The morning after

[j4]

Still here, just about.

So anyway, I wake up to Radio 2; the radio comes on at 7am, so I get to hear the news headlines at least twice before I actually drag myself out of bed. The news this morning was bizarre. Headlines I might have expected: "Government votes to raise tuition fees" (or even "Three MPs resign as government votes to raise tuition fees"); "Violent protests over tuition fees vote" (or, more likely, "Our boysPolice injured in protests over tuition fees vote" -- in all the bits of the rolling news that I did read/watch yesterday, the BBC never mentioned any injuries to protestors). But no: the lead on the news was "Camilla's car gets paint on it".[*]

Mind you, at least tuition fees got a tangential mention on the BBC. Nobody's reporting Cancún at all. Perhaps our children we won't have to worry about university fees after all because by then we'll all be desperately trying to build floating homes out of old tyres. Or shooting each other.

[*] ETA: Angry Mob suggests that this means the media succeeded in their hidden agenda.

Comments

[vinaigrettegirl.livejournal.com]

Now is now, I know; but I guess, having been old enough to understand things, at 11, when National Guardsmen shot protesting students dead during protests at Kent State, in Ohio, the kettling and relatively low levels of violence seem to be almost civilised.

Today's question, for me, comes from a ... Unitarian? ministry blog: of what am I a commitment? You embody a lot of commitments, in my mind: green principles without being a monotone bore, for a start :-).

It's all hard and various votes in two countries depress me and make me angry, but I shall make a few political calls before dinner. We do what we can; all is not lost.

[j4.livejournal.com]

the kettling and relatively low levels of violence seem to be almost civilised

I'm not convinced that detaining teenagers for 6 hours in sub-zero temperatures is all that civilised (though they certainly knew what they were getting into after the last couple of protests, & had presumably decided it was a sacrifice worth making -- it certainly makes better news than a bit of peaceful placard-waving), but yes, given the numbers of people involved (and given that a handful of them -- on both sides -- almost certainly were looking for a fight), it could have been a hell of a lot worse.

But I'm certainly not saying that the headlines should have been "Evil fascist pigs stamp on the face of the future" or anything like that (and Anton Vowl (http://enemiesofreason.co.uk/2010/12/10/taking-sides-in-a-riot/) has a fairly reasoned argument for why the BBC reporting would inevitably seem biased). I'm just depressed that rather than giving us any kind of meaningful reporting of the political decision, let alone the protests surrounding it, the national news focused on two ageing celebrities in their big shiny car who were a bit put out by the whole thing.

of what am I a commitment?

Interesting question. I shall ponder it.

We do what we can; all is not lost.

I fear all is lost, long-term, but we only live in the medium-term at most -- which is part of the problem but it's also how we survive at all. And wishing it wasn't so doesn't seem to achieve very much.