint one's 'British values'.
Ralph Miliband "hated Britain", the Mail alleges, a headline intended to register a typical Mail hatred and revel in its controversy, even while riding the considerable public backlash.
While the claims against him are, of course, spurious in their very terms of reference, it's fitting that the Mail chose the verb "hated", thus revealing not just its desperate distortions but its core mindset.
And yet, while trying to avoid that same net of hateful invective, it's hard to decide which parties here are the more reprehensible.
Including the seemingly obvious, here's some further 'valued' choices to reflect on:
~ The poisonous Mail, maligning a learned Marxist and principled man in naked pursuit of his son.
~ 'Red Ed's' own declared rejection of his father's socialist ideals in preference to continuous neoliberal ones, all in standard Labourite service to leading class interests, capitalist order and safe political office.
~ The hypocrite, opportunist and war criminal Alastair Campbell, coming to his leader's defence in savaging the odious Mail's Deputy Editor John Steafal on Newsnight.
~ Newsnight, the rest of the BBC and other liberal media lauding Campbell's intervention, thus giving him even
more hiding space for his war crimes.
~ Cameron and Clegg empathisisng with Miliband in the name of media and public 'decency', after their own rightist pandering to Daily Mail prejudice and efforts to take the country into another murderous, indecent war.
~ Liberal oulets like the Guardian gloating over the Mail's public discomfort and withdrawal of large corporate advertisers, while it protects villains like Blair and Campbell, rationalises Western wars in Iraq, Libya and Syria, and continues to take multiple advertising cheques from planet-destroying corporations.
~ The oligarch-owned Independent preaching to the Lord-owned Daily Mail.
Hard to decide, eh? There's just so many noble media institutions, moral political figures and great 'British values' to choose from here.
It's just a pity Ralph Miliband himself isn't here to help shed more light on them all.
2 comments:
It's like a little side-show with no relevance to the lives of real people. The fact that some of the actors aren't very good makes it mildly entertaining.
Now what would really engage the great unwashed has already been suggested: an announcement from Ed of the intention to take back into public ownership the railways, the NHS, water companies and all the other things that have been looted and plundered.
But then he'd be a silly-billy to do that. Nice two John.
All true, Rose. Thanks.
As I was saying at the ML board:
'Red Ed' is just another willing footsoldier for the capitalist hierarchy in their relentless War on the Poor.
And the media's own key role here, notably its liberal ranks, is in
helping to ensure that, while poverty may be criticised and condemned, those waging economic war on the poor are never truly indicted for their crimes, and that the class-corporate SYSTEM driving that war on the poor is never seriously questioned.
John
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