ChatterBank4 mins ago
How Condescending Is This?
42 Answers
http:// www.dai lymail. co.uk/n ews/art icle-26 65102/U KIP-vot ers-not -know-u se-inte rnet-se nd-emai ls-clai ms-Labo urs-Chu ka-Umun na.html
/// UKIP voters are disconnected because many cannot send and receive emails, use search engines or browse the internet, Labour’s shadow business secretary has suggested. ///
/// Chuka Umunna said that ‘a lot’ of people who voted for the party in its European elections victory were not computer literate and did not have basic online skills. ///
How could he possibly know that, and I wonder how many Labour, Conservative, or even Lib/Dems know how to use the internet or send emails?
/// UKIP voters are disconnected because many cannot send and receive emails, use search engines or browse the internet, Labour’s shadow business secretary has suggested. ///
/// Chuka Umunna said that ‘a lot’ of people who voted for the party in its European elections victory were not computer literate and did not have basic online skills. ///
How could he possibly know that, and I wonder how many Labour, Conservative, or even Lib/Dems know how to use the internet or send emails?
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.I'm sure your 14.10 answer is right, Andy. British newspaper politics now seems to be utterly caught up in finding gaffes or supposed gaffes, reasons to be offended or reasons to be offended on behalf of others who do not themselves feel offended rather than any kind of valid points to logically expose as mistaken.
For example, what in heaven's name has Miliband's clumsy eating of a sandwich got to do with anything that actually matters? Why is every published photo of him in the right-wing press - and that's about 80% of our papers - one that reveals some form of grotesque gurning on his part?
Have we really sunk to such depths of inanity?
For example, what in heaven's name has Miliband's clumsy eating of a sandwich got to do with anything that actually matters? Why is every published photo of him in the right-wing press - and that's about 80% of our papers - one that reveals some form of grotesque gurning on his part?
Have we really sunk to such depths of inanity?
QM - "For example, what in heaven's name has Miliband's clumsy eating of a sandwich got to do with anything that actually matters? Why is every published photo of him in the right-wing press - and that's about 80% of our papers - one that reveals some form of grotesque gurning on his part?"
I think a lot of the blame has to be blamed on our 'personality culture', coupled with rolling news.
People expect the trivia and minutia od celebrity to infect all our lives, and politicians are not immune, so they easily become figures of ridicule. Ed unfortunately does not help himself, having a particular set of features which compose themselves into weird epxressions that the cameras love, even when he is simply sitting around breathing in and out.
It's little wonder the genuine engagement with the issues of politics are shrinking on a daily basis.
I think a lot of the blame has to be blamed on our 'personality culture', coupled with rolling news.
People expect the trivia and minutia od celebrity to infect all our lives, and politicians are not immune, so they easily become figures of ridicule. Ed unfortunately does not help himself, having a particular set of features which compose themselves into weird epxressions that the cameras love, even when he is simply sitting around breathing in and out.
It's little wonder the genuine engagement with the issues of politics are shrinking on a daily basis.
// Ukip supporters take to their tablets, computers and smartphones to tackle the Labour business secretary's assertion that many struggle to send an email. Furious Ukip supporters have launched an email campaign against Labour’s business secretary after he suggested "a lot of” people who voted for the party did not have basic computer skils. //
I take your point, Andy, but - if I employed 20 photographers to follow anyone around throughout the day for weeks on end - I guarantee I could get a set of grotesque pictures of him/her no matter what "set of features" they possessed!.
I recall one of Mitt Romney during the Presidential election standing in front of a large sign with the word 'Mormon' on it. His head just covered the second 'm', thus making him appear to be surrounded by the word 'moron'. More recently, a picture of Nigel Farage in which the squarish shadow of some piece of equipment covered part of his face achieved the same effect. Of course, it was exactly on his top lip, making him look extremely Hitler-like.
All very amusing, I've no doubt, but the problem is that many people are dim enough to take such things seriously and possibly vote accordingly.
I recall one of Mitt Romney during the Presidential election standing in front of a large sign with the word 'Mormon' on it. His head just covered the second 'm', thus making him appear to be surrounded by the word 'moron'. More recently, a picture of Nigel Farage in which the squarish shadow of some piece of equipment covered part of his face achieved the same effect. Of course, it was exactly on his top lip, making him look extremely Hitler-like.
