tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263577133333272085.post7799897046866905770..comments2024-03-28T11:04:16.315+00:00Comments on Boffy's Blog: Over Cooked KippersBoffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08157650969929097569noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263577133333272085.post-69870935554915520582014-05-24T20:52:44.412+01:002014-05-24T20:52:44.412+01:00David,
I think there is a sociological interest i...David,<br /><br />I think there is a sociological interest in UKIP, as I wrote about myself in the above. As I said, its not that they are based on nothing. But, in many ways its only the same sociological interest as the support for the BNP before them, certainly in relation to the working-class (though I suspect that lumpen-proletarian, as far as the vote is concerned,would be a more accurate description.<br /><br />But, its not any sociological or any other intellectual interest that the mass media has in them.<br /><br />I've also written a few comments on Paul Mason's blog taking issue with some of the arguments he makes. Firstly, he questions how much of the vote from working class areas is simply a protest. Workers in these areas he says don't lightly go out to vote when its about things that matter like Council Services. But, I've pointed out that firstly, one reason why local election turnouts are so poor is because nobody does see any point in voting in them any more because Councils have been deprived of control over everything local that matters. Many Council buildings are shelled now filled by people working for various quangos rather than the Council.<br /><br />Secondly, the people who do turn out to vote in such elections are then more frequently those with an axe to grind. Its why the BNP won seats in low turnouts and got smashed when local elections coincided with General Elections.<br /><br />Thirdly, the idea that the LP is now made up only of middle class professional politicians is a meme circulated by journalists usually based in London, who only come into contact with such people, and middle class revolutionaries with a sectarian outlook who also only ever come into contact with LP politicos rather than ordinary members.<br /><br />If you look at the ordinary members in the Branches rather than those involved at CLP and above level, then if my area is anything to go by, the Branches are still comprised of ordinary working-class people who live in working-class communities.<br /><br />The journalists and sectarians never meet them, because these ordinary members are not involved in what these "middle class" elements consider to be political activities. They are involved in the concerns of their neighbours, with the kind of issues that were described to me when I was a member of one of these sectarian organisations as "chicken-shit" issues, i.e. the issues about people who need repairs to their Council house carrying out, who are having problems with anti-social elements, with absentee landlords and so on.<br /><br /> Boffyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08157650969929097569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263577133333272085.post-49035101062696799362014-05-24T17:00:14.642+01:002014-05-24T17:00:14.642+01:00Boffy,
I think you're right about the media&#...Boffy,<br /><br />I think you're right about the media's appetite for controversy and "colour", and how this has led to the indulgence of Farage. <br /><br />It's also clear that the General Election will disproportionately feature both UKIP and the LibDems, The narratives have already been written: "breakthrough (or not)" and "total wipeout".<br /><br />However, I think there is a genuine sociological interest in UKIP, which I think Paul Mason summed up well <a href="http://blogs.channel4.com/paul-mason-blog/culture-war-crisis-mainstream-politics/831" rel="nofollow">here</a>, beyond the simple fascination with political incorrectness.<br /><br />UKIP are, before they've even won a Parliamentary seat, a party doomed to decline as their supporters die, but this very fact triggers a sort of morbid nostalgia on the part of a (younger, middle-class) media. <br /><br />It's related to the guilty sentimentalisation of a vanishing working class culture, hence the obsession with the idea that UKIP are attracting Labour support, even though the <a href="http://www.conservativehome.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/LORD-ASHCROFT-POLLS-Post-Euro-Election-Poll-Summary-May-2014.pdf" rel="nofollow">data</a> suggests they're attracting more ex-LibDems.David Timoneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03568348438980023320noreply@blogger.com