Friday, December 15, 2006

Better to stay silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt

If politicans have to stop pretending to be cool then pop stars should stop pretending to be intelligent.

The latest celebrity to enter the complex world of politics is Cheryl Tweedy, of Girls Aloud, who said Cameron should stop trying to be something that he isn't. She then went on to treat us to the following words of wisdom with regards to her own political views:

"There should be adverts in the breaks during Coronation Street spelling it out in bullet points: This is what the Conservatives stand for. This is what Labour stands for. You know that basically Labour is the working class and the Conservatives are kind of upper class, and then everything else is... I have no idea ... I only vote Labour because me mam does."

In the same way that I'd never suffer the nation with my signing I wonder if Miss Tweedy could save us all her pathetic rantings on politics in future? Or even better, our media could not report such stupidity. Cheryl ... this says more about you than it does about David Cameron.

6 comments:

Gavin Ayling said...

Voting by what your parents do is the most dangerous thing you can do.

Imagine if, by doing that, you voted in a government that confirmed its own corruption, tried to fund the winning political party from taxation and removed the right to free protest. Imagine if, by voting that way, you lost the right to trial by jury or freedom of speech...

Imagine.

Anonymous said...

"I wonder if Miss Tweedy could save us all her pathetic rantings on politics in future?"

Yes, it's appalling that everyone seems to think they have some sort of right to say what they want about politics. What do they think this is - some sort of democracy? They should leave it to professionals such as your good self, Tony.

Antony said...

Oh James, your credibility has just hit zero with that comment. I have a blog for my comments and people choose to read it or not - Miss Tweedy was splashed all over the new stations and newspapers. Why should she get more coverage than, say, you, me, Margaret from two doors down or my Headteacher? Can't we have better political discourse than this and why do some people believe that celebrity status means you have the right to speak out my matter how stupid the comment.

As I said James - your credibilty is now zero.

Anonymous said...

Tony - she was asked and she answered. She is hardly Alexis de Tocqueville but to launch a personal assualt was mean-spirited of you at best.

Anonymous said...

James..I share some of you sentiments. Politics..expressing an opinion..all have the similar liberty of expression. The downside is all have the liberty not to listen. I guess politics is manipulating as many folk to listen to your expression solely, at the expense of others.

Anonymous said...

I think your controversial views on personal liberty have just been inconveniently exposed.

As Robert said, they were asked, which is a rarity, and it’s good they actually had something to say, which is a lot better than many celebrities. If what they say is somewhat lacking in thought (I personally didn’t think they did too badly), then it is, as I usually say, partly the blame of the system that educated them. Don’t forget where Mylene Klass went to school…

The papers print what sells papers. Unfortunately, few people care what ‘Margret from two doors down’ thinks. There is no doubt some publications do however, if you truly wanted to read them.

I think it’s a good idea for child-orientated pop stars to be saying something about politics. Sure, it might be coming from the same people who managed to blow over £1,250,000 on ‘parties’ in one year, but we should let even the ‘stupidest’ people speak, if nothing else, we can both see what we don’t want to become, and compare them to other people we think are becoming them.

If Politics was taught in Citizenship properly, like it is in some countries, we wouldn’t have to worry about people sponging up their ‘idols’ political views and things like what Gavin (above) says would never happen.

Then again, that would probably mean a lot more people thinking for themselves, and I know a few people who wouldn’t like that…