‘The composer John Rutter and bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel have been recruited by the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra for a concert in the city’s Sheldonian Theatre in honour of the team at the university who have developed a coronavirus vaccine. The concert, which has been pre-recorded, serves as the premiere for Mr Rutter’s composition, Joseph’s Carol, which he told The Times would “stand as a token that not just Oxford but the whole world owes to this group of people”’
In the last Slogpost, I wrote, ‘…probably, it’s now time for me and my ilk to accept that the fully educated open minds informed by a thirst for knowledge are becoming an increasingly threatened species’. I also referred to an emergent group, “the igorant bright”. The extracted paragraph of lachrymose balls above has returned my observation with ample interest.
The Ipsos MORI poll recently published did precisely the same: the 18-34 year olds were by far most enthusiastic about mRNA ‘messenger’ vaccine; but they also emerged as by far the least likely to have read anything about the vaccine’s development.
Ignorance, as ever, is bliss. This is post-empirical thinking in Cool Britannia: ‘Screw the reality, what do I want to hear?’
Let’s stick with this reality and start to work on it. The Weekend Slog Essay concluded that Britain needs a New Opposition to ‘focus on practical action plans and new types of virtual hub to protect the vulnerable, and promote an alternative cultural future’.
What we have rediscovered since last February, is that media-nurtured false narratives and fake critiques alongside ruthless censorship are highly effective in overcoming empirical evidence among those who will be forever fearful of the Truth. We must now accept that, and adapt.
All around us, traditional media are pumping out happy-clappy funny farm drivel written by tearjerks, social media are closing contrarian accounts, alternative social media and “moving” Channels are being deplatformed, and the BBC (despite its disinformation correspondent) smears every last piece of life-lesson, natural and scientifically sound counter-argument.
I’m sorry to keep harping on about this, but 70% of the adult population don’t accept those facts, or don’t care about them. They prefer the lies of those who have lied to them throughout this century. They don’t like radical reality: they don’t do “blood, toil, tears and sweat”. Some of them will never accept any accurate version of now and the most likely future; others, however, will catch on as the Great Reset begins – and the cost of Covid finally breaks through.
The New Opposition must unite. I can’t make that happen – but there are others with higher profiles and fewer miles on the clock who can. That must be their task….and if they shrink from it, they must harried by the online opinion leaders.
The New Opposition must investigate the bad guys. Don’t stop finding useful evidence of the perversion of fiscal reality and science by these gargoyles….but switch the emphasis where possible to damning evidence of their present and past personal perfidy and criminality.
But the most important step is the last…
The New Opposition must create an alternative encrypted universe of unassailable information brands. It must attract the sort of no-strings investment that produces channels and mastheads that more and more people can find credible and useful as the bad turns inevitably to worse.
That means better ideas on business models, real salaries paid to real, unaligned talent, getting beyond this year’s devil issue, broadening expertise into commercial areas, affordable crowd-sourcing, and seeking out those sectors of Gigawealth immune to (and unsupportive of) the Davos insanity.
Get real: they’re never going to give us a level playing field. So we must construct our own.
“Make it, and they will come”
The Slog 