Simple Disturbances.

I’m finding a lot of things disturbing at the moment, so here are three of the simpler ones:

I saw a headline in a tabloid newspaper this morning, referring to the riots. It said:

Sweep the Scum off the Streets.

It disturbs me that the sole purpose of the tabloid press seems to be to convince bigoted and small minded people that bigoted and small minded is the right way to be. But of course, a symbiotic relationship exists between the tabloid press and those inclined towards bigotry and small mindedness.

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In another reference to the riots, it disturbs me that David Cameron should stoop to the usual bit of politician’s rear end hyperbole when he speaks of ‘the fightback’ beginning. This is just a disingenuous ploy to divert attention from the real causes by painting the whole thing in simple term: the rioters are ‘the enemy.’ Mrs Thatcher used the same device with the miners in the 1980’s. Well, maybe the rioters are the enemy, but if so they’re an enemy created by politicians, the corporate world, the media, and the rest of the Establishment over the last thirty years. And there are only two ways of getting rid of an enemy; either you remove the causes of the enmity, or you destroy it. So what are we going to do: re-appraise our principles and get back to some pre-Thatcherite values, or exchange the plastic bullets for real ones?

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On a very much lighter note, it disturbed me to see a middle aged couple behind me in the checkout queue. They were buying bottles of wine and nice-things-to-have-for-tea. Life would be so much easier for me if I could play that role.