All very amusing, I've no doubt, but the problem is that many people are dim enough to take such things seriously and possibly vote accordingly.
AOG - "Quizmonster
/// We don't have to look around AnswerBank too laboriously to know that there are lots of 'dim' voters about! ///
In your case no need to go to the trouble of looking around AnswerBank, just look in the mirror."
As someone who screams 'foul' on a regular basis when anything perceived as abuse is directed towards you, I would have thought better of you than to post such a hostile remark.
I have known QM for a very long time, and he is a gentleman.
I know he will graciously accept the apology you are bound to offer him when you have re-considered the merit of your last post.
/// We don't have to look around AnswerBank too laboriously to know that there are lots of 'dim' voters about! ///
In your case no need to go to the trouble of looking around AnswerBank, just look in the mirror."
As someone who screams 'foul' on a regular basis when anything perceived as abuse is directed towards you, I would have thought better of you than to post such a hostile remark.
I have known QM for a very long time, and he is a gentleman.
I know he will graciously accept the apology you are bound to offer him when you have re-considered the merit of your last post.
When he delivered the annual Margaret Thatcher lecture last November, Boris Johnson claimed that humans were far from being equal in "raw ability".
He said, "Whatever you may think of the value of IQ tests, it is surely relevant to a conversation about equality that as many as 16 per cent of our species have an IQ below 85, while about 2 per cent… have an IQ above 130."
(Since he is indubitably referring to brightness/dimness, I have to ask why none of AnswerBank’s right-wingers howled about ‘condescension’ back then. Why the difference regarding Umunna? Surely not the fact that he’s an opposition politician!)
It’s rare, indeed, for me even partially to agree with Johnson; however, there is undoubtedly truth in what he said. It is surely beyond debate that some people are brighter than others and the inevitable corollary is that some are dimmer. For example, Stephen Hawking is manifestly brighter than Iain Duncan Smith and Grant Shapps is assuredly dimmer than Richard Dawkins. (According to The Telegraph, even George Osborne said of IDS, “You see Iain giving presentations and realise he’s just not clever enough.” )
Svejk, you ascribe to me a statement which is simply not the case. At no point did I say a single word about AnswerBankers as such, never mind say they were dim. My belief is that there is much the same literate intelligence-distribution within AnswerBank as there is in the British population…some bright, some not so. An hour or two’s browsing here will confirm that. It’s obvious.
Since it seems clear, Svejk, that you are happy to make false claims about what I have said, there is little point in my continuing the discussion.
http:// www.ind ependen t.co.uk /news/u k/polit ics/the -thick- of-it-i s-boris -johnso n-right -when-h e-says- that-eq uality- is-impo ssible- because -some-p eoples- iqs-are -too-lo w-89710 26.html
He said, "Whatever you may think of the value of IQ tests, it is surely relevant to a conversation about equality that as many as 16 per cent of our species have an IQ below 85, while about 2 per cent… have an IQ above 130."
(Since he is indubitably referring to brightness/dimness, I have to ask why none of AnswerBank’s right-wingers howled about ‘condescension’ back then. Why the difference regarding Umunna? Surely not the fact that he’s an opposition politician!)
It’s rare, indeed, for me even partially to agree with Johnson; however, there is undoubtedly truth in what he said. It is surely beyond debate that some people are brighter than others and the inevitable corollary is that some are dimmer. For example, Stephen Hawking is manifestly brighter than Iain Duncan Smith and Grant Shapps is assuredly dimmer than Richard Dawkins. (According to The Telegraph, even George Osborne said of IDS, “You see Iain giving presentations and realise he’s just not clever enough.” )
Svejk, you ascribe to me a statement which is simply not the case. At no point did I say a single word about AnswerBankers as such, never mind say they were dim. My belief is that there is much the same literate intelligence-distribution within AnswerBank as there is in the British population…some bright, some not so. An hour or two’s browsing here will confirm that. It’s obvious.
Since it seems clear, Svejk, that you are happy to make false claims about what I have said, there is little point in my continuing the discussion.
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