You Ain’t Nothin’ But A…
Today’s “Bigotgate” affair has, undoubtedly, been a total PR nightmare for Gordon Brown, and can only have damaged his already fragile chances of securing a fourth term for Labour at next week’s election. Personally, I don’t think his ‘crime’ was particularly heinous; we’ve all talked about people in less-than-flattering terms behind their back, and I’d hazard a guess that most of us have accidentally done it to someone’s face at some horrible, toe-curling point in our lives. The fact that he’s currently trying to persuade the whole country to stake its future on him based on his honesty and trustworthiness merely makes it more embarrassing. I’m not under the illusion, either, that Cameron and Clegg have never dissed a voter in their lives. Of course they have. They were just lucky enough not to be caught.
What’s interesting, though, is the utter frenzy that has descended, and the conviction among most commentators that this is a huge blow to Brown’s chances. I’m sure it is, and there is no better way to illustrate just what has happened to politics in the UK. Since the 1990s, politicians have become ever more obsessed with public image, with creating the perfect soundbite, with ever more ludicrous stunts. Only a few days ago, Brown hired an Elvis impersonator to sing his praises. If politicians believe that the electorate is impressed by such shallow trivia… well, nobody should be surprised if one unguarded moment has the opposite effect, because that is the mindset they were instrumental in fostering in us. So if Gordon feels the cold, dead hand of history on his shoulder tonight, he has only himself to blame.
Something Blonde 
While I agree that politics is mostly to blame for this issue, I would also ask how influential you think people like the press have now become and if that is a good thing?
I think they’re extremely influential, and no, I don’t think that’s a good thing. It would be nice to think that social media such as Twitter could help people to cut through some of the crap.
What depresses me more, though, is that the majority of the general public will swallow anything they’re told by the press, without asking themselves why they’re being told it in the first place.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by John Girvin, alisonkbirch. alisonkbirch said: http://tinyurl.com/3aylg85 New bloggage, by me, on Gordon and the Bigoted Woman… #bigotgate […]
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