The credulity of the Sheeple

[Peter Presland]

This is an example of the the sort of mindset that makes me despair of the possibility of worthwhile change in Western 'Democracies' short of some sort of revolution. The sort of credulous childlike banality which dominates both Left and Right - though their 'Heroes' be different - and which fills the airwaves and newsprint of the MSM in a mind-numbing cacophony. It is from the latest blogpost of one Iain Dale of 'Iain Dale's Diary'. His top 20 things to like about the 80's.

Iain is rated as THE most prominent Tory blogger. In terms of traffic he is about third in the UK political blog ranking after Political-betting.com and Guido Fawkes. He runs Politicos Bookshop and has published a number of prominent political biographies/diaries over the past few years. He's on the Tory Party candidates list and is actively looking for a constituency. Believe it or not he's a nice guy too; charming, earnest need to please and be liked - but with a sort of desperate, innocent vacuousness. A bit like a political Dale Winton was how I described him in a comment to one of his posts a few months back. And the tragedy is that, in company with the mass of our populations, he really believes this stuff and considers it important.

1. Margaret Thatcher.
2. Labour couldn't win an election.
3. Putting the Unions back in their box.
4. Enabling millions of people to buy shares for the first time.
5. A-ha & Alphaville.
6. Audi Quattros.
7. Ejecting the Argentinians from the Falklands.
8. Enabling hundreds of thousands of people to buy their own homes.
9. Ronald Reagan & Mikhail Gorbachev.
10. The Mullett.
11. Ian Botham
12. Airplane.
13. Trevor Brooking & Alan Devonshire, Tony Cottee & Frank McAvennie.
14. Winning the Cold War.
15. Trivial Pursuit.
16. Beating Scargill and his band of thugs.
17. J R Ewing.
18. Nena's 99 Luftballons and her hairy armpits.
19. The Conservatives winning three elections in a row.
20. The advent of Sky TV.

• Margaret Thatcher at No 1; *&%-**^*
  
• Rah rah over the Falklands but oblivious to the secretive eviction to penury of a similar number of British citizens from a similarly distant island chain to make way for a US military base on Diego Garcia - they had dark skins and spoke a sort of Patois though - so that would be OK then.
  
• The advent of Sky. Oblivious to Murdoch - he only has eyes for the sport. ??? Second thoughts he probably approves of Murdoch with some soothing caveats about being watchful about monopolies - the usual politician-speak.
  
• And of course the Unions - we're seeing a sort of re-run right now with the courts intervening to make strikes illegal on superficial technicalities. The Tory Grassroots love it - Labour/Lib hate it - all their politicos talk in measured reasonable tones like they believe they actually have something meaningful to say on the matter.
  
• And of course the old Arthur Scargill 'Thugs' thing. He has clearly never been on the receiving end of what has now become routine police thuggery.
  

I know this is becoming something of a refrain from me but it really does depress the hell out of me. Talk about being unable - not to say incapable - of seeing the wood for the trees!