"I'm not sure I like your tone, sir" , William Hartnell, The Tenth Planet
I've been surveying a few of the other Jersey blogs on the net, and here is a brief review of them. One thing which is common to all of them is a kind of chatty familiarity, which refers to people like Philip Bailhache as "Phil". I think this is a shame, because it sets a tone which detracts from the more serious content. They could give the Baillif his full title, or they could adopt academic policy - scholars normally refer to individuals solely by their full or their last names, omitting courtesy titles. But I think the kind of "matey" polemic which comes out is - if not abusive - certainly rude and discourteous, and comes close to the ad hominem argument, where people are attacked because of who they are, by name calling, and not for their policies and beliefs.
This has some very decent arguments, and some good facts. Stuart Syvret is good at opposing the factual inaccuracies of his opponents. For example, on subjects like the Sharp report, when the JEP claimed recently to have published everything there was on record, he noted the singular omission of Francis Hamon who gave Jack Hydes "informal advice" to take no action against complaints by the boys who were abused, or John Le Breton, who is also mentioned in the report and who resigned shortly afterwards.
Against this, the reader has to wade through polemic, such as "The community's destiny is in the hands of this collection ignoramuses, deluded egotists and clowns." - as a description of the States of Jersey, or Syvret's repeated calling of the Bailiff as "Phil" and the Attorney-General as "Bill", which is very close to an ad hominem argument, and gives a distinctly unpleasant and chip-on-the-shoulder tone to his blog.
This blog has some very well argued material, together with some very harshly satirical photographs. Of course, satire is part of the rough and tumble of politics. Again some good arguments and observations, for example:
When Ministerial government first came into play three years ago, a worrying trait emerged. Little comments began to appear from senior Ministers about Jersey needing to be "a player on the world stage". As those Ministers got used to having their feet under the table they began to commission various architectural projects. The term "world class" has become commonplace when promoting these projects, and there is a definite intent that the designs should compete with the metropolis-sized standards to be found in locations such as Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Sydney. Even a Jersey national anthem has been thrown into the pot.
Alongside that is a kind of polemic that again tends to ruin the serious debate, with the odd sentence like this:
Still, I suppose as long as the island's bloated swine get to keep their snouts buried firmly in the swill, there's no need to ask questions or look for a superior or more democratic alternative, is there?
There is less of the purple prose than Stuart Syvret's blog, and more decent arguments, but could still be improved. Sentences like that above show opinions with a high degree of resentment, and I'm not sure that kind of tone is helpful in getting the points - which are pretty well argued - over to the general public.
This is not a blog, but a forum, and the material varies widely from "The Three Stooges - Frank, Phil & Bob", which again has a tone that betrays the serious arguments made. If one is not put off with that kind of polemic, then there is again a decent argument against the Bailiff's saying that Islanders have nothing to feel shameful about:
"Whilst it is not immediately comparable, the West has had to apologise for years of slavery. The Australian government has had to apologise for how the aborigines were treated. And Chancellor Merkel herself is now in Israel as I write apologising for the Holocaust. There is nothing wrong with feeling shameful."
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3 comments:
Hello, 'A Holiday In The Sun' here...
Just a quick note about your review of my blog. To be fair, the "swines" comment was in reference to the 'Animal Farm' quote at the end of the entry in question.
That said, I certainly do deeply resent the behaviour our our political elite, and especially the manner in which it has worsened since the advent of Ministerial government. We now seem to have a government who don't have a problem with betraying the public, which I for one find extremely problematic.
The gap between the haves and have-nots is seriously widening. We seem to constantly be told the rich must be cosseted to retain our high standard of living, yet all I see is the rich getting richer and nothing changing at street level, apart from everyday life getting harder for those at the low end of the scale.
It's a despicable state of affairs all round, so within that context surely to be resentful is justified? Some would probably even argue that to a certain extent it's now a moral duty.
I'm sure my arguments could be improved, but I'm not a writer, just a bloke with blog that's powered by stream-of-conciousness entries.
I don't usually pre-plan, so what you see is what you get. All I aim to be is honest and straightforward in what I say - and if that means an explosive polemic crops up here and there, so be it. I suppose the latter could be viewed as a reaction of sorts to living under a media which over the years has served to give the politcal elite an incredibly soft ride, and has more recently grown so arrogant that it no longer cares that it's so obviously seen to be whoring itself to that same elite as a mouthpiece. With behaviour like that as the norm, I personally find it very difficult to sit there with a stiff upper lip, muttering polite complaint.
Anyway....I'm jabbering....so I'll stop! Thanks for the review, I'm glad you didn't think the blog was too bad.
All the best for now!
Re-reading your piece, yes, it was in context with Animal Farm. Apologies. Have you read any of Orwell's As I Please pieces? Think you would like them.
Hi Tony,
No need to apologise whatsoever...I'm certainly probably guilty as charged, you just happened to pick a not very good example. Go to my blog, put a blindfold on and stick a pin in the screen (metaphorically, obviously) and you'd probably hit quite a number of comments that fit the criteria of your accusation(though made more often out of anger or frustration than resentment!).
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