So whats with all this Shock and Horror?

I love Jeremy Clarkson and i probably shouldn't. I mean he is ignorant, rude, probably one of the most conservative people on British telly and lets be honest on occasion he can be a little bit of a bully. So why do i love Jeremy Clarkson? Well besides his clearly conservative views and his right leaning manner Jeremy is prone to brilliant flashes of common sense, i suspect that lurking around somewhere in that massive head of his is a little bit of a leftist even if he doesn't quite know it. You also have to love his honesty i mean there are hundreds of dickheads on TV who are not quite as forthcoming about being a dickhead as he is. Also as someone on the left my scepticism is instantly triggered when i hear anyone saying things like Governments should "build park benches and that is it. They should leave us alone." primarily because I don't know who he means by "us" is he talking about you and I or is he talking about the free market. Is he talking about those stupid laws which shortsighted governments introduce which never actually solve a problem but simply make life a little more awkward or is he talking about carbon taxes and regulation. Although in saying that he does live in the infamous "Nanny State" and a bit of government bashing in England could be viewed as healthy if not completely necessary and perhaps the same could be said for most European countries. I think in many ways Jeremy Clarkson reminds me of Fox's Bill O'Reilly as much as i disagree with Bill i cant help but like something about him I'm not quite sure what it is. It's a presence that says "look at me, listen to me then shut up and sit down" a sort of mad charisma. Of course Jeremy is nowhere near as bad as Bill you would be hard pushed to find someone who is. But the point is i like Jeremy Clarkson as racist as he can be "Chinese people have no souls"(The Sun) he does make you and hundreds of thousands of others laugh mainly because of how ridiculous some of the things he comes out with are and how sometimes they contain a beacon of truth "America: 250 million w****rs  living in a country with no word for w****r". But Clarkson is just a writer and a personality and maybe its not all true and in fact apart of a persona. Clarkson was quoted as alluding to this when He met Allastair Campbell "I don't believe what I write, any more than you (Alastair Campbell) believe what you say". So what exactly is the point of this Blog entry i can hear you asking yourself. Does Daniel have nothing better to do than to confess his adoration of Jeremy Clarkson? As most of you know Jeremy Clarkson appeared on "the one show" and made a series of comments which immediately prompted an on air apology(Most know about this as within a day of it happening it got more coverage and  attention then the Congo does in a month). Now i didn't write this blog to get entangled in some pointless argument about whether or not he meant it or whether or not he was joking. Was what Jeremy Clarkson said acceptable this is also not something i want to get involved in but i will say that having "someone shot" is an expression and not an intention or incitement. What i do want to ask though is what is with all the shock and horror? I mean how long has Jeremy Clarkson been with the BBC now? As far as i know Clarkson started with Top Gear in the late 80's so the world or at least Britain should have had enough time by now to get used to his controversial brand of humour and maybe the BBC should have learnt that a live show like "The One Show" is probably not the best place for him. and why the surprise and disgust at this anti-union sentiment. We are talking about Britain here its not too long ago that Thatcher and Reagen embarked on a vendetta to crush the unions. British governments and the British higher class is still full of people who despise the unions a whole band of Jeremy Clarksons like something form Harry Enfields classic sketch "Clarkson Island". I love how people will criticise Clarkson in the weeks to come tearing him from limb to limb, calling for his resignation requesting he be sacked everyone will throw in their two cents and it will be forgotten about in a week. Will it politicise people? Encourage interests in the unions? Cause people to perhaps think of the role the media plays in the public perception of the unions in Britain? Probably not.

Riot Van

Saturday night i was sitting by a fire while London was in flames. However the bliss that is ignorance wouldn't last long as the news spread somewhat quicker then the fires which it was reporting and then there were the torrents of tweets and every one's 2 cents. So there i was a midst the hundreds of voices saying everything but what needed to be said. Politicians doing their best to make this appear as an A political issue and the half hear-ted humanitarians of the Internet talking about everything but the issues. The Cyber Utopians praise the Internet for it's alleged ability to politicize the masses however i can't help notice the somewhat A political nature of the statuses posted following the London riots for example "Yeah it's a real travesty... Just when things started looking up for Britain this goes and happens. Cunts the lot of em". This is not an opportunity to pick apart the comments of one person among a cacophony of voices posting similar statuses. It is also not some hypocritical attack on those who use social media as a way to comment on current events. I am simply bringing into question the potential for the Internet to better society and

politicize people. There is either a lack of people who can properly diagnose the problems present in the current situation or a complete lack of interest in doing so, maybe sociology students and anthropology experts don't have the free time to throw their hats into the ring(I am not suggesting for a moment that i have anywhere near the intellect or qualifications to provide the insight i am talking about just drawing the attention to the lack of it among the most popular of the social medias). So far the most effective role the Internet has had to play in the London riots was as a tool to assemble masses of looters and rioters, identify targets and spread the violence throughout Britain. The Internet is also functioning a way to identify youths caught on CCTV Internet users can access pictures of those involved and offer forward information which will be used to identify and convict those caught on tape. Some may applaud this action but Evegeny Morozov in his book "The Net Delusion" reveals that there is a similar method being employed in Iran to identify and locate protesters and so there is a potential for the Internet to be utilised to persecute people for practicing their right to freedom of speech and protest. http://youtu.be/Uk8x3V-sUgU. There has been a tendency during the period in which the London riots have been receiving coverage, to brand rioters as "mindless thugs" and vandals with no political affiliations or motives. While i will admit that it is a bit rich to suggest that looters have economic issues weighing heavily on their minds while they sprint around London causing an endless amount of damage which will in no doubt land insurance companies in the red and not to mention the bill which is being racked up due to the massive amount of overtime required by law enforcement all over the UK. However to insinuate that the dissatisfaction, confusion and anger created in the wake of budgets, bailouts and bankers does not contribute to the mentality of those involved in looting and rioting across Britain seems somewhat deluded. There seems to be a common view among the House of Commons that this is an issue of criminality and not a political one. There seems to be a lack of "Honorable members" questioning the origins of this criminality. There have been British administrations in the past such as the Blair administration who have in my opinion actually criminalized the youth of Britain. The "Nanny state" has let the youth of Britain know what is expected of it CCTV cameras watch them closely picking out from the crowd their pre-agreed idea of the criminal youth, the hoodie, the geordie, the chav and the ASBO. There exists a somewhat overused literary idea known as a "Self fulfilling prophecy". Put simply if you treat people like criminals they will act like criminals