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This is an odd article because the main "demagogue" featured is John Bright who was more regarded as an economic and social reformer and great parliamentary ora
by Malarkey73 10y ago
This is an odd article because the main "demagogue" featured is John Bright who was more regarded as an economic and social reformer and great parliamentary orator.
He may have aroused strong passions but was far from a populist having lost his seat opposing the then popular Crimean War.
Just because a newspaper - presumably a politically opposed newspaper- once called him demagogue doesn't make him so. Especially odd as the article ends by defining demagogues as unable to face their opponents in debate - the very talent that John Bright is historically remembered for.
- chestnut-tree 10y agoIronically, today it's the national newspapers in the UK that play the role of the demagogue. Headlines that shriek at readers in hysterical tones. Foaming-at-the-mouth outrage deliberately manufactured to inflame public opinion. Lies, deceit, distortion - it's the stock in trade of newspapers both left and right (although our right wing press are particularly vicious and nasty). Honest, truthful reporting is barely to be seen.
- triplesec 10y ago“Under the spreading chestnut tree I sold you and you sold me: There lie they, and here lie we Under the spreading chestnut tree.” So, if not in the Proles, where does our hope lie?
- Avawelles 10y agoI don't think John Bright was given as an example of a demagogue so much that he was referenced in a quote used from the 19th century, the writer of which thought he was a demagogue.