Wednesday 17 February 2016

My Kingdom for a horse's arse...

I don’t care if you don’t like what I say; you don’t know me and you can always just ignore me. But I always write from a position of having an at least partially informed view, tempered by a long-held distrust of human motives. I‘m not an entirely objective observer (who among us really is?) but while I may employ it, I rarely let sentiment inform my account of the nefarious goings-on in our little corner of the universe. I’m not sure much of that can be said for the likes of Emma Thompson.

On matters of race, gender, social justice, immigration, welfare, the NHS and politics in general the luvvies speak with but one voice, or do not speak at all. You rarely hear right-wing voices from the world of entertainment because, well, look what happens to them. And the last time you were allowed to be exposed to the views of soft-right patriotic entertainers like Jim Davidson was, ooh, well, it was a way back. Jeremy Clarkson, of course, had a large audience and undeniably right-of-centre views and it was hilarious when he punched Oisin Tymon suggested on The One Show that striking public sector workers should be taken out and shot... in front of their families.

But oh, what a fuss was made – in some quarters it was said that was the moment at which Danny Cohen set in train his plot to oust the ‘hateful’ yet tremendously popular presenter, who dared to say what you can hear down any pub on any given night of the week. And indeed in any workplace where people still toil for an honest wage. For, despite the impression the media desperately wish to portray, not everybody is in thrall to a form of socialism that only rich people can afford to circumvent. The rest of us are involved, either paying for it by working all hours, or sucking it dry... by not.

It is no good poor little privileged people who play dressing up and pretend for a living imagining themselves in the role of statesman. Flitting from one part to the next, it is a recognised phenomenon that some actors get so lost in their little filmic worlds they scarcely remember their own names, let alone command any understanding of realpolitik. La Thompson said of Britain that it was “a tiny little cloud-bolted, rainy corner of sort-of Europe ... a cake-filled misery-laden grey old island.” And went on to add, “Of course I'm going to vote to stay in Europe. Are you kidding? Oh my God, of course. It would be madness not to. It's a crazy idea not to. We should be taking down borders, not putting them up." Did you get that? She wants to tear down what's left of the borders.

I just say what the bloody old bird tells me...

The day before, lest ye forget, she wanted to kill off all the ‘old white men’ who had dared to award Baftas on merit, rather than on the basis of some form of colour code. So you would hope that your man-in-the-street would ignore such ideological pronouncements. But in the absence of any avowedly Eurosceptic Conservative big beasts coming out for Brexit, it has to be a worry that public opinion may be swayed, at least a tiny bit, by the vacuous utterings of those who spend most of their lives developing imaginary personas and living in an alternative reality.

3 comments:

  1. As you point out most do not know you. It is true of everyone nobody really knows anyone else bits maybe but not the whole picture. In the same way in most matters we have to make a decision on we are quite ignorant of the details needed to make an informed decision. Which makes democracy something of a sham as we vote to have our governments interfere into the affairs of others without actually knowing what those affairs are. Of course free market capitalism overcomes that problem to some degree as all those who participate in a market expose that which they desire or do not and buy accordingly. So in a sense vote knowledgeably albeit with their wallet or feet.

    Emma Thompson who I like very much as an actress spouts that which she is totally ignorant of. We all do it and therefore most outcomes are dependent on non objective observations and/or complete ignorance so we may as well toss a coin to decide on a decision when the matter is beyond our comprehension.

    Well I have tossed my coin and it tells me to vote leave in the forthcoming referendum. And as my ignorance outbids Emma Thompson's then I know I am right to do so.

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  2. Whenever we get pronouncements from luvvies and minstrels, the media hangs upon their every word. But why?

    Emma Thompson is known, primarily, for being paid to speak other people's words; either on a stage or on a screen. There is absolutely no evidence that her own views are any more or any less worthy of consideration than yours or mine.

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    1. I'm fairly convinced that these people are genuinely paid to make these statements in a lot of cases. They must know that the public don't all agree with them, so you'd think they'd err on the side of caution on such subjects. When it comes to Emma Watson or De'Caprio giving UN speeches, it must be because the money is good. Or someone is offering more work off the back of it. Why else would you give yourself the work?

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