To quote Julia, you’d have to have a heart of stone not to laugh at this.
The piece of ‘journalism’ itself, and the ventriloquist dummy statements from the politicos concerned. Oh, and the comments….
And the elephants in the room in are reading between the lines, casting the runes, and generally examining any crystal balls that might be going. But what does it all mean?...Now read on, dear surfer…
Lancashire County Council suspensions: Email 'linked to
4:50pm Wednesday 15th April 2009
Photograph of the Author Exclusive By Tom Moseley
You’re going to love – and I do mean love – that journalist’s surname. Any time…
...Now. THE email which led to the suspension of 14 Lancashire County Council staff is believed to have compared the Israeli occupation of
It is understood to contain images from Nazi concentration camps alongside graphic pictures said to have come from
I like that cautious, measured and skeptical ‘said to have come’, but can’t help noticing the casual fait accompli of the ‘
Still, that’s a small thing in a 'profession' that has spent fifty years referring to a speech that did not contain the phrase ‘rivers of blood' as The Notorious Rivers Of Blood Speech.
The email is said to urge the reader to 'show the world the true face of this murderous state'.
Who, oh who, might be responsible for such strange and, one might suggest tasteless juxtaposition? Perhaps The Lancashire Telegraph had a clue?
On Monday, the Lancashire Telegraph exclusively revealed how county bosses had suspended the staff after launching an investigation.
Did The Lancashire Telegraph reveal, exclusively or otherwise our email Photoshop , um, graphic artists? Tasteless cartoonists, one is almost tempted to say, for some reason one can’t quite define…
The staff, who work in different departments across County Hall,
So they’re diverse right from the start, which has got to be good, right?
…were suspended on Thursday ahead of disciplinary proceedings and could be sacked if found guilty of gross misconduct.
One of the worker's suspended…
Remember the strict fact-checking typical of the mainstream media which puts it way above the amateurish and slapdash blogosphere? Not to mention qualified journalists being dab hands at spell-checking and punctuation?
…has told the Lancashire Telegraph of her shock at the action taken against her.
The worker, who declined to be named,
But I’m prepared to bet she isn’t called Sharon McPherson…
Actually, alas, she may be. There are all-to-many Sharon McPhersons in this world willing to go along with whatever alleged racism it is if you compare Nazi Germany with whoever in
said: "At the time of the
"Yes, they shouldn't have been sent to my work email, but there was nothing in them that was racist.
"I am not a racist person. I only heard that it was racist when I read the paper and heard it on the news.
Well that’s what the paper and the news do, see? They find out the truth about stuff - even stuff about you yourself that even you don’t know to be true, yeah? They supply all the details, all the facts, all the context. Like here.
"There are a lot of people who we work with in my department who receive explicit emails and pictures which I may consider offensive but they have not been suspended.
"I was very, very shocked as I do not consider myself as a racist person.
Me neither, love, but you should’ve seen what they printed about me at university for criticizing the PLO.
"If it was a racist or offensive the computer system would have blocked the email and I would have denied me access to it.
Such faith in technology has she, young Obi Wan. But hasty is she, and foolish.
And the joke is, she really means it. She really thinks that there’s some marvellous programme written in Brixton or
This is Very Old Labour’s
"Emails with anything offensive on them never slip through the barrier at Lancashire County Council."
None shall pass! Call Neo and Trinity, for it seems the Matrix has re-emerged triumphant.
County Hall bosses have declined to reveal how the offensive content came to their attention.
All staff emails use a filter system which can detect offensive language.
But I’m betting that ‘zionist’ ‘apes’ and ‘dogs’ didn’t make the final cut, huh? What about ‘Tories?’ when referring to a party that’s been called Conservative for 150 years?
The suspended staff could be sacked if found to have committed gross misconduct.
Some workers are being represented by Unison, the largest union at the council.
I know: I just know without being told, that something stupid is about to be said…
Regional rep Jim Moodie said: "We are aware that three or four of our members have been affected by this.
"We have said we will represent them with regard to any allegations but we are not aware of the specific details yet."
Well, that’s probably because specific facts seem to be in such short supply at County Hall this year.
It must take years to produce an incisive intelligence like Mister Moodie’s.
Generations, even. What a cosy home life he must have up there in the backwoods country of
The police are not involved in the investigation.
Oh, so it’s that uncriminal sort of racism, if any. Hardly racism at all, really. Not the sort that requires massive police presence, local government investigation and children being interviewed and casework being set up. I don’t think that any naming and shaming will be forthcoming, as DJ pointed out in his scoop about this one.
In a letter sent to councillors, chief executive Ged Fitzgerald said the staff had been suspended for “inappropriate email use” and promised a “thorough and formal investigation”.
He warned members that “investigations of this nature may result in disciplinary action or in some cases termination of employment” and added: “I am sure you will understand the need for us to adopt a stringent approach to this issue.”
