Though Cowards Flinch

One of the advantages to having a blog, or being a political pundit, or writing an op-ed pieces in a newspaper is that one can pontificate on whatever subject one desires. Those who read my blog will know that there is a regular staple of subjects which are likely to get me fired up: religion, philosophical currents in history and politics, the reflection and relevance which the literary arts often have for real life.

On the other hand, there has to be a line somewhere between simply talking a good show and being active for the benefit of society. This is where I think the vast majority of the media completely loses relevance and interest. It fails to draw such a line and drops into the abyss beyond, the land of Paris Hilton and celebrity gossip columns, of shallow condescension at the misfits produced by contradictory elements in our society.

Almost worse than all this as a symptom of the descent into tabloid gossip mongering is the use of supposed experts to give their opinion on matters so utterly trifling as to be unworthy of comment in the first place. This fortnights Private Eye contained the example of Dr Raj Persaud, made notorious for his plagiarism, commenting back in the Nineties on the tendency of men with beautiful girlfriends to seek out ugly prostitutes.

I should forgive any reader if they thought that by that stage, journalism had reached the abyssal plain – and indeed its what we expect from the Daily Express (in which these speculations were originally contained I think). Yet surpassing even this is the recent and multi-article commentary by the BBC on the likeness between Gordon Brown and the character Heathcliffe from Bronte’s Wuthering Heights.

Not only has Brown’s admission, in a New Statesman interview, that he doesn’t mind the comparison received several articles of comment, the BBC has wheeled out a psychologist from Westminster Business School to make some glib comments about what the whole thing really means deep down in the head of the Prime Minister. And what would my own commentary be without a quote to illuminate this execrable practice:

“It seems as if he is floundering and is grabbing onto a strong, granite-jawed character that someone’s suggested to him…People like to identify themselves with a character when they lack a sense of their core identity. This is happening more and more as we give too much away about ourselves and try too hard to please others.”

I would be the first to admit that I’m not a psychologist, but this sounds like so much waffle. This woman who has not been spending long periods talking to the Prime Minister is basing what seems to be a fairly damaging judgment of the Brown psyche on a flippant comment made to a Labour-affiliated political magazine. The loss of perspective evident in whatever BBC flunky made the decision to include this is shocking.

Most of us, I suspect, at one time or another enjoy likening ourselves to our political heroes, or the characters in our favourite books – not from a loss of core identity but rather because of whatever affinities we share with them that made them our favourite in the first place. For me, reading Deutscher’s biographies of Trotsky, I’ve always flattered myself that I share something of the great man’s character and principles.

Certainly I’d like to think that despite overwhelming opposition, I’d cling to the principles I currently hold rather than abandon them for position or influence. Whether or not any of that is true is unknowable for a variety of reasons, but I would hope it doesn’t reflect an uncertainty about my ‘inner core.’ That psychologist seems to be conflating news of Brown’s depression with the perfect storm in his political fortunes with this one comment.

Such commentary is fine for a rather insipid dinner party amongst wealthy professionals in London but hardly for the country’s flagship news service. It’s even more pointless than the American networks getting retired Generals onto their payroll so that come a major battle or war they can be wheeled out to speculate on matters that anyone with a decent brain could work out for themselves.

I’m tired of this intellectually toned-down media. Setting aside academic matters for a moment, this country is full of normal people who have a brain, though it’s not often they get treated like they do. Sure, half of them are in a stupor induced by the soporific nature of ‘entertainment’ or news or any of the other narcotics with which we drug ourselves but a wake up call doesn’t have to be an economic recession.

It could simply be the reports of a News at Ten anchor who might report the news plus a few concise, trenchant observations rather than all the graphical gimmickry they indulge in. I feel like the modern equivalent of a Luddite sometimes: down with TV, smash the digital networks, away with 24-hour rolling news. Maybe in the peace and quiet that resulted we might actually be able to concentrate on what matters.