Corbyn and the Media

A recent YouGov poll in the UK says that a majority of the public believes that the Media is biased in its treatment of the AntiChrist…er…Jeremy Corbyn.

Well…duuuuuuuuuuuhhh!


In the US, the Media is just as clearly biased .  In fact,  they have not one but two targets as the Personification of Evil -- Donald Trump and  Vladimir Putin.  


However, while the  average American “liberal” or "educated conservative"  say they do not  really trust the media,   he (she)  tends to accept the bias of the media narrative where it matches their own.   No, education and social status do not correlated with any capacity for critical thinking. 
  
Now, Jeremy Corbyn is a mild mannered older person who rides a bicycle, talks like an ordinary guy (i.e. not a politician)  and is unfailing polite.   His proposals to change the UK are pretty much commonsense – radical only in the sense that they offer change and imply --quelle horreur-- higher taxes for the well-off.  No, he doesn’t look like Satan. No horns or tail anyway.  So the media's story is so far off as to be acceptable only to fantasy writers like JK Rowling.


Trump, of course, is bombastic and provocative – and the hair?   The Donald thumbs his nose at liberal convention. He is an attention-getter and he doesn’t care if the Media hates him.   His mere existence is a finger up the ass of all that Liberals – and a lot of conservatives, too – hold dear.  He is crude and rude by design – and therefore easy to demonize.  The hair sums it up.


Putin?    Why is he Evil?  
Simple. He’s Russian.  

‘Nuff said.

You will notice that while Trump is often referred to as a buffoon or nutcase, this is not the case with Vlad'.   Trump is still one of ours.  So barring outright treason, we must think of excuses for his behavior. 

Putin?  Just black, black bad. No offense to black lives matter.


Besides, in  the movies, the Bad Guys are Russians with Brit accents -- they do not have orange hair.


Russians are clearly Other, which is another way of saying Evil.


Are there any Russian Take-Outs?   Nah.  Mexican, yeah.  And you can order Italian and Chinese.  But Russian?  Russian take-out is kidnapping and murder.

 In the US, the closest thing we have to Jeremy Corbyn  is Jill Stein.  Stein is not demonized.   That is because, at less than 5% of the vote, she is not a threat, merely an annoyance who can be effectively merely dismissed as a kook.  Remember she is one of ours.  
Corbyn though….?


He was dismissed as a retrograde old nutter for years-- which, ironically, got him  into in the leadership race. Totally dismissable and ignorable.


"Nobody will vote for him", the neoliberal Labour honchos thought when they had the brilliant idea of running him for party leader.   Perfect to show off the “diversity” of views accepted in the Labour Party. 
 
But things were getting bad in the UK.  And now the PLP has buyer's remorse.


Labour supporters wanted change. And Corbyn was the only candidate offering that. At least -- the only one who seemed honest.  Corbyn is a  plain talker, authentic and the other candidates were promising same-old Thatcher-lite,  Blairism -- the stuff that had gotten Labour trounced in the last election, the usual platitudes and lies.

So Labour overwhelming voted Corbyn,    And the party now seems set to vote many of their Old Guard MPs out, as if the Chilcot Report actually mattered.


Either you are for change – or you aren’t.   That attitude scares the establishment.     First Brexit. Now Corbyn. 

Mostly people fear change.  Until shit hits the fan.  


With either Clinton or Trump in charge, things can only get worse.  With Clinton -- much worse.  

So, maybe there is hope for Jill Stein yet.

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