David Osland writes:
It has been a while since I last read How to Win Friends and Influence People, “fucking fools” who need to change their “fucking minds”. But such is now the level of debate in the Observer, which yesterday carried an extraordinary piece of Corbyn-bashing from the pen of Nick Cohen, concluding in just such a fevered peroration.
but I do not recollect Dale Carnegie advising Sunday newspaper columnists to win over readers by branding them
Let’s just say the polemic has all the hallmarks of being a product of what we must now learn to call “the late night typewriter.” At least the sight of the guy who likes to style himself the Orwell de nos jours descending into two minutes’ hate of Goldstein is not without a certain entertainment value.
Such secondary school playground cuss-word invective perhaps prompts a retort no more profound than ‘fuck off you fucking tosser’. But permit me to assume the mantle of a foul-mouthed latter-day Erasmus, and attempt the fucking praise of fucking folly. The substantive content – such as it is – is a tired and emotional rehash of the familiar charge-sheet against the Labour left project.
Labour sits at around 25% in the polls, and if there were a snap general election, that would result in a major loss of Labour seats. That “endangers British democracy”, as it ensures Tory government in perpetuity. Nor has Corbynism won back Scotland. There follows a somewhat implausible passage, maintaining that the Tories feared the fierce opposition to austerity purportedly propounded by Ed Balls and Chuka Umunna.
After that, it’s on to the inevitable Stalin analogy. When all else fails, elide a fluffed performance at PMQs with the Gulag Archipelago. There’s a pop at Corbyn for not having a Marxist programme. That’s right, not for having a Marxist programme, but for not having one. Go figure. And finally we get to the sweary sign-off.
To all this, the standard defences apply. Yes, Labour’s poll standing is poor, but hardly to the extent that rules out recovery or precludes victory in 2020. We can and will regain the ground. The undeniable collapse in Scotland is the creation of the Labour right, and perpetuated by continued Labour right domination of the branch office. To attempt to finger Corbyn on this one is just nonsensical.
And if comrades Balls and Umunna ever did come out against austerity, I guess I must have missed that meeting. Godwin’s Law stipulates that the first person to invoke Hitler in an online debate automatically loses. It’s high time we made the same stipulation for reductio ad Stalinism. I do confess some sympathy with Cohen’s kindly suggestion that Labour’s programme needs to be far sharper. But again, that’s a work in progress.
At a time when Labour badly needs unity, Team Corbyn remains committed to working on a building of love, even as its opponents admit to working every day to undermine it. Don’t tell me you weren’t warned about Cohen.
More on this subject:
Robbie Faulds writing on the Guardian letters page had this to say about Cohen's latest hate filled column:
Having signed up as a Guardian supporter to help ensure the future of its independent journalism, it was nice to be welcomed to the website recently with a large “Thank You” banner. I even completed the survey indicating my willingness to take an online subscription, should they become available. However, I swiftly found myself somewhat discombobulated to find one of your leading columnists stating that I was a “fucking fool” (Don’t tell me you weren’t warned about Corbyn, theguardian.com, 18 March) simply for disagreeing with his viewpoint. I’m not going to lose much sleep over this, but I think it’s only fair that I am sent another canvas bag bearing the legend “fucking fool who supports the Guardian”, which seems more appropriate.
