Harkness – MacGillivray Stories

As discussed in the previous post, personality traits seem to be taken either as positive or negative depending on societal context. Normally, being intractable is viewed as a negative characteristic; however, few would admire Neville Chamberlain for being accommodating rather than intractable in his meeting with Adolf Hitler in 1938⁸⁸.  

One often equates confrontational behaviour with radical left politics. But of course, this is a misconception. My mother was undoubtedly a conservative, although her knowledge of politics was no more than a regurgitation of the dubious outpourings of The Daily Express⁸⁹. To think it was always delivered on our doorstep as far back as I can remember. 

As an afterthought, things are different now in 2022. Ironically, the radical right wing satirists and the so-called ‘anti-establishment’ views find their voices in the established conservative media channels. This is a kind of Orwellian ‘double-think’. The former US president Trump was always harping on about ‘fake news’. But the truth was, Fox News (pro-Trump), is perhaps the foremost creator of ‘fake news’. 

In the U.K. the media is more or less controlled by ‘capital’, and only offers right wing views in support of the rich and privileged; even those newspapers that are sold to the poor and sections of the working classes, such as the Murdoch-owned Sun. Of course there are exceptions, such as the liberal newspapers, “The Independent” and the “Guardian”. In other words the ‘liberal’ democratic CNN in the U.S. and the ‘liberal’ BBC in the UK are in a minority⁹⁰.

The left wing in politics in the popular media is almost non-existent. Of course, there are also other alternative channels, such as Al Jazeera⁹¹, and Rappler in the Philippines, amongst others.  Moreover, anti-establishment views can be found in RT, the Russian state-controlled media network. Now, although RT can provide alternative views, and some of the articles that are written by Western commentators are quite good, the overall aim of RT is obviously pro-Russian and anti-West.

After Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine on 20 February 2022, it seems that RT has disappeared on the Internet! (as of 4 March 2022). In this context, it will be of interest to see to what extent the digital world (Internet, banking and financial services) and the new technology (drones and so on) can oppose the brute force of Russian tanks and guns. 

If you liked this post, I previously wrote about the connection between relationships and society within our family. Just click the link.

⁸⁸ “Peace for our time” was a declaration made by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in his 30 September 1938 remarks in London. It concerned the Munich Agreement and the subsequent Anglo-German Declaration. The phrase is primarily remembered for its bitter ironic value. Less than a year after the agreement, Hitler’s invasion of Poland began World War II. France and the United Kingdom declared war on Germany following Hitler’s refusal to withdraw from Polish territory.

⁸⁹  The Daily Express is a daily national and prejudicially conservative tabloid newspaper in the United Kingdom. They were well known for being racist, anti-working class, anti-feminist, and so on.

⁹⁰ However, the CNN boast that “more people get their news from CNN than any other.” https://www.quora.com Read 14 April 2022. The answer is: YES. Even though Fox News is the most-watched television news station,

⁹¹ Al Jazeera is a Qatari government-funded international Arabic-language news channel based in Doha, capital of Qatar.