The v-word
And now there’s this:
Kinder, gentler politics. pic.twitter.com/rb6wqMsuoi
— Lewis Parker (@LewisParkerUK) June 27, 2016
In the photo: two smiling bright and shiny young people pointing to someone wearing a Tshirt with the slogan
ERADICATE THE RIGHT WING BLAIRITE VERMIN
When was Jo Cox murdered? Ten days ago.
Who thought this was a good idea?
This is one of the dangers when politics get this fraught: EVERYBODY sinks to the lower levels.
Some people have to take the low road so that others who would make better use of the high road may continue to do so. That said I have no idea who we’re actually eradicating here…
In case anyone is as unclear as I was on the intent of the photo: from what I’ve gathered, the t-shirt and its wearer are sincere, while the two young people are being sarcastic.
This looks like a “shoe on the other foot” type thing intended to make right-wingers rethink their often over-the-top rhetoric, by putting them on the receiving end, as one is tempted to do, but perhaps I am too optimistic.
Mmm right-wing Blairite isn’t the same right wing as the one that shouts at people in Tesco. It’s the right wing of the Labour party, like the New Democrats here – Clinton as opposed to Sanders or Gore as opposed to Nader.
For context, the photo was taken at a “Keep Corbyn” rally. “Right wing Blairites” refers to the people in Labour (such as the guy on the left in the photo) who want Corbyn out. Definitely not a jab at right-wing xenophobes, but at centrists within Labour.
#4
I’m inclined to think that rhetoric is rhetoric, whether meant seriously or ironically.
Ophelia – You draw an unwarranted connection between this elderly Labour supporter and the murder of Jo Cox.
In the raw and recent context of that assassination the term “exterminate” is certainly emotive, though political murders in the UK have been mercifully few. The reference to exterminating vermin is quite likely a play on the famous quote from Nye Bevan in a speech given on 3rd July 1948 just before the creation of the NHS – usually rendered as :
“No amount of cajolery can eradicate from my heart a deep and burning hatred for the Tory party. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin”.
Many Labour supporters see Blairites as Tories in drag and blame them bitterly for ruining the party as a vehicle for genuine change – a scenario common to the left political spectrum of most Western countries.
If one vicious and uninformed stereotype deserves another then what I see is two healthy young adults, well dressed, well fed and patronising, taking pleasure in mocking an old person of apparently lower status than their good selves who does not appear to realise they are doing so. Perhaps they have benefited greatly from swanning around the EU with their jobs and holidays while millions of their fellows languish on zero hours contracts, unemployed, broke, shabby, struggling, poorly housed and (oh yes) utterly contemptible. Not so much EU freedom of movement for those.
The same snide arrogance “informs” progressive thought in Australia and sets me to biting.
Re Brexit – These links with commentary offer various analyses of the *factors* behind the vote, be it right or wrong. Bill Mitchell is essential reading as he espouses practical economic theory that supports public expenditure for the public good (vs “where is the money to come from?”). There really is more to it than ritualistic invocations of racism or violence against the Leave voters.
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=33894 (Bill Mitchell – many interesting links within, esp regarding the history of the left and the EEC).
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/commentisfree/2016/jun/24/divided-britain-brexit-money-class-inequality-westminster
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/26/irrational-unhinged-gullible-many-who-want-britain-out-of-europe-deserve-listened
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/06/mathew-d-rose-brexit-land-of-hope-and-glory.html
We are soon to have a federal election here. Everything decent in this country is being destroyed by neo-liberalism like a raging bushfire. Say secular prayers for us that we make the least worst choice this Saturday.
Regards, Ann (Southern Cross)
Streisand Effect. There’ll be 20,000 of these on the streets of London by the end of the week.
While the bloke in the red shirt looks like a long-lost relative of Jimmy Savile, I’d still bet that he’d make better company than the two smug urban hipsters pointing at him.
Ann – you entirely failed to explain how my mention of the murder of Jo Cox was “unwarranted.” You also entirely failed to explain how the Nye Bevan citation makes any difference to anything – if he said that then it was a revolting and reckless thing to say, especially only 3 years after the Nazis lost the battle.
We don’t know that the two young adults are mocking the guy in the shirt as opposed to agreeing with him. I have no clue which they’re doing, and don’t really care; it’s the shirt that interests me. Being poor or working class or both does not make it ok to demand the eradication of human beings as “vermin.”
