As we know, when a major political event occurs it is a good
idea to look at it from as many sides as possible. For example, we could consider
a possibility that the recent heavy general election defeat suffered by the
Labour party might not have been down to Jeremy Corbyn and co. Unlikely but
worth considering because political trends do not always advertise themselves
with conveniently obvious clues.
Suppose there is something evolving within the internet, something
slowly arising within social media and the fantastically complex brew of
information and political viewpoints. Suppose that something is related to what
we might loosely call political adulthood – voters growing up as the internet
tells them the political facts of life. A seriously scary prospect for all political classes.
After decades of being patronised via a heavily manipulated
democracy, voters may be slowly asserting their political individuality. This
would not be the ludicrous notion of collective individuality as understood by the
Labour party, woke activists and the political left generally, but something
far less constrained and far more – erm - individual.
In the patronising/condescending corner we have –
The BBC, NHS, National Trust, EU, UN, Greenpeace, WWF,
national charities, advertisers, Hollywood, mainstream media, numerous pundits,
numerous celebrities, the entire climate change game, everything woke, the Harry
n’Meghan project and so on. A more complete list could be vast.
In which case maybe the Labour party debacle was going to
happen anyway because it is the party of the collective, not the individual and
Labour folk make that all too plain. They can’t help themselves and that too is
pretty obvious.
Brexit made things worse because this is also a hint that
the wheels may be coming off the collective bandwagon. If individuality is
flexing its muscles that does nothing for the EU which wets itself at the very
notion of anything individual.
Maybe the Corbyn effect saved Labour from an even worse
debacle – imagine Emily Thornberry running the show. If so then this would also
be a reason why the Lib Dems performed so badly when votes were there for
whoever listens to the evolving political imperative –
Don’t talk down to us – we’ve looked you up on the internet.
All this is merely political musing I know, but the election of Donald
Trump lends some support because he most certainly is an individual, as is
Boris Johnson. The anti-individual collectivists hate them both.
4 comments:
"Don’t talk down to us – we’ve looked you up on the internet."
Possibly the political quote of the year. Brilliant!
I looked today at David Starkey's video made for The Sun. In it he makes the point that Boris actually seems to like people. We don't know what he is really like, of course, but he does have the knack of projecting energy and good humour and being interesting.
You make a very good point here, Mr H.
One wonders also how the various factions of internet users break down as well. In my case, I read just online headlines of the rags, then drop by Guido and BiasedBBC and a few others then with all that knowledge swirling around my befuddled head, I can enjoy a light banter here on gardening or a certain Mr Elias Sagtrouser!
I guess that there are many like me, but I know that, for instance, my elder daughter doesn't really go anywhere near any of these sites, and lives in another (professional, admittedly), world!
Then there's the moronic scale of silliness looked at by a certain crowd, with Youtube and Twitter at the fore, so we're faced with such a diverse audience in just about everything, its no wonder that it's all still settling down, with no real stats to prove usage at all!
But you're spot on with the fact that politicians of all hues are being sussed and berated/appreciated accordingly! That's very important!
Bureaucratically minded collectivists.
Sam - thanks and yes, Boris does seem to like people. Years ago I remember a piece by Matthew Parris where he suggested that his mother's approach to politics was basically sound. She would judge people as good or bad and ignore the politics and to some extent at least that must be a first step.
Scrobs - your internet browsing sounds much like mine. Although there must be many people who never look beyond conventional sites, restricted browsing habits are quite obvious in a person and eventually that may have its effect.
James - yes, bureaucracy is the disease. It is inevitably collectivist and therefore inevitably political.
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