At first I thought that ‘Cleggmania’ was pretty endearing and it made the election temporarily exciting but I am getting increasingly concerned with his meteoric rise in the polls.
It seems that Britain has become obsessed with novelty in the last couple of years. Look at how well John and Edward did in the X-factor or how long John Sargent remained in Celebrity come dancing (or whatever it was called). It seems we enjoy the novelty act so much that Cowell is planning to add a fifth novelty category to the show next year. And Cowell knows his stuff.
What worries me is that unlike Jedward we cannot vote with our feet if Clegg and the Lib Dems get into power. If we vote them in we will be stuck with our most inexperienced government in 65 years, for a whole term.
I recently received a number of invites to a facebook group to get the Liberals into power. This in itself is fine and normally I would not bat an eyelid. However, this group has been created by the same people who got ‘Rage against the Machine’ to the 2009 Christmas number one.
The Rage group had over a million members that were all fanatically obsessed with getting RATM to number one. They had a great bonding experience and when they succeeded they all felt an almost religious sense of belonging. People were talking about it everywhere and it felt great to be a part of the ‘revolution against consumerism’. This is all fine when we are talking about our Christmas number one. The repercussions were felt only by Joe McEldrey and Simon Cowell. For a few days. Joe was Number one the week after anyway.
However, if Lib Dems get into power it will affect us all for at least four years. Something we should not take lightly.
The worry comes from the fact that the people in this group have become sheep. They want to replicate the feeling they experienced by making a difference last time. They want to repeat their success. They are addicted to the group mentality. Most people, obviously not all, in the group will jump on this bandwagon and vote Lib Dems without reading a shred of the policies they are voting for, just because they want to re-live their previous successes. It goes against common sense.
Like I have said before; vote for who you think will benefit yourself, your family and your community most. If that happens to be Lib Dems, vote for them. Do not vote for Clegg just because you bought a RATM single last December.
Thursday, 22 April 2010
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And what makes you think this is new?
ReplyDeleteHahaha... What you mean?
ReplyDeleteI had to join up to comment on this latest blog matey (further critiques to follow on the back catalogue!) You can't seriously compare the Liberal Democrats, an established, legitimate political party formed in 1988 with Jedward, not even born in 1988! 4.81million people (26.3%) of the electorate voted for the lib dems in 2001 (http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2004/rp04-061.pdf) - ok, Jedward may have received more text votes on Xfactor, but the stakes were hardly equivocal or the significance of the outcome. The liberal party is not a gimmick, the media storm may be similar and the internet groups just as prolific, but the potential leader of one of the largest economies cannot be compared to an Irish pop novelty duet!
ReplyDeleteHa, don't worry I am not comparing Lib Dems to Jedward. I am not even saying Lib Dems are a gimmick. Far from it, I just have a gripe with a facebook group that already has a huge following due to RATM campaign advocating a vote for Liberal Democrats without even explaining their policies in the most basic of ways.
ReplyDeleteThe word Novelty means something new and different and, because this is the first election they have stood a decent chance, and because it is the first time they have been given equal billing on the campaign trail and as much paper time as the 'big two'. That is the reason I say novelty, which is different from gimmicky.
Luckily. I think that Clegg was brought back to the stratosphere tonight as he was exposed on some of his policies. (The amnesty, Trident)
I digress, The main point is that the voters should vote for who is best for them. Not on the basis of an internet campaign. Looking forward to other critiques. And your, much more informed political views (not relying on tabloids and debates as I do)
Hmm, you make at least one direct comparison. I took novelty to mean; 'an article of trade whose value is chiefly decorative, comic, or the like and whose appeal is often transitory' rather than new or unique. As for facebook, nobody takes those groups seriously. 'Realising how drunk you are when alone in the toilet' has 300,000 members! It may have the power to piss on Cowell's bonfire I don't see it influencing the polls too much.
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