Laura Miller Brunel University

1
Laura Miller Brunel University

• New media the BNPs unholy alliance

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Co-option of Rights Discourses

• Part of new self-presentation
• Alignment with broader consensus
• Victimhood as warrant

3
The role of blogging

• Permission to personalise
• Creation of ideological community through
  structure of blogosphere
• New form of public sphere

4
Character and Performance

• Self-knowing presentation of identity and
  selfhood
• Contrast with Otherness
• Alignment with cultural values of virtue

5
Uses of Humour

• Having been a university boxer many years ago, I
  can tell you that the boxing analogy is actually
  rather accurate. There's the same pre-match
  nerves, that sinking feeling in your stomach and
  the voice in your head that asks "why the hell
  did I get myself into this position?" Your
  stomach suggests a visit to the toilet in the
  back of the cell at the side of the dock (the
  security guards discretely slip back into the
  dock itself under such circumstances, giving one
  more privacy than the half height screen that
  serves as a toilet door). The only thing I can
  tell you is that this part of the process is very
  much harder when wearing boxing gloves!

6
Establishment of Authority

• Having been in a far more public ring with the
  likes of Jeremy Paxman, James Naughtie, Sue
  McGregor, Jeremy Vine, Peter Allen, Jeremy Bowen,
  Angela Rippon (who really does have lovely legs,
  by the way), various pretty Sky News blondes, and
  the near psychotic Tim Sebastian, my bout with Mr
  Jameson soon settled down into a fairly painless
  routine Question jabs out, answer blocks or
  slips it, "thank you for that, Mr. Griffin"
  (delivered in a tone which says "gotcha", but I
  quickly realise that's the same empty bravado as
  when an opponent in the ring grins when you've
  just landed a punch that really hurt), then move
  on to another question.

7
Evaluation of Performance

• This is the greatest show on earth. Watching
  Nick debate with this over paid little man is
  wonderful, for all his money and the many many
  times he has stood in court he simply can't get a
  grip of Nick whatsoever. Nick sounds cool and
  calm throughout, barely phased by the constant
  barrage of questioning. Jameson even spots that
  Nick can see what questions he is going to ask
  next, he is being outclassed. Nick points out
  that Jameson has had to trawl very carefully
  though these speeches to find sentences and
  phrases to couple together to try to prove points.

8
Evaluation of the Other

• The same is true of the lying parasites behind
  me in the press section of the public gallery,
  who in their reports of the day later predictably
  make no mention at all of my evidence about their
  own failings or my reasons for concluding that
  Islam is a menace. People like Hamza and the
  smoother fundamentalists of the Muslim council of
  Britain I respect - they believe they have a
  higher mission and they work to carry it out -
  but for these upper class or media luvvie vermin,
  who have sold their own people out for money and
  a career, I have nothing but hatred.

9
Vindication of Self

• TV crews and still photographers surge forwards,
  and I shake hands with 'St. George' (many thanks,
  Derek) amid a sea of flashlights and a media
  scrum. One of our Event Stewards (clearly visible
  in smart high-viz tabards) hands me a hand-held
  megaphone and I address the crowd briefly. I
  thank them for coming and point out the clear
  contrast between them and the hate-filled workshy
  rabble across the street. I go on to say that the
  prosecution now cannot win "Either we walk free,
  and millions of people will hold their heads a
  little higher and feel a little more free to
  speak their minds, or we are jailed, and millions
  of people will be utterly disgusted by the fact
  that we are sent to prison simply for telling the
  truth."

10
Conclusion

• Reproduction of contentious arguments (generally
  hinted at in publications) warranted by trial and
  blog.
• Formulation of unholy alliances between groups.
• Harnessing the urgency of the blogosphere