I was, I admit, very surprised and a little overwhelmed by the response to my blog entitled 'What does matter?' written and published early on Saturday morning.
If there is one part of blogging that is tedious (indeed, the only part that I find tedious) it is dealing with the comments of the cohort of pretty antagonistic and profoundly right wing commentators who post persistently, and frequently repetitively, in what seems to be a deliberate attempt, on many occasions, to waste my time.
Now agreeing with me is very definitely not a condition for posting here. In fact, I appreciate and benefit from constructive disagreement: all debate does. But it is the repetitive and aggressive nature of the opposition that characterises much if the commentary that is annoying.
I am aware that some so may own style encourages this. I do not accept that. Whilst I have over the years undoubtedly been robust (and still can be) this was pretty much a pre-condition of getting tax justice onto the agenda both in the UK and elsewhere. As most will attest when they meet me, this is not my personal style. In the face of antagonism I do not, however, accept nonsense, but the evidence of where the aggression comes from can very easily be found both in the body and comments section of things like Tim Worstall's blog, which I note he has said is no longer catalogued by Google because of its offensive nature.
So, what have I learned? First, that there are people who seem to appreciate this blog. Thank you. I really appreciate that.
Second, there are occasions when favourable commentators can massively outpost the negative ones. It's been notable that the right wing commentators here are complaining that I must have rigged the comments to achieve this outcome. That is simply not true; the vast majority of comments made to this blog (even the one requesting that I die, on this occasion) get posted.
Third, some comments were also made by email. I won't name the person who sent this - who I do not know - but I appreciated it:
Your blog is an essential reference point for me I find it concise informative and illuminating and read it as soon as it is delivered. The concern you display for your fellow human beings should be recognised and commended.
Your articulate and intelligent observations are no doubt unpalatable to a minority of individuals who recognise that you hit the nail on the head time after time.
Please keep doing what you do as you do it exceptionally well.
That point about the minority is the most important in this - although I am human, and did appreciate the rest. There are around 5,000 reads of this blog a day during the week with fewer at the weekend (although that tends to be because I blog much less at weekends and about half of all traffic seems to relate to the day's posts and half to the back catalogue). I suspect now that the vast majority of readers are sympathetic to what I write. However, the comments don't usually reflect that fact - although I greatly appreciate the few regular sympathetic commentators who do contribute and add a lot to this blog.
And in that case I think that there are lessons to learn from this.
The first is that - as many have told me - that engaging with the time wasters is pretty much that - a waste if time.
But more important, the issue is of engagement. I have often been asked when speaking what people can do to support tax justice. The answer is you don't have to write a blog or become much of an expert. But engagement helps. Support here is appreciated, but it's a bit like a letter in the Guardian; useful as an indication of support but unlikely (if I am honest) to reach many but the converted. So the need is to engage more widely and that is possible.
Papers want letters. Please write them. Say you support your local tax office. Say you regret the unfair advantage big business has over local companies. Object to any privatisation contracts. Support the local NHS. Say you don't mind paying taxes for the services you get (which is such a shocking idea you're bound to get published). If you get good service from a public authority, say so. These things do help in all sorts of ways, including with the morale of those you thank.
Also try doing the same on local radio stations - and national ones - that have phone in programmes. The BBC, in particular, has to try to get balance on these issues and sometimes struggle to achieve it. Take part. Just write down three key points at most you want to make before calling e.g.
1. I support today's strikers
2. That's because I really value (e.g. the care and support the local authority's staff have provided to my mother in law)
3. I think it unfair that the people doing the work gave seen their wages fall heavily and can't make ends meet.
Or:
1. I think large companies should be expected to pay higher rates of tax than smaller ones
2. The government has almost levelled these rates up
3. I think that's unfair because big companies can always borrow money more cheaply than small ones so the small ones need a lower rate of race to compensate for that.
Such lines are needed, urgently, because the neoliberals keep saying that competition always works, but we know it doesn't so we need the fight back material.
And if you can't do the above - well, please do comment here. And support organisations like 38 Degrees and Avaaz. Clicktivism works.
Finally, join a union. If more people did we would have greater equality in this country. And that is one of the goals of tax justice.
Thanks for reading this post.
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Thank you. Found you c/o mags news. Always read your links. Inspirational.please keep up your good work.
I will try to be braver and do some of your suggestions.
Yes thank you Richard we all need to speak up to counter the daily deluge of lies, half truths and spin especially in relation to public. The biggest success of this particular government is to turn the poor against the poor.
