Having just read this article in the Press Gazette it struck me immediately that unfortunately an MP I have had some time for just doesn’t get it. Owned by a billionaire narcissist and pretty much a poodle to his profit generating corporate interests The Sun and The Sunday Sun are the country’s biggest selling newspapers. (What this says about the UK is of course a vital conversation but for another day). Ms Champion went to The Sun and gave them an article in which she highlighted Pakistani men as a problem in relation to sexual abuse.
Now I am not saying that we should not be able to discuss the cultural associations with abuse or any other issue. What I am saying is that The Sun (remember phone hacking and Hillsborough and a 1001 other sordid biased stories) saw her coming and she obliged. Imagine if she had claimed that rich media tycoons had a propensity to abuse children. Would they have been so welcoming? Would the narrative have been constructed in the same way? I suspect not. ‘Deluded Corbynite Alleges Sex Crimes By Respectable Figures’ more likely. But Pakistani men? Bring it on. Anything to savage a minority either explicitly or via innuendo.
I do understand her concerns that the whole population should be involved but social media is doing a wonderful job on that front. Even if it was just about numbers The Sun’s readership is tumbling and those who do read it don’t get a diet of detailed analysis. They get a much more restricted language code that plays on the emotions not the intellect. (And they are not alone).
The Sun and others, its readers should be reminded, are there for a purpose. To divide us. Keep us manageable. Not to enlighten or liberate us. For that reason Jeremy Corbyn is right. Don’t touch The Sun. If an MP wants to get their message out then put it in a blog (that enables comments) and post it via social media.
I would be interested in your perspectives.
Douglas James
