Re: Jeremy Corbyn | Forum — The Modern Antiquarian

Jeremy Corbyn

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Locodogz Sep 10, 2015 12:18:40

Replying to grufty jim

And another thing...!

Yes, back again. I'm genuinely sorry if it looks like I'm unfairly jumping on your post. That's not my intention. But there was something about your UKIP analogy that was bugging me

In your second 'explained for thickies' version you state

"The tory PR campaign tried to scare English voters by pointing out the increasing strength of the SNP north of the border. "A vote for Labour might allow the SNP to have some power as a junior coalition partner in Westminster, and that would be terrible" - they said*

UKIP tried to scare voters by claiming that increasing numbers of immigrants are heading to the UK (and Europe) - and that would be terrible.

In both cases; the core fact was true... the SNP were strong in Scotland; and there are more immigrants heading for the UK. However, whatever divisions are being created by those PR campaigns are being created by the people running the campaigns... not the people they are about."

Thats rather like saying "people didn't leave town because a hurricane was coming, they left because the weather forecast told them a hurricane was coming" Namely the end result, exodus of people, had nothing to do with the hurricane, just down to the people delivering the message. Except in the case of the SNP people could see on a daily basis the strength of their polling, as opposed to an as yet unseen storm over the horizon.

But hey, if thats what you believe.....

grufty jim Sep 10, 2015 13:22:19

Replying to Locodogz

Locodogz wrote:

But hey, if thats what you believe.....

Yes, it is what I believe.

I believe there is a fundamental difference in the category of information imparted by (a) political propaganda; and (b) the weather forecast.

I don't feel they can be usefully compared in the way you have done, and are certainly not analogous in the way two political campaigns might be.

Oddly enough though, I'm working on a paper right now that uses the distinction between a literal Vs metaphorical storm to illustrate the core rift between history and mythology. The failure / inability to make that distinction lies at the root of much religious (and other forms of) fundamentalism.

I'm not for a moment suggesting you're a religious fundamentalist. This category error can be found all over the place. We are all guilty of it to a greater or lesser degree in different ways. And in this case, it's standing between us and any chance of agreement.

Anyway; to paraphrase you back at yourself; do feel free to have the last word(s) on this. I think my race is run on the U-Know! Forum. I'm not walking off in a huff or anything - and it wasn't solely to do with this thread, Locodogz, which has been more civil than most of late.

I quit facebook and twitter several months ago; and I'm just finding social media a tad alienating. The modern world is already alienating enough without it!

These days it's very rare for me to read anything on this forum I actually agree with. And my own posts generate far more negative responses than positive or neutral. That's not a demand for others to change their views; it's an acknowledgement I'm probably in the wrong place.

Take care all.