Why we need that respect pledge
Further to my last post, the best example this weekend of the sort of comment about people who have different views that we need to get away from came not from a political activist but from a journalist.
Specifically, James Moore, business editor of the Independent who began an article yesterday by celebrating the deaths of voters he disagrees with and regretting that they are not dying off as fast as he would wish.
You think I'm exaggerating? The first words of this article are as follows:
"It’s often pointed out that the Conservatives’ ageing Brexiteer membership is dying off, and the bile and bigotry that it has sown around the country will soon be with us no longer.
Quite a relief, especially for those of us on the receiving end.
The sting in the tail is that we’ll have to wait a while."
If I was the sort of person, depressingly common these days, who think they have the right not to be offended I would have been highly tempted to report The Independent to IPSO for publishing such an offensive article.
(As I believe that a free press is more important than anyone's "right" not to be offended, I didn't.)
The logic of James Moore's article has more holes than a swiss cheese - for example, he complains about Brexit supporters living too long because they are supposedly more likely to be "rich men," (who live longer than poor ones,) which is actually the reverse of the evidence we have about the economic profile of remain and leave voters.
But that isn't actually the main point, which is that writing about people you disagree with in that sort of language really isn't how to persuade people in any sort of democracy or build a functioning national spirit.
And if the Independent keeps publishing things like that, perhaps they should consider changing their name to "The Sectarian Leftie."
Specifically, James Moore, business editor of the Independent who began an article yesterday by celebrating the deaths of voters he disagrees with and regretting that they are not dying off as fast as he would wish.
You think I'm exaggerating? The first words of this article are as follows:
"It’s often pointed out that the Conservatives’ ageing Brexiteer membership is dying off, and the bile and bigotry that it has sown around the country will soon be with us no longer.
Quite a relief, especially for those of us on the receiving end.
The sting in the tail is that we’ll have to wait a while."
If I was the sort of person, depressingly common these days, who think they have the right not to be offended I would have been highly tempted to report The Independent to IPSO for publishing such an offensive article.
(As I believe that a free press is more important than anyone's "right" not to be offended, I didn't.)
The logic of James Moore's article has more holes than a swiss cheese - for example, he complains about Brexit supporters living too long because they are supposedly more likely to be "rich men," (who live longer than poor ones,) which is actually the reverse of the evidence we have about the economic profile of remain and leave voters.
But that isn't actually the main point, which is that writing about people you disagree with in that sort of language really isn't how to persuade people in any sort of democracy or build a functioning national spirit.
And if the Independent keeps publishing things like that, perhaps they should consider changing their name to "The Sectarian Leftie."
Comments