This is Bo'n'Dage FM and you're listening to Kevin Boatang and his buns of steel, wadin' in on behalf of all you truckers out there. Can I get a whoop? Thought not.
Nothing like lowering the tone on a sensitive issue that's what I say.
Now, this bloody Jacqui Janes thing. I've stayed away from the subject in order to see what is going on, and what is going on is what I thought in the first place: The Sun are a bunch of shits.
Mrs Janes is obviously very sad, upset and in mourning and given the chance will vent that on the bastard who helped to invade the place her son got shot. The Sun, helped by uber-twat Dominic 'China White' Moran, have given her just that chance. Along with a cheque, a recording device and lots of air time.
It struck me as being like the last episode of 'The Thick of It' where a wife is exploited in her campaign for justice for her dead husband.
There are, however, a few things about this sorry episode that should be approached bit by bit.
First is the simple fact that rather than attack the war, The Sun decided to attack the Prime Minister's handwriting. This speaks volumes about the state of this country, I mean for fuck sake people the guy has a sack of shit the size of Denmark ready to be dumped on him, his poor handwriting due to being clinically blind is not in it.
Second is that the phone call was a lynching, the extracts can be read here.
Thirdly and most amazingly, Gordon Brown still employs the same PR team. As possibly the worst PR people in history I find it quite amazing they still have a job. Only Brown and his team could turn something so simple into a total nightmare. I await the claims that the backlash against The Sun has caused sympathy to happen for Brown as was their intention all along and victory...
Lastly though, is the whole reaction to the war. Namely, people seem to misunderstand what the word 'war' means. I don't really support the war in Afghanistan, although I can see both sides of the argument. I don't support the methods we are using on either the hearts and minds front or the guns or bombs side. However, I do grasp what a war is.
In a war people die. Armies exist and they exist so that they can kill people, be it defence or otherwise. The people they kill, in the main, tend to be soldiers of other armies and in return those armies try and reciprocate.
Yesterday was the day that people say 'Lest We Forget', not just the sacrifice of a generation, but the very outcome of what war is - lots and lots of dead people.
No one in Afghanistan is a conscript like Vietnam or the world wars, or even doing national service like Korea (something that is largely forgotten). They joined the army of their own accord and in return for the rock climbing and snowboarding they are expected to get shot at and in turn shoot others.
It should then come as no surprise that this is what happens. I have immense sympathy for the loved ones of those killed and injured, but it is not an unexpected consequence. It would be unexpected if they were a traffic warden in Gateshead.
What we are seeing is an increase in the shock that when you invade another country and wage war body bags arrive home. That is meant to be the whole deterrent against going to war in the first place.
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
So, What's All This Janes/Sun Fuss Then?
Posted by Kevin Boatang at 15:13
Labels: afghanistan, death, politics and war
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13 comments:
That is meant to be the whole deterrent against going to war in the first place...
and should also be the deterrent to voting Labour but no luck there!
To be fair to the Sun their exploitative nature is a given, what is not is the almost criminal disregard the MoD has shown our troops whilst flagellating at the alter of the EU and the FRES project; selling our young men and women for a couple o high-tech baubles that don't bloody work so they can get on the juicy after-MoD gravy train.
As PM he could and should have done one of two things: 1. Pulled us out and balls to our allies. 2. Set fire to the MoD, preferably with all the cretinous, rent-seeking oxygen thieves lockedand boarded inside, then set up the army logistics with the ability to buy off-shelf.
As he has done neither the odious little toad deserves neither pity nor quarter; he had the chance to make a positive difference to this country over the last 13 bloody years but chose to screw it over.
Now he and his feckless wonders can reap the whirlwind.
i didn't realise the sun had set the whole phone thing up, that's awful.
¨Mrs Janes is obviously very sad, upset and in mourning and given the chance will vent that on the bastard who helped to invade the place her son got shot.¨
I believe Mrs Janes should have been given time and space to grieve too,the press swooped down on her like vultures smelling blood,I wonder if any of this really helped her in the long run.
I completely agree with you Mr Boatang. The whole episode has been characteristic of both the media and Government in our country.
It was a personal choice of GBs to write a handwritten letter to the families of dead soldiers, which is a decent thing to do, and he seems genuinely upset by deaths (he's an appalling actor). BUT when writing a letter to the bereaved utmost care must be taken, if you make a mistake you should start again, not simply cross it out. If these mistakes and poor handwriting are a result of Browns poor eyesight then he should have somebody check the letters.
The media, especially the Sun, have clearly taken advantage of Mrs Janes and escalated this "lettergate" far beyond a reasonable level.
It would be nice to see the media show a bit of respect to both sides in situations like this.
Tomrat:
Why one of two things when you should do both?
"I have immense sympathy for the loved ones of those killed and injured, but it is not an unexpected consequence."
Just because we may expect some of our soldiers to die and get seriously wounded in war it doesn't absolve the MoD from taking as much care as possible that they don't. A fairly simple concept to understand, I would have thought.
@Bob, I don't think I have said that have I?
GeneralFeldMarschall,
I stand corrected; I heartily agree and advocate both.
Kerosene and matches at the ready!
Hi, Kevin!
In your piece you accuse the Sun of spectacularly missing the point by attacking Brown for his handwriting. But in turn I think you have spectacularly missed the point of why Jacqui Janes was so angry. It was, to judge from the taped interview, that her son bled to death when he need not have done, and by extension that the troops are not properly equipped or supported.
Now you say that deaths and injuries are "not an unexpected occurrence". Maybe so, but they are in many cases avoidable if the right equipment is used. In particular if the British had been equipped with the right sort of armoured vehicles for that terrain, dozens of the deaths would have been avoided.
This is not actually even a question of money. Many of the best solutions would actually have been cheaper than the ones adopted. And the responsibility for this falls fair and square on the MoD.
After Iraq and now Afghanistan frankly I don't the UK is capable of waging an overseas campaign without completely unnecessary losses to friend, foe and civilian populations alike - in other words, we don't have armed forces capable of fulfilling the requirements of a "modern" war. We should therefore admit this, bring the troops home, and as a priority sort out the MoD.
That - and not Gordon's handwriting - is the lesson of Jamie Janes's death and his mother's grief.
Ah, I see. Well I would agree that is why she is aangry and I would agree, but that wasn't the main focus of my article.
The biggest issue there is the vast piece of shit that is the MoD. Incredibly badly run it can't even order weapons or equipment without paying 500 times the price. It really is a place that needs a total head to toe shake up.
"Thirdly and most amazingly, Gordon Brown still employs the same PR team. As possibly the worst PR people in history I find it quite amazing they still have a job. Only Brown and his team could turn something so simple into a total nightmare."
Indeed. Much of my ire has come from the fact that the stupid fucker has shown himself (along with his team) to be so fucking inept at something that could have been an open goal.
The useless cunt.
One doesn't normally use such language, but:
shit describes perfectly both the MoD & Brown's PR.
Have you seen the traffic wardens in Gateshead??
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