Since the Panorama broadcast which highlighted FIFA corruption, just before FIFA's decision was announced, it is hardly surprising that most of the blame has been directed at FIFA as their apparent corruption has been exposed - although, more shamefully, some have blamed the BBC for daring to broadcast their allegations at such an inconvenient time. How dare they? Without going into this well-trodden debate too deeply, suffice to say that I would far prefer a free press to a World Cup.
For me, though, there was one angle on the bid failure that almost all news outlets failed to pick up on. All but one - the Daily Mail.
In a quite extraordinary article entitled "Was this the video that cost us? The very un-English presentation screened to FIFA delegates", the blackshirts' favourite daily (through the medium of the hopefully-made-up "Paul Harris") decided that the bid failure was entirely down to - you guessed it - Political Correctness Gawn Mad.
In an article peppered with sarcasm, and liberally sprinkled with screengrabs from the England 2018 bid video (one hilariously subtitled "A clip from the part of the video depicting a Muslim country" - gasp! Muslims! RUN!!), the Daily Fail employs the usual code, not quite racist enough to prompt a complaint but plenty racist enough to make most sane people feel ill.
This, remember, is the same paper that arguably started the process of the bid failure by exposing Lord Triesman's affair (and his off-the-record allegations of bid corruption) some six months ago - including this classic pair of 'articles' praising Lord Triesman's mistress and pointing out TWICE that it is not hard to see why he might find her "ivory skin" alluring. God forbid that a man might fancy a girl with some colour.
They didn't even bother trying to rewrite the sentence:
The woman who cost Football Association chief Lord Triesman his job is revealed as a flame-haired 37-year-old with an impressive academic background.
As the Labour peer reflects on his speedy exit it is not hard to see why a man of 66 might find Melissa Jacobs with her slim physique and ivory skin alluring.
And....
It's not hard to see why a man of 66 might find Melissa Jacobs attractive.
With flowing flame red hair, a slim physique and ivory skin, she looks younger than her 37 years and has, it seems, an impressive academic background to boot.
Note to journalism students - clearly if your work to date comprises lazy stereotypes, and liberal use of copy/paste, there's a career out there for you somewhere.
So. Anyway. Back to the bid, and why it failed. It's not so much the article itself that is staggering - although it is, particularly with quotes like:
Selfless, that's us. Doing it for the greater good of the world. You could see it in the faces the film featured from locations all around the planet.
They've got the wrong kind of faces, you see. That's the problem. We failed because we used "ethnically diverse figures" (ie black people), or "African and Asian spectators" (ie black people), featuring fans including a "Caribbean family" (ie black people). To be fair they also point out that "close-ups of the players further underline the multinational diversity of our favourite Premiership icons" (yes, it seems even the team itself has been infiltrated by... black people). Terrifying, isn't it.
Well... no. No, it isn't. Not as terrifying as some of the comments, anyway. Here is a selection.
Britain has "multiculturalism" and is frightened to death of "offending" anyone.- But at least we're not frightened of "superfluous punctuation".
Silly me thinking England was predominantly a white, christian country. Shows How wrong I was then.- Or, perhaps, it just shows how racist and intolerant you are. Silly you indeed.
How disgusting that whoever organied this shambles of a bid chose not to portray England as English.- Did we portray England as Fijian? I missed that bit.
Of course the good thing about losing the bid is that we wont have thousands of "spectators" claiming asylum.- The bad thing is, you already live here.
The way we are going England is going to look like that before too long anyway.- Yes, that's right. Because THEY breed, don't they.
Until the english start having some pride in Englishness instead of constantly living their lives through the cultures of other ethnic and national groups, they are simply not going to get themselfs out of the social malaise they're trapped in.- This from a reader in, er, New Zealand.
Dear oh dear. We seem determined to PC ourselves out of existence.- I think this one was looking for an IT helpline.
Maybe if England had done more to promote the Englishness of football and a little less multicultural ribbish theyd hVe had a better chance. Sucking up being all PC obviously failed miserably- And this from a reader who loves England so much he lives in, um, Canada. Where apparently they say 'ribbish' a lot.
Once again, an example of how we are too scared to celebrate our national identity for fear that the PC brigade will come along and moan that there are not enough different cultures and minorities represented.- Now I'm getting images of the PC Brigade, sort of like the Light Brigade, but with black people instead of horses.
This is the problem with multi culturalism...everyone loses their identity amidst the racial and cultural mash.....- Bloody hell, even the potatoes are multicultural.
toe curlingly embarrassing, the insincere simpering and whimpering, the extraordinary, and weird obsession that this country has developed for multiculture- Yes, it's us that's obsessed with multiculture isn't it. Yes.
Our heritage has been sold down the river, what remains is a hotchpotch that few people feel any connection with. England I am afraid is dead and soon even its history will be rewritten!- Branching out from a World Cup bid to a complete rewrite of the school history curriculum. Because of these fools, we lost at Agincourt and Waterloo.
In this film Britain looks like a foreign country, which increasiingly it seems to be- Based on last week, that foreign country is Greenland. Brrr.
It makes me feel sick to the stomach when we have this 'multicultural' rubbish rubbed in our faces. We should stick to traditional values and celebrate our heritage.- Yeah! We want traditional values! Like xenophobia! And bigotry! Yay!
Final proof our identity, heritage and history have been whittled away!!- You read it here first, people - England is now just a sharpened stick.
I want to see a video of GB, not Africa!! It's about football!! Not multiculturalism!!- No!! It's about exclamation marks!! Lots!! Of!! Them!!
We are hardly the country we used to be. We have been watered down to much by uncontrolled immigration and folks wanting asylum.- Ah yes, the purity of our gene pool, watered down by... oh I can't be bothered.
Typical. Hijacked by the PC loony left multiculturalists.- Loony left? Who, exactly? David Cameron?
This country is dying because of its own generosity. Anyone can come here, be what they like, pray how they like, behave how they like.....no worries, the natives will pay, the natives will tolerate. It doesn't surprise me that our promotional video was full of foreigners; even if it had only been filmed in England it would still have been full of foreigners. Did I say this country was dying? yes, we had an Empire but it was largely taking good things to the world.- I don't know where to start with how wrong this statement is. I just hope this person doesn't live near me.
well i am pleased, it will keep some of the scum of the world trying to get here more easier on the back of being a football supporter.- Er, I'm pretty sure we've got plenty of our own scum right here...
And my personal favourite:
Well done Daily Mail for having the courage to speak up and say the things the silent majority are thinking!. It's about time we took pride in OUR culture for once.
If only Diana were here to see what this nation has become. What would she say?
Now, ask yourself. Honestly. Do you want to host a World Cup, and find people like this welcoming fans and players from around the world (ie black people)? Neither do I.
Disappointed kids wondering what Diana would say
I haven't looked at your blogs for a while. Thought you gave up, actually. So good to see you back.
ReplyDeleteThis one made me love you more.