Actually the two young people’s identities might be important. The woman is an employee of a Blairite think tank and the man is a PR person or ‘social media guru’ working for them. There is a possibility that this is a PR stunt on behalf of the Labour right, though the person in the t-shirt needs to be found to confirm/disprove it
Southern Cross, sincere thanks for the context.
(Still miserable word choice.)
Not hate speech? well well.
Here is the full Bevan quote. It would be very familiar to keen Labour people.
“That is why no amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party that inflicted those bitter experiences on me. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin. They condemned millions of first-class people to semi-starvation. Now the Tories are pouring out money in propaganda of all sorts and are hoping by this organised sustained mass suggestion to eradicate from our minds all memory of what we went through. But, I warn you young men and women, do not listen to what they are saying now. Do not listen to the seductions of Lord Woolton. He is a very good salesman. If you are selling shoddy stuff you have to be a good salesman. But I warn you they have not changed, or if they have they are slightly worse than they were”.
“Revolting and reckless?”. I suggest that the reference would be fully understood in the UK in context and would not be taken as an incitement to kill. It also remains very relevant, though as indicated in my previous post there is no longer a viable socialist (broadly speaking) alternative to turn to.
Nell – if the photo is a staged stunt by Blairites then the composition would be *very* telling re their attitudes! Doubt it though – can’t see anyone concocting a fake t-shirt just for the occasion.
Ophelia – As for Nazis, this is pertinent but not in the way you suggest. The UK is conducting a real life slow-motion eradication of “vermin” by housing and benefits cuts, and unspeakable treatment of the disabled and sick. All well documented by the Guardian’s Polly Toynbee. The Establishment lies and lies, then one fine day – something gives, like Brexit in defiance of all mainstream punditry. Not the full story, but a very important and neglected component.
Southern Cross
Southern Cross / Ann
(Which is it? You’ve signed yourself as both now, so I have no idea what you want to be called.)
I still don’t see why I should believe your claim that something Nye Bevan said nearly 70 years ago is informing how people see that T shirt today. Do you seriously think most people draw on the late 40s for their political rhetoric and thinking? They certainly don’t lean on Harry Truman or Thomas Dewey over here, and I don’t think you have a different species over there.
And you still haven’t said how my mention of the murder of Jo Cox was “unwarranted.” I don’t think it was at all, so I’d like to know why you think so.
I guess you go by Southern Cross. You hadn’t commented here before today, but I just looked at the FTB comments and you did comment several times there, good comments. (And you signed yourself Southern Cross or SC.) I apologize for the grumpy note in my comment above.
It looks like a setup to me because:
A) The T-shirt looks like a one-off. I can’t imagine anyone producing a run of them for sale and expecting to break even.
B) Who is more likely to be able to afford to get it printed or, indeed, know how and where to get it printed, the guy in the centre or the other two?
C) The T-shirt is the wrong size — see how it bunches up. Ask yourself if you would get a T-shirt specially printed and choose one that was too small?
D) It looks curiously unworn. I was not in the centre of London on Monday but it rained on and off up here, sometimes quite heavily, but even if it did not, it does not look like one that has been worn by someone walking about on a demonstration.
E) What are the chances of the other two randomly coming across this guy at a demonstration that they were not part of, or randomly coming across him walking down the street, together with a professional photographer? — The picture does look professional.
F) The guy in the centre is clueless about what is going on, which is strange for someone of that age in a political protest.
G) In any case, even if he had printed the shirt himself the other two are exploiting a naïve person, who is obviously not a typical Corbyn supporter, for political gain. This in itself is an odious thing to do in the current circumstances, as is the way the picture is posed, which suggests the whole thing is some sort of joke.
H) Setting up the ‘news’ is something politicians do all the time. One of the guys in the photo does it for a living.
Could someone possibly have been offered a free T-shirt in exchange for his photo being taken? I have been asked before if I would mind having my photo taken holding someone’s banner. At demonstrations you tend to get a feeling of comradeship. It is easy to feel that everyone is on your side and to be less critical of what they suggest than normal. If this were not so then there would be no such thing as an agent provocateur.
As an aside, it is a curious thing but the woman on the right looks incredibly familiar, but I can’t think where I have seen her before.
