Thread by @docrussjackson

#THREAD

On 16thth April, news broke that a park named after William Gladstone could be rebranded “Diane Abbott Park” by a @UKLabour council, “as part of a slavery review.”

This thread is about truth, the culture war, the UK's broken news media, & the amplification of hate.

On 16th April, Boris Johnson's former employer, the non-dom billionaire-owned Telegraph, along with the non-dom billionaire-owned Daily Mail, broke the story.

Both claimed Gladstone Park could be renamed 'Diane Abbott Park' by a Labour Council "as part of their slavery review".

Both newspapers describe school pupils "as young as 5" "were briefed on the killing of George Floyd & 'systematic racism.'"

Brent Council's Tory representatives predictably "slammed the attempts to rewrite history", & described it "as an attempt at 'indoctrination'."

Cllr Michael Maurice told the Telegraph: "We seem to be living in a society where the innocence of children is being slowly taken away. This seems just one more bite at it. This is yet another example of left-wing infiltration into our everyday lives."

The Tory councillor said: "To my mind this could be considered at best political indoctrination & at worst brainwashing. History must never be re-written, what happened in the past should be used to understand what and why it happened and to make sure it doesn’t happen again."

Both newspapers said that while "Early in his political career" William Gladstone defended plantation owners & spoke out against the abolition of slavery in a speech in Parliament, later he "became more critical of slavery" & "was also responsible for major progressive reforms".

Gladstone's dad, John Gladstone, owned more than 2,500 slaves. Following the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, William Gladstone pushed for slave owners, such as his father, to be 'compensated' - his dad receiving around £10million in today's money.

William Gladstone's "ultra-conservative" views, hatred of #socialism & admiration of "free" trade & low taxation makes him a hero of Britain's ideologically extreme free-market Right, & so any perceived attack on him is interpreted as an attack on conservative ideology.

Architect of neoliberalism Friedrich Hayek was a huge fan of Gladstone, & Thatcherite Conservatives claimed association with Gladstone & his economic policies.

Nigel Lawson, one of Thatcher's Chancellors, called Gladstone the "greatest Chancellor of all time".

"We have a duty to make sure that every penny piece we raise in taxation is spent wisely & well. For it is our party which is dedicated to good housekeeping. I would not mind betting that if Mr. Gladstone were alive today he would apply to join the Conservative Party" - Thatcher.

Unsurprisingly, the story went viral both on & offline, with tens of thousands of hateful tweets & other social media posts amplifying the story, almost all denouncing the 'madness' of the 'woke terrorist lefties' for 'brainwashing our children' with 'Marxist ideology'.

If you Google "Diane Abbott" & "park", you get 122,000 hits - within 'Google News' alone there are currently 22,000 hits.

On the 17th April, the story was picked up & amplified by other news outlets including the Express, Sun, Evening Standard, LBC - & inevitably, GB "News".

Initially, GB "News" pretty much copied & pasted the original story from the Mail & Telegraph, using the same quotes from the same Tory councillor about "the innocence of children" being "taken away" & how the proposal was "at best indoctrination & at worst brainwashing.”

On April 18th, divisive culture war GB "News" presenter, Nana Akua, used her platform to demonise Diane Abbott & state "the true facts about the Slave Trade, which at the time was legal & involved black slave owners", & amplify the lie that "the UK were the first to abolish it."

In October last year, Nana Akua was roundly condemned from politicians & viewers across the political spectrum & branded ‘vile’ for saying migrants on boats shouldn’t be rescued by Border Force on the divisive 'outrage porn' #JeremyVine show.

metro.co.uk/2021/10/15/jer…

Also on the 18th April, yet another divisive culture war GB "News" presenter - Mercy Muroki - used her slot to go on an unhinged rant about "using children as puppets to achieve those blatantly political, ideological ends... that's utterly shameless."

Muroki has form.

Mercy Muroki was the youngest of the researchers appointed to the Govt's controversial Commission on Race & Ethnic Disparities, which denied structural #racism, & she was central to claims that GB "News" had prejudiced the trial of the #Colston4.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1479431811273052168?s=20&t=astTyj0gpgFu891vM71Y7A

And then on the 19th April, GB "News" ran yet another story in their typically calm, nuanced, & measured way, this time featuring Ann Widdecombe, who labelled the park plans "peak madness" & accused the @UKLabour council of "Stalinism".

On April 21st, it was quietly revealed by local newspaper the 'Brent & Kilburn Times' that there were in fact no plans to change the name of the Park, which was of course completely ignored by the entire national print & broadcast news media.

kilburntimes.co.uk/news/local-cou…

There is a wealth of evidence demonstrating that news stories using divisive culture war rhetoric provoke outrage & produce the demonisation of Others, which are the most shared posts on social media, & thus drive the most clicks, & thus ad revenue & data harvesting/resale.

I've written elsewhere about the culture war; about the discursive demonisation of Others; about the importance of how the framing of issues guides political debate; & about the UK Govt's & national news media's embrace of Steve Bannon's strategy of 'flooding the zone with shit'.

Here's the punchline to this story: Brent council confirmed that they had "absolutely no plans to rename Gladstone Park".

The name suggestions had come in as part of a local schools history project 18 months earlier, when the council was trying to get the views of local people.

The council had asked school children to "envisage potential new names" if the park's name were to change.

Just *ONE* child suggested Diane Abbott, the name being sent to the council with all the others. Back in February, the council had dismissed the idea of renaming the park.

After the erroneous story appeared across the news media, Brent council contacted journalists asking them to print the council's statement to the effect that a name change was not on the cards.

Despite all the abuse Diane Abbott received, The Telegraph & others flat refused to.