Very true
That’s why we need to speak out
“The biggest success of this particular government is to turn the poor against the poor. ”
Janet- you have made the most important observation here! Over the last three years, we have experienced the most vile vilification of the vulnerable and needy used as a deliberate technique to dumb-down the populace so that they do not look towards the real cause of debt and struggle paying housing costs. This alone renders this Government the most despicable in Post-War history-
The bedroom Tax
The framing of the scroungers/strivers debate
The sanctioning of over 900,000 benefit claimants
The tripling of Food bank use.
The hounding of the physically and mentally ill
Just writing the above causes me to stagger in disbelief that I’m living in a country that can tolerate this.
Divide and Rule has always been a very successful strategy. These times are so reminiscent of those portrayed in The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists that it’s uncanny.
Indeed
A very short comment to apologise for missing the ‘What does matter’ blog on Saturday, Richard. Other weekend commitments allied with deadlines for teaching material have cut my time for doing anything much else. Anyway, I could not have put my support for what you do any better or stronger than the many positive responses you received. Look after yourself.
Ivan
Thanks. Your comments here are always appreciated
Best and good luck with the work
Richard
i think the vast majority of the public are sympathetic to this blogs views but at the same time struggle to find ways to further them ourselves.
the suggestions above are excellent ones and i think we need to be thinking along exactly those lines from now on; how do we take advantage of the discontent amongst the public and translate that into effective action?
we do it in the same way Richard is no longer allowing himself to be drawn into minor skirmishes and instead focusing his full energy on what he does best.
if your a good speaker, ring the radio stations (pick the best times, like the phone-in after Question Time).
if your good at writing letters, write to the papers (ones where you can be confident of getting published, maybe starting in your local rag) and politicians.
if your good at yelling, start looking for public events you can attend (be it public sector strikes, anti-austerity marches; keep an eye out on websites like the ones Richard’s mentioned because you certainly won’t hear about them on TV!).
ask yourself what one activity you could really get pleasure out of and become good at and focus all your energy on that one thing. be a specialist!
Thanks Richard. It’s my first time posting on this blog but I’ve been following it for a while now. I really enjoy reading it and appreciate the work you do. Like you and may others who post here, I’m sickened by the actions of the coalition government on issues such as privatisation of the NHS and can see the growing inequality. At least I hear that the Land Registry is being left alone for the time being. You make a good point about the BBC needing to be more balanced, but perhaps they are worried about being next in line for privatisation?
You’re right about trying to do things to help. I recently joined a local anti-austerity group and we are supporting a campaign to get the Health and Social care act repealed. I think many people don’t realise what’s happening to the NHS, so we’re also trying to publicise that. There don’t seem to be many reasons to vote labour at the next general election, especially given that they seem to support austerity. Having said that, there might be some support for re-nationalisation of the NHS and that may be a good reason. We are trying to get firm support on this from labour MPs. Then again, I may just be under the illusion that they will keep any promises once in power. I have to do something though.
Brilliant!
And good luck
There are also some quite interesting like minded people put there, I find
I don’t wish to waste you time on going off topic, but I picked this up from another site today:
“The European Union Court of Justice has granted Apple the right to trademark the layout of its stores – only within the EU, of course. Apple already acquired the trademark for the layout of its flagship stores in the US back in 2010, and has since been trying to extend this to Europe. The German Patent and Trademark office refused the extension in 2013, but Apple appealed the Deutsch decision, and was referred to the European courts who ultimately decided to grant Apple the power to trademark its store layout across Europe.”
How on earth can anyone claim that we live in a competitive world where those that have deep pockets are capable of trademarking something like the layout of stores? We live in a world where everything – from the courts to the regulators – favours multinationals at the expense of small, medium and (worst of all) locally-owned businesses.
This is rentier capitalism
I may explain more in a Quick Take
Hi Richard, one of the reasons I enjoy your blog, is noting and learning from your responses to the “time-wasters”; it gives me(us) ammunition in dealing with similar reactions that we are each greeted with in the big wide world. So while I appreciate that you see them as “time-wasters”, I would suggest it’s not entirely a waste of time – it can a great learning for many of us – your readers and supporters.
And a BIG thank you for continuing to “run the hard yards” on this blog. I’ve learnt so much. 🙂
Anthony
I am glad there us some benefit as I suspect they will not entirely to away
Best
Richard