6.19.2006
Toe the Line
I don't know where or why they dug this chestnut up, but its contents go to prove the old saying, "Conservatives are always exactly wrong." Or at least that's what the smug-ass lefty Guardian would like people to think. On the cutting edge of the 1953 public vs. commercial television debate, one Mr. E. S. T. Johnson of the Conservative Party argues letter that "Most of the opponents of commercial television appear to assume that its programmes will appeal to the lowest tastes and will be bad and even dangerous. That point of view is only justifiable if those who hold it say that the British people are not fit to choose their own entertainment." I LOVE how conservatives do that: make a highly debatable claim and then back it up using the grounds of their opponents' evils. It's like, "I think this, and if you don't agree with me then you're clearly an totalitarian person-hater." "If you're not with us, you're with the terrorists."
On the other hand, I think the Guardian posted the old letter counting on its current readers' wholesale disgust with the state of commercial television. I, for one, enjoy it in a qualified kind of way. Feeling unheimlich yet? I've tricked you -- this article has nothing to do with TeeVee. My point is this: the party-line approach is so outdated it hurts. And I don't mean hurts like a hangover, I mean it actually hurts political debate. Here's the real left vs. right debate: the smug self-satisfaction approach vs. the alarmist asshole approach. The solution? Vote green motherfuckers.
Golden quote from the letter: "There is general agreement that the outside [B.B.C.] programmes are done extremely well, but that those which originate in the studios leave a great deal to be desired."
