Sunday 23 October 2011

Right Wing Punditry

I grew up in a fairly conservative household, and to this day I have no idea what party my mother votes for (I fear that it's Tory as she is an avowed Mail reader - which is entirely her right, even though I abhor the rag). My father voted against them, yet unwittingly brought into all the right wing propaganda. As I grew up and became able to vote, and got interested in politics - or, specifically, social issues, I found myself opposing conservative values. I can't articulate my feelings in perhaps as detailed a fashion as the top pundits might like; I'm not a student of political history or economic trends. This blog is intended to speak of my experience, opinions and thoughts and people can take or leave that as they please. I have never voted Tory or right wing.
That said, I voted liberal during the last election. More fool me for believing them.
I say this because I feel that, as a human being living in society (aren't we all), it is a complete contradiction to things I value in terms of a progressive inclusive compassionate culture. It being voting for the right wing - the Tories. The right wing seems to foster division and fear based on control of resources and propagating the belief that resources are scarce. They believe in valuing people in economic terms, such as the deserving and undeserving poor. People surplus to requirements (ie the poor) are to be ruthlessly expunged - and we can see this happening. I can't in all human conscience support or endorse these values.
Thus it is that I wail and gnash my teeth like a fishwife each and every time one of the usual cabal of pundits appears on a discussion show or radio talk show. Quite why I still react like this is probably not to my credit as these people are routinely invited on and it's no longer a surprise to see or hear their tired views. But to be honest I'm tired: this morning, on the beeb's premier fluffcast, Sunday Morning Live, we had a typical example of this. Nick Ferrari, a bigoted blob of a man huffing and puffing his way through a trio of topics that saw him roll his eyes like a fruit machine, and at one point the Taxpayer's Alliance were on hand to put forward their, equally tired, point of view. Neither contributions rooted in fact, sense or, dare I say, compassion.
Are you not tired of these sorts of discussions? I can understand bringing on different points of view, so long as they have something relevant and factual to contribute. But that is never the case with the right wing. All these people do is hector and barrack, propagating spurious hyperbole, ad hominem attacks, and perennial straw men. When countered with reason they resort to (as bullyboy Jon Gaunt likes to do) claiming they represent the beleaguered working man in a particularly obsequious display of deliberately avoiding the point. In the end, we get absolutely nowhere. These people shout the loudest and say the least. Ironically they are also the most keen to say how loony liberal the BBC has become!
People need to be aware of what's going on. Arm themselves with facts or at the least use common sense (as that's really all it takes) to challenge these buffoons. We have a nation divided and hateful now and it's got to change.

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