Well, yes, racism’s about as bad as it can get. There are simply some ideas and opinions that just can’t be tolerated. This is
The suspensions were normal HR practice for such serious incidents, he added.
Council leader Hazel Harding said: “We have a code of conduct for anyone who uses our email systems and we take it very seriously.”
Les Parker, a Unite union rep, said: “I have been here for 40-odd years, and I have never seen anything like this number of people suspended in one go.
“Usually it’s one person or maybe two, never ever in the teens like this.
"For this to have happened it’s got to be serious.
Labour county councillor Terry Burns, who represents Burnley North East, said: “We have a very strict policy on emails, and all the staff know about it.”
Lib Dem group leader David Whipp said: “I am concerned that something like this is happening with public employees.”
So my public employee boss can get away with dropping little gems into his casual conversation as ‘Whose idea was this? Some nob of a Tory, I suppose?’ over some unLeftie aspect of Mister Blair’s home justice policy, and can escape unscathed after repeatedly celebrating Mrs. Thatcher’s death with gleeful anticipation, and all but weeps about Hillsborough and will brook no questioning of The Line, but some delicate sensitivities must be treated more fairly, or indeed not named at all…
Lancashire Council of Mosques senior vice chairman Salim Mulla said his group had been in contact with County Hall relating to the suspensions.
Whoa! Hang on a minute! What the heck’s going on here? What on Earth has any of this got to do with religion? Did I miss something in the finely-balanced journalism and facts-feast that is this story?
He said: “I believe it was an exchange of views on the Israeli Palestine situation.
“Lancashire County Council should be sensible in dealing with these issues.
I wonder how ‘sensible’ is defined in this context, and how, precisely, it differs from ‘Muslims can’t be racist so don’t even think about it, buster?’
Of course, it would be unjust to tar all Muslims and all their criticisms of Israeli conduct with the same Islamo-fascist brush. Most of them are just trying to get by in life and paying back the tax burden that we now all owe to the government unto the twentieth generation, and aren’t interested in the politics of the
Still and all I can’t help wondering if in some funny sort of way the brush itself might be under attack here.
"In any organisation you get emails that do not relate to the job, and to suspend people for it sends out the wrong message.”
Unlike a message that implies or states that Jews are Nazis, that is.
It’s so difficult to know where to start on this one because it’s such a fouled-up mess that typifies so much that‘s wrong with Britain. That it’s happening in my neck of the woods is doubly vexing.
The pussy-footing around the issue of Islamist anti-Semitism might be a subtle and responsible way of protecting the Muslim community, and trying to prevent inter-racial violence between ‘Asians’ and others. But this in itself begs the question of who would fear violence, and what evidence would a responsible journalist be working with that violence might follow?
Well, quite: lots and lots, actually.
So the first elephant in the room is Islamist violence and intimidation – its constant threat to native white population and the law-abiding majority of Muslims who’ll suffer if the large minority of hot-heads decides to kick off.
And there’s the fact-free journalism typical of the mainstream media; perhaps intimidated and self-censoring due to aforementioned Islamist violence or Political Correctness. In which cases, what and who is this Jimmy Olsen look-alike protecting?
Come on Mister Moseley, isn’t there anything you can write to contextualize any of this?
Then there’s the racism-as-satanism meme that Left-wing councils maintain as an alternative to free speech – free speech that might continue to articulate the utter failure of socialism as a source or preserver of human happiness and decency. Leftism sucks, but fortunately its supporters’ disasters in the economic, moral, and legal spheres can be forgotten if we all join hands to face the common foe of racism stalking our land and poisoning its institutions; stealing our jobs and women, and threatening our precious bodily fluids.
Then there’s the witch-hunt itself: the power and intrusiveness being used and the assumption that monitoring and controlling peoples’ private thoughts and feelings is an okay thing for local government to do to its employees.
Don’t get me wrong, I can understand a responsible public body wanting to keep its internal email use responsible and professional, and agree that it should do so. And in no way do I endorse Islamist anti-Semitism, but still, is there any chance at all that the language of emails regarding strikes and party politics would be investigated at all let alone with anything like this vigour? Describing conservatives as baby-killing fascists is the Marxian Left’s long-term moral goal here. Today this is ‘good power’ by my lights but next time it could be me emailing this very post home to publish it who gets investigated.
What’s all this aboot
But the last elephant; and the really nice elephant that I’m sure I want to celebrate here, is that someone in County Hall’s been forced to acknowledge the possibility of some connection between the defamation of
And for that at least, I’m grateful.
Complicated, isn’t it?
* Khali men al rasas. Transl. ‘Very, very tiny pig’s testicles.’
1 comment:
Matrix has re-emerged triumphant.
Indeed so.
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