Communities Secretary Hazel Blears attacks political bloggers

Hazel Blears attacks political bloggers


BBC NEWS | Politics | Blears attacks political bloggers

(Taken from the BBC article)

According to Communities Secretary Hazel Blears "Political blogs are fuelling a culture of cynicism about politics", and a "spreading corrosive cynicism" in political discussion, accusing them of fuelling disengagement by focusing on "unearthing scandals, conspiracies and perceived hypocrisy" and of being written by "people with disdain for the political system and politicians".

Yer and?

"The most popular blogs are right-wing...

(Really? well I wouldn't consider myself as right wing, far from it, I lived under the Thatcher Misrule, so I don't hold the current government wholly to blame for the situation the world finds itself in, but then I am not one of the more popular blogs, so my opinions do not amount to much),

...ranging from the considered Tory views of Iain Dale, to the vicious nihilism of Guido Fawkes,"

(nihilism)
1. Philosophy
a. An extreme form of skepticism that denies all existence.
b. A doctrine holding that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated.
2. Rejection of all distinctions in moral or religious value and a willingness to repudiate all previous theories of morality or religious belief.
3. The belief that destruction of existing political or social institutions is necessary for future improvement.
4. also Nihilism A diffuse, revolutionary movement of mid 19th-century Russia that scorned authority and tradition and believed in reason, materialism, and radical change in society and government through terrorism and assassination.
5. Psychiatry A delusion, experienced in some mental disorders, that the world or one's mind, body, or self does not exist.)

Nihilism eh? Sounds abit strong that, given the definitions.

But she added: "Unless and until political blogging 'adds value' to our political culture, by allowing new and disparate voices, ideas and legitimate protest and challenge, and until the mainstream media reports politics in a calmer, more responsible manner, it will continue to fuel a culture of cynicism and pessimism."

No, I think it is the actions of our elected representatives which will keep those fires burning and political spin, the Downing Street Memos. the illegal wars, the denial that the NULabour government helped in supporting extraordinary rendition, the Formula 1 Affair, the Saudi Affair as just a few that spring to mind, are more to blame for voters' cynicism than the 1500 or so, (not counting mine obviously) political blogs in the UK.

Guido Fawkes posted in response that spin, "focus-group derived policies" and partisan positioning for the cynicism described by Ms Blears.
He added that she misunderstood the relationship between a free press and politicians.

Methinks that political bloggers must be doing their job right if it has provoked this level of reaction but standby for some Draconian action by the government to stem this tide..oh wait, isn't that scheduled for when they shut the current Internet down and "reboot" it with their own, sanitised and monitored version.

"Take a memo Ms Blears, we are not here to 'add value', or do what politicians want, Guido has his own values and aims to hit back at political hypocrisy and lies. Politicians make laws, so they should be held to account, to a higher standard," he wrote.

Ms Blears told the BBC that politicians not giving straight answers could be an issue, but said a "grown up political discourse" could only happen if people were prepared to listen.


LOL! Would those people prepared to listen include this moribund government by any chance because we see little evidence that they are at the moment.

PPS

LOL !

As a addendum to this blog piece.

A few days after posting I was reading the comments section of the Independents’ article on Blears speech and my partner came in and asked me what I was doing and I told her, and my partner, who is not that political really said "when I heard the name I had this feeling of Doom."

What more needs to be said.

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