There's no surer way of looking foolish than making predictions, so I don't usually risk it. However, here's one I got right.
I wrote a piece about Spiked on 11 October 2010:-
The masses, working class and sturdy proles are useful bricks which Spiked always keep at hand to hurl at the dismissive liberals. I haven’t yet come across a piece about the liberal fear of and contempt for the EDL only shows how cut off they are from the English masses, but it must be out there somewhere.
for many liberal campaigners, this 90-second interview with one ‘thick EDL bastard’ represents the views and the intelligence of the EDL in general. Far from going on a march and speaking to EDL supporters about their views to understand them better, this one short internet clip is seen as enough to confirm all their smug prejudices: EDL members are badly dressed, incoherent, pissed-up yobs whose anger is more bestial than human.
This video does reflect the reactionary nature of the EDL outlook. Seemingly unable to make sense of the undoubted isolation and demonisation of the white working-class community and its traditions, EDL members blame outsiders – mostly Muslims – for making Britain feel more foreign. Yet instead of seeking to tease out what fuels this reactionary outlook amongst some sections of the disenfranchised white working classes, liberal anti-EDL campaigners have had a field day with it. It is nothing less than confirmation of their political and cosmopolitan superiority over the uneducated, provincial lower orders.
I missed putting a bet on that one.
H/t Mod for the pic. I find this demonstration of a “reactionary outlook amongst some sections of the disenfranchised white working classes” repellent. But then I’m a superior, cosmopolitan cow.
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