Now don't get me wrong, I'm as happy as
the next person to see the Daily 'Hate' Mail/Fail/Heil (well,
possibly not rampant homophobes or Alan Partridge, but you know what
I mean) have its reputation dragged ever so slightly through the mud,
in the manner it has been over the past few weeks. However, the
discourse surrounding Milla-gate (as it most definitely hasn't become
known, much to my disappointment) has focused on entirely the wrong
issues.
Granted, whilst it is certainly not on
to make spurious claims about those who aren't able to defend
themselves (and perhaps more importantly, sheer hypocrisy for a
newspaper which devotes the majority of its time to preaching hatred
towards the majority of the population, to accuse anyone of a lack of
patriotism) the most important question here is, what's wrong with
hating Britain?
Let me clarify. I am a British citizen,
and extremely grateful to have been born as such. However, there is a
hell of a lot to dislike about this paranoid, hysterical and
isolationist island, not least the fact that the Mail enjoys the
second widest circulation of all national newspapers. It seems clear
to me that whilst there are many things to cherish about Britain,
there is too much that needs improving for it not to be at best, a
love-hate relationship.
Indeed, unconditional love of one's
country is a dangerous thing. It can lead to rampant nationalism,
war, xenophobia and dictatorship. It leads to a lack of criticism of
the state, and a lack of accountability.
The other important issue to highlight
from the whole debacle is that although individuals and institutions
on both ends of the political spectrum have been quick to condemn the
Mail's comments, this criticism has been framed within the context of
not speaking ill of the dead, or that Millaband Senior's teenage
ideologies have been unfairly extrapolated into his enduring
world-view. All of which leads us to another question, what's wrong
with being a Marxist?
The majority of commentators have
explained away Ralph's apparent political stance as naïve youthful
revolutionary sentiment, but the fact is that this radical young man
developed into a no less radical adult, becoming one of Britain’s
great Marxist thinkers, and a committed Socialist.
The ultimate questions we need to ask
ourselves as a result of the this ongoing saga is, why are there not
more people like Ralph Millaband in Britain today? How have Marxism
and Socialism become dirty words, despite the fact that their
fundamental principles are based on equality and fairness, two
concepts which are as close to being objectively positive as it is
possible to be? How have we found ourselves in a situation where the
three main parties offer no alternative, and the Green Party (the
only realistic option for the left-wing) is marginalised by
mainstream media at the expense of UKIP, a reactionary bunch of
misfits who campaign on a platform of increased isolationism, and
ultra-nationalism?
These are questions that need to be
answered, but suffice it to say here that part of the solution lies
in increasing awareness about what Socialism really means, and
working together to debunk the myths surrounding it, many of which
have been intensified by the rhetoric resulting from Paul Dacre's
recent editorial decisions.
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