“The British right hopes to emulate the success of the US right in convincing the public that the main organs of news & opinion are gripped by a left-wing conspiracy…[their aim] is to alter the definition of the ‘middle ground’, moving it to the right" - Peter Wilby, 2007. Image
In 2004, a think tank Director outlined 'three things the Right needs to happen:

undermine the @BBC’s credibility

create a Fox News equivalent/talk radio shows/bloggers etc to shift the centre of gravity

end the ban on TV political advertising.

The author? Dominic Cummings. ImageImage
New television channels plan to offer British audiences a more partisan & even more right-wing interpretation of the news.

@stevenjbarnett & @JulianPetley ask "Who will ensure they play within the rules?" in 'Why @Ofcom must find its backbone':

journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.11…
"Clearly, a great deal hinges on the way in which Ofcom handles (new "news" channels)... which will have huge ramifications not just for the UK broadcasting ecology but for the quality of news, trusted journalism, informed debate and ultimately for #democracy itself.

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More from @docrussjackson

22 May
Impartial & sensible Paul Dacre, lined up by opportunist liar Boris Johnson & the the @BBC-hating Tories to be the new @Ofcom & thus BBC regulator, attacked the BBC as a "monolith" pursuing "cultural Marxism" - a far-right antisemitic conspiracy theory.😳

theguardian.com/media/2007/jan…
The ever nuanced & professional Paul Dacre - incidentally with *zero* experience in broadcasting - said the @BBC "which glories in being open-minded, has become a closed-thought system operating a kind of Orwellian Newspeak."

Oh the irony. ImageImageImage
In another nuanced & impartial critique, Paul Dacre was critical of David Cameron's alleged "sidelining of Thatcherism & his banishing of all talk of lower taxes, lower immigration & euroscepticism (which) are all part of the Tories' blood sacrifice to the @BBC god." ImageImageImage
Read 6 tweets
18 May
"The first person who, having enclosed a plot of land, took it into his head to say this is mine and found people simple enough to believe him, was the true founder of civil society" - Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1755, 'Discourse on the Origin of Inequality'.
Rousseau posits that the original, deeply flawed social contract, which led to the modern state, was made at the suggestion of the rich & powerful, who tricked the masses into surrendering their liberties to them & instituted inequality as a fundamental feature of human society.
At the end of the Discourse on Inequality, Rousseau explains how the desire to have value in the eyes of others undermines personal integrity & authenticity in a society marked by interdependence.

In 'The Social Contract outlines the basis for a legitimate political order.
Read 21 tweets
18 May
Interesting, balanced & nuanced article by Neil McLaughlin: 'The Jordan Peterson Phenomena: Why Fromm’s ideas and public intellectual vision is essential for responding to reactionary populism'.

fromm-gesellschaft.eu/images/pdf-Dat…
I'm not going to summarise the whole paper, but McLaughlin attempts to account for the popularity & influence of Peterson in a respectful way.

While critiquing Peterson's intellectual status, he offers interesting insights & calls for fairer & more measured critique of Peterson.
McLaughlin is a scholar of the work of Erich Fromm - a controversial German social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, philosopher, & democratic socialist. Fromm was a German Jew who fled the Nazi regime & settled in the US. His influences are similar to those of Peterson.
Read 12 tweets
17 May
A very quick non-political & non PC (*gasp*) #THREAD on nicknames.

A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, commonly used to express affection or endearment, sometimes amusement, & occasionally to bully.

Almost all lads had one when I was young.
As my surname is Jackson, my usual nickname was 'Jacko'.

As a 17 year old, doing a bricklaying apprenticeship, I went on day release to Chesterfield Tech (College of Technology, before it became Chesterfield College) to do a City & Guilds in Bricklaying & then 'Advanced Craft'.
It was quite brutal - usually in a good way - & all of us on the course were given new nicknames by my mate 'Trent'.

Trent got his own nickname following a haircut, after which someone said his ears looked like bus wheels - the local bus company was called 'Trent Buses'. 🚍
Read 7 tweets
17 May
Pathocracy #THREAD

'Democratic backsliding' is a decline in the quality of #democracy, which is accelerating in Britain, & across the world.

Are damaged individuals, lacking in conscience, destroying democracy?

Based on this article by @PaulHRosenberg:

salon.com/2019/12/01/imp…
There are many different ways to view recent sinister developments in Boris Johnson’s UK & Trump’s USA, process, but perhaps the most important is to view it as a part of struggle to preserve democracy from destruction at the hands of damaged individuals lacking in conscience.
The wave of democratic erosion around the world is undisputable. What’s less appreciated is the role that individuals with personality disorders play in this process, which disrupts our expectations of how things work, based on the normal psychology we commonly & tacitly assume.
Read 63 tweets
16 May
#THREAD

Most of us accept that it's entirely sensible to get vaccinated against #COVID19 & to keep new variations under control.

While there are legitimate concerns over lockdowns, anti-vaxxers, & those who believe COVID is 'a hoax', are among the most dangerous fools on earth.
Yet our dysfunctional Govt & PM blather about 'common sense' & refuse to condemn them, having repeatedly failed to take decisive action to control the virus.

We've know about the #IndianVariant since February, but action wasn't taken until late April - & STILL flights arrive!
When combined with a decade of unnecessary ideological austerity, outsourcing, privatisation, & real-terms cuts of 25% since 2015/16 to our #NHS, it is *crystal clear* that these corrupt free-market obsessed criminals are directly responsible for 130,000 largely avoidable deaths.
Read 13 tweets

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