IN THE old year just gone, the response of the establishment commentariat to the unforeseen ‘Jeremy Corbyn phenomenon’ is a fascinating case-study in Thomas Kuhnian paradigm theory.
Reading their unremittingly carping commentaries, one would never imagine that Corbyn’s ascendancy has ignited a bush-fire of enthusiasm across the land – not least here in Stroud, with hundreds of new members flocking to the Corbyn-led Labour Party.
The consistently anti-Corbyn bias from the BBC and liberal-left newspapers, and the orchestrated campaign of hate from the right-wing print media, show all too clearly that the tired old paradigm is quite incapable of grasping that with Corbyn, we’re in an entirely new era where the old ways of thinking just do not work any more.
This explains why, notwithstanding the abject failure of the commentariat to predict either Corbyn’s leadership victory or the recent Oldham by-election triumph, their unrelenting diet of dire predictions for Corbyn’s Labour Party in 2016 reveals a media that is hopelessly stuck in, and paralysed by, their own outmoded narrative.
If the establishment continues to fail to comprehend the new paradigmatic reality, I predict that we’re headed for a momentous “electoral 1945 moment” in 2020.
Dr Richard House
Stroud
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article