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Sunday 19 June 2016

Wells of hatred

During the recent political posturing over the murder of MP Jo Cox, Jeremy Corbyn spoke of  a “well of hatred” amid wider attempts to link this event with far right politics and presumably by implication with the EU referendum Leave campaign.

Jo Cox was killed by a “well of hatred”, Jeremy Corbyn has said in an emotional tribute to the Labour MP in her constituency town of Birstall in West Yorkshire.

Alternatively, Angela Merkel says bad language is responsible.

“The exaggerations and radicalisation of part of the language do not help to foster an atmosphere of respect,” Angela Merkel said in response to a question about the killing. “That’s why we all value democratic game rules. And we know how important it is to draw limits, be it in the choice of speech, in the choice of the argument, but also in the choice of partly disparaging argument,” she said on Friday.

This is what political bubbles lead to and we should not expect anything more dignified. However it is a reminder of how impossibly tangled notions of political left and right are. For example, it has been pointed out that radical Islam exhibits a number of key traits traditionally associated with far right politics. It is intolerant, xenophobic, homophobic misogynist and supremacist.

Yet for decades Corbyn’s own party has not made a clear political distinction between moderate and radical Islam and has never been straightforward in dealing with what one could easily refer to as the far right of the Islamic political spectrum. Profiting from wells of hatred is one of his party’s many failings and under his leadership it still is.

We cannot discover anything about the real world by juggling words, but it is possible to obscure it as people like Corbyn and Merkel are apt to do. We should not be deceived. 

5 comments:

Scrobs. said...

It's an emotional time.

The first thing I thought on hearing that she'd been killed, was 'This is a diversionary tactic by the stayers'.

Cynicism just blows over every mindset these days especially before such a great Thursday coming up! I've cancelled all other parties so I can wallow in the good news of Brexit on the Friday!

James Higham said...

It's their golden rule.

Sam Vega said...

If Wells of Hatred are killing people, then surely we need a war against them. The War against Terror could easily be expanded to include hatred - it's just a minor tweak to the Terms of Service. But it would obviously need different tactics. To play it safe, any well should be back-filled and capped off, just in case it is a Hatred-Well.

Demetrius said...

Regularly I need to check out trains and traffic and also look at the local news. Over the last couple of decades there has been a major increase in incidents involving persons with mental problems leading to difficulties, disruption and deaths, very few of which reach the main media. They have now become almost routine. I understand that many retailers have problems with certain customers. One reason is that "community care" etc. is not able to deal with the extent and pressure of all those who should have it.

A K Haart said...

Scrobs - I'll wallow too, because a win for Brexit would at least be interesting.

James - yet so obvious.

Sam - all wells are suspect these days, especially Tunbridge Wells.

Demetrius - which may come out in this case, but after the referendum.