Thursday 22 May 2014

Bubbles and echo chambers



The results of today's elections will come in two phases - in the next 24 hours for the local elections (which we in Morecambe weren't participating in) and on Monday for the European elections (which we were participating in, like we really give a flying f*** [fish] about the European parliament!). 

What's happening with these elections? Well, like everyone else at this stage, I don't honestly know and any guesses could be spectacularly wrong. 

If my work colleagues are anything to go, today's turnout will be unusually high for a European election; indeed, MASSIVELY unusual. Almost everyone was declaring their intention to vote. [They may have been lying though]. 

If my family (of eight) are anything to go by (and we are a mixed bunch spread between North Lancashire and South Devon, half of whom are Tory-inclined and half of whom are Labour-inclined), the results will be 100% for UKIP, 0% for the Conservatives, 0% for the Liberal Democrats, 0% for Labour and 0% for the Greens. [None of us were lying].

So, if I were a complete idiot, I'd predict a 82% turnout and a 100% landslide for Nigel Farage.

Standing outside myself as if having an 'out-of-body experience', the phrase 'bubbles and echo chambers' springs to mind.


The 'Westminster Bubble' - that babble of voices from the political class and the media class - is the dominant bubble (and the anti-UKIP smears have well and truly echoed around it in recent weeks), and the BBC - the UK's dominant media voice - is a prominent part of that bubble. 

And when I listen to BBC presenters talking to BBC reporters (as they do far, far too often), I hear an obvious echo chamber within that bubble. 

BBC presenters and BBC reporters never seem to disagree, do they? [Jeremy Paxman and his former BBC colleague Paul Mason excepted], and the lines of questioning across the BBC on any subject on any given day are remarkably similar, aren't they?

Despite myriad pieces of evidence that their staff are overwhelmingly left/liberal-inclined, BBC folk still persist in believing themselves to be good, impartial judges of matters social and political and that there's an absence of bias in their DNA...

...which is exactly what people who inhabit the 'bubbles' and 'echo chambers' of the anti-BBC, right-leaning blogosphere [like me] find so objectionable.

As they say on Twitter, #justsaying.

Update 22:16: Well, that feeling my 'bubble' had that turnout might be up looks as if it could be true after all! Mike Smithson of Political.Betting.com is suggesting it could be the best ever turnout in a Euro election. 

3 comments:

  1. Three ducks, swimming in the 'Blue Peter' garden pond one night after midnight, were arrested for trespassing.
    They were called to appear in court the following day.
    The judge called up the first duck and asked it, "What were you doing in that pond after midnight?"
    The duck replied, "Blowing bubbles".
    So then the judge called up the second duck and asked it the same question, and the duck said "Blowing bubbles".
    Then the judge called up the third duck and said, "Let me guess. You were blowing bubbles too?".
    And the duck replied, "No, I am Bubbles".

    ReplyDelete
  2. "If my family (of eight) are anything to go by (and we are a mixed bunch spread between North Lancashire and South Devon, half of whom are Tory-inclined and half of whom are Labour-inclined), the results will be 100% for UKIP, 0% for the Conservatives, 0% for the Liberal Democrats, 0% for Labour and 0% for the Greens. [None of us were lying].

    So, if I were a complete idiot..."

    That depends if you're from the Labour incline persuasion of your family I suppose.

    Having said that, the BBC's coverage is more than usually pro-Nu Labour this morning - they don't seem able to add up the seats that they're losing (or failing to gain) - Sky don't seem to be having any trouble.

    ReplyDelete

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