Hmmm, well she does look a bit like my ex to be honest. Except she is the wrong nationality, a bit tall and at least 30 years too young, so scrub that.. Then again – Time Travel!
@ ^
Her identity is known.
@ ^
That sounded vaguely sinister didn’t it. We know who you are. I didn’t mean it that way. I meant the identity of the woman in the photo is not a mystery.
The person in the centre looks remarkably like Michael Horovitz, well known and well loved left wing poet, who most certainly wouldn’t allow himself to be patronised by anyone. Nor would any young Labour supporters dream of doing so. They’d be proud to be alongside him. I think this is a picture of unity, not mockery. As for the language – well, nothing new there I’m afraid. It’s often even more extreme. (Needless to say, I don’t hold with it personally as I don’t believe that people who disagree with me are vermin. And anyway, I’m not a Corbynite.) Useless to argue that it’s meant metaphorically. I don’t think these guys are actually suggesting killing anyone, just eradicating them from their ranks. (Don’t know what he’s done with his teeth, though – he usually wears them.) Here’s a link to a story about the alleged Blairite plot. Whether it’s evidence of a plot or just a degree of paranoia I will leave to others to decide. http://www.thecanary.co/2016/06/28/truth-behind-labour-coup-really-began-manufactured-exclusive/
According to image error level analysis, that photo has been digitally altered. Guess which part?
http://robertlewis.com/blog/eradicate-right-wing-vermin-t-shirt-photoshopped-by-right-wing/
PS The young bucks on the left and right are Labour Blairites. Craig Murray has the scoop.
Looks like I was wrong about the T-shirt wearer’s ID, or someone would have picked up on it by now. I apologise. Please feel free to delete the comment.
Ophelia – I recognised the quote (or the play on it) immediately- though from seventy years ago, and this in another country! I think you chose a bad example of “hate speech” with this when it has a long provenance (as I did provide). Nye Bevan is hardly “revolting and reckless” and I think he would have known more about Nazism than the lot of us put together. The full quote gives a background to his remarks. So I think you are drawing a long bow when you equate a t-shirt with a commonly understood abbreviation of his remarks with a recent political murder. Two unrelated events. Not sure what else I can add.
The USA is not the world. There is a vivid political culture in the UK and elsewhere, and – who would have thought – quotes from the olden times are still circulated and understood. Due to the breakdown of cultural transmission it may well be that young people are less well informed, but the two in the picture (as indicated) seemed to know quite well what they were pointing at.
No need to address me by any designation. I won’t be engaging with you again.
Southern Cross
As for the Nye Bevan quote, yes, it is widely known over here. See eg Guardian Reader Offers: https://entertainment.guardianoffers.co.uk/i-dd-rm001189-xaa/nye-bevan-vermin-quote/
Really. Saying that people shouldn’t use rhetoric about eradicating vermin, and linking that kind of rhetoric to the very recent murder of an MP by someone who appears to have been motivated by nationalist hatred – that’s somehow reprehensible?
Why, exactly? Just saying Nye Bevan said it in 1948 isn’t an answer. Just saying Nye Bevan knew more about Nazism isn’t an answer. (It’s also far from necessarily true, given the amount of scholarship on the subject that has accumulated since 1948.)
As for “The USA is not the world” – well that’s fair enough, I do focus exclusively on the US and ignore the rest of the world. I’ll try to do better.
@Robert Lewis:
Thanks for that link. So the words were ‘shopped onto her shirt by Blairites?
How interesting.
Robert Lewis #23:
Could you give us some more details on “image error level analysis” please?
According to Robert Lewis they were. It’s not clear to me why we should take his word for it.
And it’s still not clear to me why it’s wrong (or “drawing a long bow,” whatever the fuck that may mean) to say that people shouldn’t talk about eradicating vermin when they talk about their political enemies (or any other category of humans).
^ assuming you were serious about the ‘drawing a long bow’ comment, that means to exaggerate or reach outlandish conclusions. The equivalent of a fisherman’s tale, but derived from archery “I shot out his eye through his helm at 400 paces” or “this piece of Yew is so stiff that the longbow we can make from it will ensure the French are defeated”.
[…] to the word “vermin” in party rhetoric? You see why I do not give a flying fuck that Nye Bevan said it in 1948? Or rather that I do give a flying fuck, and think he was wrong to do so, and that no one should […]