Friday, July 16, 2010

Hate Mail

It has often been said that if you put a question mark at the end of any Daily Mail headline the answer is invariably "No". Or that the only good woman in the paper is an unhappy one. Such knowing humour helps you to come to terms with the pernicious and poisonous influence this horrible newspaper has on British life.

Having been a reluctant Daily Mail reader as a kid, and then on the occasions I visit my Mother, a default feeling of shock and awe comes easily. Awe, because it is so resolute and so clear about what it is about - and very good at it. Shock, because it still has the capacity to surprise and stand up for good things. However, for every heartfelt report from a warzone by Anne Leslie, comes a lazy rant full of half truths by Richard Littlejohn and layer upon layer of prejudices being reinforced and easy targets being attacked.

It's fun to mock the Mail, it really is.

So, this map of the Mail's Moral Underground is good.

And I do like to look at Mailwatch and Tabloidwatch.

I know this makes me some kind of middle class liberal mocking the day to day concerns of middle England, but it makes me feel better.

The thing that worries me is the nasty intolerant streak that such humour (and the Jan Moir backlash) feeds. Read the Independent and the BBC and the Guardian message boards and see the flipside - an illberal secular pool of bullying and intolerance.

5 comments:

Dave Crossen said...

Nice one Mick - Here's another good one...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eBT6OSr1TI

Michael Taylor said...

.Brilliant. Cheers Davey

Simon Sinclair said...

Liked your Daily Mail piece very much.


You might enjoy this:


http://ravingadman.blogspot.com/2010/07/how-should-i-kill-employees-at-b-open.html

rogerrodeo said...

Excellent piece sir. One comment though - bit worried by your use of "secular" in the final sentence as if it's always a negative thing. Doesn't it just mean separation of state and religion and the associated fight to stop undue influence by religions on people who don't share their beliefs?

Michael Taylor said...

Well, I don't mean it as a negative per se. But I suppose there's a very intolerant streak in many of the keyboard warriors, especially regarding faith issues.