Tweet

More from @AyoCaesar

Ash Sarkar

@AyoCaesar

14 Jun

I'm not going to share that Beverley Turner video, but it seems to me that an awful lot of celeb anti-vaxxer and anti-lockdown stuff is driven by a completely boneheaded denial that, in a pandemic, your actions have implications for people who aren't just you.

Sure, it's 'your choice' as an adult to decide whether or not you want to have a vaccine. But not having one has an impact on everyone else, from those who you could potentially infect to a population who'd really like to fully unlock as soon as safely possible.

It's not just about whether you're personally ok with the idea of getting coronavirus (though even that is often shaped by a kind of callous naivety). It's about how seriously you take the effect on other people - not just getting them sick, but the hoopla of self-isolation.

Read 4 tweets

Ash Sarkar

@AyoCaesar

1 Jun

This is a really thoughtful article, and I think it has implications for journalism outside of sports as well - in particular, lobby journalists.

theguardian.com/sport/blog/202…

Many journalists still hold to an idea that their job is solely to convey information between places where things happen, and the public; that criticism or analysis on their part would undermine their role in being a neutral means of transmitting information to ordinary people.

But that's not true any more: media has expanded exponentially, reporters are no longer the lone ferryman carrying news across the waters. Anyone with a smartphone has a direct line to the public sphere - and that has huge implications for the newsgathering role of journalists.

Read 8 tweets

Ash Sarkar

@AyoCaesar

1 Jun

I've never been sure where the line falls between what Piers Morgan really believes, and what he's just saying for attention. But it's instructive to look at how he behaved towards Lady Gaga back in 2016...

... spitting bile on Twitter when she first opened up about her PTSD, then turning contrite after she agreed to an interview with him (the interview ended up not happening). radiotimes.com/tv/documentari…

The only way I can make sense of this pattern of behaviour is that Piers himself doesn't want to be a total outsider, railing at woke celeb culture from the other side of the bubble. The flipside of the aggression is a latent promise to play nice *if* you grant him access.

Read 4 tweets

Ash Sarkar

@AyoCaesar

31 May

Norms around mental health are changing, beyond the platitudes of "it's ok not to be ok".

There's a generation of people in the public eye are making it clear that misery shouldn't be the price they pay for fame or success - and the old media guard can't stand it.

It's just quite interesting to see mental health get pulled through a culture war framing - it's presented as simultaneously weak and ruthlessly exploitative, virtue signalling through trauma.

I think something is changing in culture, that vulnerability can be seen as asserting a form of moral authority - and sure, occasionally that'll be wielded cynically. But the antiwoke, antisnowflake backlash is infinitely more hysterical than those they purport to disdain.

Read 4 tweets

Ash Sarkar

@AyoCaesar

29 Mar

https://twitter.com/FreeNorthNow/status/1376263091915218951

Look, I might be an obnoxious Londoner, but I think the Northern Independence Party presents some real challenges for Labour. There's been a lot of talk about the impact of 'splitting the vote', but I think there's more to it than that...

https://twitter.com/FreeNorthNow/status/1376263091915218951

The gamble made by Starmer is that alienating his party's left will be at least cost neutral.

The assumption is that they have no pull with, or indeed actively put off, the bit of the electorate the leadership is focused on winning back (older voters in the North/Midlands).

The present Labour leadership have been pursuing a 'persuade' rather than 'mobilise' model. Again, there's an embedded assumption that the electorate doesn't really like politics that much, and an engaged membership is actually detrimental to winning people over.

Read 10 tweets

Ash Sarkar

@AyoCaesar

27 Mar

After this week's events in Bristol, journalists have some serious questions to grapple with.

Our work was the primary means through which debunked police claims about broken bones and serious injury were amplified.

The correction, despite the best efforts of some in the media to make noise about it, was nowhere near as loud as the falsehood.

This isn't the first time this has happened.

From Hillsborough to Ian Tomlinson, Jean Charles de Menezes 'jumping the barrier' to false claims of a shootout when Mark Duggan was killed, there's a pattern of police feeding journalists misleading information when they're facing criticism for operational decisions.

Read 9 tweets

Share this page!

Ash Sarkar

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

More from @AyoCaesar

Ash Sarkar

Ash Sarkar

Ash Sarkar

Ash Sarkar

Ash Sarkar

Ash Sarkar

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Like this author's thread?