Friday, March 13, 2009

'Chavs' and the psychology of 'Our Boys'


The right wing tabloids behave exactly like the same people they mock. "He's my son and he didn't kill nobody" sounds exactly like "whatever you make of Iraq, these are 'Our Boys'" .

The Sun likes to sneer at "council estate parents" who stick up for their kids even after they've been convicted of heinous crimes. Nothing can get those mums and dads to disown or condemn their criminal children, not even in the face of evidence. Whether it's manslaughter, drug dealing, murder or setting fire to a bin, "he's my son and he could never have done such a thing", and cue the reports of the offenders' families laughing in court or pulling faces at the victims' relatives.

But if you just look at it, the Sun and the Daily Mail perpetrate this sub-human pattern in a much grander scale. The way they lashed out at the anti-Iraq war protesters in Luton (who accused British soldiers of brutality as well as of illegally invading another country) was textbook.

Whatever your views on the Iraq war, the Sun writes, these are 'Our Boys' and we should stand by them as "they're 20-year-old lads trying to do their job regardless of politics". Read that back to yourself: regardless of politics.

This way, the Sun and its readers, with their eyes fogged by pairs of tits, pictures of Amy Winehouse wasted and stories of dogs mauling little girls can easily avoid questions that don't sit easily within the grey stuff. Do 'Our Boys' illegally invade a sovereign country on behalf of a calculating and deceiving politician? It doesn't matter, they're 'Our Boys'.

Do they get involved in dozens, maybe hundreds, of unlawful episodes of torture and brutal beatings of innocent people? 'Course nobody likes that, but still it's 'Our Boys' who did it and they're "serving our country with distinction and courage".

Do they kill tens of thousands of people as part of 'their job'? How dare you slag off 'Our Boys'.

So what will it take for the Sun & co. to stop supporting 'Our Boys' as if they were a group of religious nutters? How many episodes of torture? How many Abu Ghraibs? How many dead? If a million doesn't stop their blind support for 'Our Boys', will two million do?

And as far as the lame claim that "soldiers aren't to blame" because "they're not policy makers" and those who declare wars instead are "the politicians", well, the Sun may like to learn that conscription in Britain ended in 1963.

If you join the Army these days you ain't doing so because you want to help old ladies cross the street or because they force you like the Americans during the Vietnam war. You know full well that you've got to obey orders no matter what they are, including sooner or later wars and carpet bombing based on doctored evidence.

3 comments:

Madam Miaow said...

They've lost the argument over the Iraq war, the government won't reveal how they concocted their lies in the Cabinet.

Base sentimentality is all they're left with, the last resort of the scoundrel. Which is a polite term for lying homicidal bastards who should be in court.

Selma said...

Right on! I put a comment on the sun discussion forum supporting the rights of these protesters, probably caused a few Sun readers to foam at the mouth. Job done!

Stan Moss said...

The Sun's tone on this is turning more and more vicious by the minute. It's quite clear the Sun are picking up on the Luton events to kickstart one of their usual maniacal media storm (like the Baby P one, for instance)

As they keep calling those demonstrators Muslim extremists, have you noticed how they're particularly eager to press on the religious side of things?

Also, another example of the Sun's own viciousness. Today they basically forced that guy who's a baggage handler at luton airport to lose his job.

What a shit paper and shame on those who still read it.