EDL threatens to ‘close towns’ which aren’t Christian enough. How very Christian
According to the Daily Star, those cuddly not-at-all-racists at the English Defence League are planning to 'close towns' which aren't Christian enough. How very Christian, you might think.
Mind you, this is the same Daily Star whose readers seem to comprise 98 per cent morons, if their own poll is to be believed.
[The EDL nut's] declaration comes after yesterday’s Daily Star poll found 98% of readers fear that Britain is becoming a Muslim state.
98 per cent. Ninety-eight per cent of Star readers fear that Britain is becoming a Muslim state. Now, it's easy to point to the publications of Richard Desmond - the Daily Express and Daily Star - and wonder why exactly that kind of fear might be occurring at such an alarming rate
But then again, you have to wonder. Are these publications merely reflecting their readers' views, or are they creating them? Or do they create a self-perpetuating confirmation bias in the readers? When it comes to things like online polls, are they too easily rigged?
One thing is for sure, though. The Star and Express don't take the EDL to task when it comes to perpetuating the same old "Christmas is banned" stories - because that would dismantle a whole cheery industry that pops up every year to give lazy hacks something to write about, with bonus anti-'them' points. Stories like this Christmas cracker from 2008:
CHRISTMAS and Easter have been scrubbed from a college’s calendars in case they offend non-Christians.
...
Last night Ms Kitching said pupils would still be celebrating Christmas. She insisted: “There has been no big plan to ban the word Christmas.”
CHRISTMAS IS BANNED (except it isn't, but shhhhhhhhh). With stories like that knocking about every time the leaves start to fall, it's no wonder that the good folk of the EDL really believe - and I'm pretty sure they really do believe - that the evil PC Brigade has indeed gone mad once again and will be BANNING CHRISTMAS for fear of upsetting THAT LOT.
Do you know, I almost feel sorry for the EDL types who hoover up that kind of crap from the likes of the Star and Express. They're looking for it, so they see it everywhere. And when they're not challenged, it creates a snowball effect, leading to stuff like this:
A FAR-RIGHT group has vowed to “close down” any town that ditches British traditions and shows favouritism to Muslims.
Well, that'll be none, then. Same as every year, ever. We all know about the Winterval myths that get recycled and embellished every year. But what if a misleading, deliberately skewed story misrepresented a town, and it suffered an 'invasion' from the EDL? Would that be all right? Would the people who wrote the rubbish walk off whistling, pleased with a good day's work?
*update* The EDL are, as you'd imagine, delighted with the coverage from the Daily Star. As one EDL blogger puts it (I won't link): "This is the first article I have read, from both the national and regional media, that hasn't been critical of the EDL." And also:
Perhaps we can expect more objective, or unbiased, articles on the EDL from the Daily Star. And if that becomes the case, I would advise EDL members to stop reading the Sun, the Mirror, the Daily Mail, etc. and start reading the Daily Star - after all, there are not many tabloids which are fair to the EDL.
Job done, Daily Star. Hold your heads high, you must be terrifically proud of yourselves. (Thanks to Press_Not_Sorry for the link)
Related posts:
Buy my book, it’s great
Switch site
Donate
Recent Posts
- Cheerio, cheerio, cheerio…
- Children died
- The letters you never get around to sending
- Applying again
- I just sent Robin round – 2
Most Commented On
Recent Comments
- Iain on Applying again
- Roger on The letters you never get around to sending
- Dave Hodgkinson on The letters you never get around to sending
- droid on The letters you never get around to sending
- Rogue_Leader on The letters you never get around to sending
About Me
Hello. I'm a Bristol-based writer and soon-to-be-redundant journalist. You can read more about me and the Enemies site here, or follow me on Twitter. Email me if you like - antonvowl at live dot co dot uk
If you're struggling to read the site please use the drop down box below to increase the text size.
October 26th, 2010 - 13:03
98%? Shit, that’s worse than I thought. No wonder I get so much shit from abusive right-wingers on Facebook.
October 26th, 2010 - 13:15
Well… 98% of people who responded anyway. Much as I hate to give The Star’s readership the benefit of the doubt, the only people who respond to surveys like this are the usual suspects who think that the sight of a brown person outside the job centre means the coming of the antichrist.
Also isn’t 98% statistically bullshit? 3% margin of error +/- after all, which would take it up to 101%..?
Anyway. The Express and the Star have long been recruitment tools for the far-right (no matter what Pornographer-in-Chief Dirty Des says), this is just another reinforcement of that.
Nail on the head once again Mr Vowl: time for you to launch your own counter-tabloid dead tree press.
October 26th, 2010 - 14:21
To take part in the Daily Star poll, you have to text your answer, costing 25p, something no sensible person would do.
I noticed their new poll is ‘Are the EDL right?’. FFS.
October 26th, 2010 - 15:07
I find it hard to believe that the typical EDL member, being so keen on defending Christian festivals, visits a Church more than once or twice a year. In fact if one claimed to have visited a Church other than for a “Chrisnin”,Wedding, Funeral, Carol Service, or because they stumbled in drunk at 2330 on Christmas eve, then I would have to show a suitable level of disbelief
October 26th, 2010 - 18:28
This story has been posted on Facebook by many of the EDL groups, I took one to task over it and they have pretty much admitted they know it is nonsense but I am still awaiting a reply as to why they posted it knowing it was utter bullshit: http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=128278393893918&id=158959947452691¬if_t=share_reply Obviously, I have a pretty clear idea why, but I’m still hoping they will attempt to give me an answer. I cannot engage the other EDL groups in debate on FB as they have all banned me for being an irritating, questioning, open minded human being (I’ll not use the words they usually call me as it’s not 9pm yet!)
October 27th, 2010 - 01:29
“I find it hard to believe that the typical EDL member, being so keen on defending Christian festivals, visits a Church more than once or twice a year.”
I get the distinct impression that, as far as the EDL are concerned, the word ‘Christian’ denotes ‘Not Paki Scum’, rather than anything so elevated as religious belief or a set of moral codes. I guess you could argue that it’s an interesting return to traditional forms of bigotry in England.
October 27th, 2010 - 07:50
Wouldn’t 49 out of 50 responses, give you that result?
October 27th, 2010 - 11:48
Haha. “Readers”.
That did make me chuckle.
October 27th, 2010 - 14:14
shit this is a scary thought!!
October 28th, 2010 - 15:43
Ninety-eight percent.
Ninety-eight percent?
That figure sounds familiar…oh, yeah now I remember. A few years ago the Sun – as part of their tiresome “Broken Britain” diatribes, and I might get back to that in a minute – ran a front page exclaiming that something like 98% (I think the actual figure was 97%, but the point is we’re talking supersupersuper majority here) of their readers wanted capital punishment brought back. I’m hazy on the exact details so if anyone remembers this case can elaborate, I’d be grateful, but these kind of statistics do seem extraordinary. I’ve never seen a YouGov poll, for example, return anywhere remotely near 98% for anything.