Sunday, September 10, 2017

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: MAINLINE NEWSPAPER AND COLUMNIST GETTING BY ON STUFF I'D CALL HATE SPEECH - BUT IN ANY CASE CERTAINLY INAPPROPRIATE - MEANING OF WORDS



COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY JONATHAN FREEDLAND IN THE GUARDIAN


Trump’s fascist contagion gives the anti-Brexit cause what it lacked: an emotional heart

"Trump’s fascist contagion"

Sorry, but I seriously object to that choice of words.

I don't like Trump. I am disappointed in Trump. Trump is indeed a failed President.

But that does not warrant that kind of rhetoric.

The excess here reminds me very much of the days, not so very long ago, when The Guardian went into full McCarthyite attack mode against non-existent anti-Semitism in Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party.

Jonathan Freedland, regrettably, was a leader there also.

Words do mean something, and poorly chosen words can be as dangerous as bricks tossed at someone's house window.