28 May 2020
Cummings and Goings
Twittering is for Birds
by J.R. Thomas
Now, concerning this fellow Cummings. This column has two strong opinions on Mr Cummings. The trouble is that those opinions are in sharp conflict with each other.
We need the likes of Dom, British politics needs him, however sullen and abrupt and badly shaven and weirdly dressed he might be (thank goodness you cannot see your columnist this glorious morning) to shake the tree, to change the world, to challenge the sclerotic orthodoxy of British politics. Many of the truths of life are indeed eternal but the details do need change. Britain has never been very good at change, not least perhaps because life here is so agreeable. When change is needed it has to be driven by a very strong personality armed with at least the suggestion of a big stick – an Elizabeth I, a Cromwell, a Pitt, a Disraeli, an Attlee, a Thatcher, a Blair. Blair, you shriek! Well, yes, he began a process of change, though arguably he did not think deeply enough about it, and his distractions in Iraq meant he did not carry it through. That job needs finishing; reform to the Civil Service, to governmental structure, to the constitution. To work out how in the digital populist age we debate, decide, and above all, deliver. Mr Cummings is perhaps the leading radical thinker of our times who might just do that. (David Miliband also, if he would turn his mind back to it.)
But. There is always a but, of course. But. The Thatchers and the Disraelis and the Attlees were not swivel eyed loons who spent their days thinking the unthinkable (Cromwell arguably was). They had their Dominics to do that for them, and it was generally thought wise to keep their wild thinkers out of the public gaze and certainly out of the governmental system. That way the public did not get frightened and the inhabitants of Whitehall did not get defensive. If the backroom loons behaved oddly or shaved their heads or went out driving, then little harm done and they could be disavowed. And in their backrooms go on working and thinking and producing drafts for the new dawn. That is a structure which should not be changed. Mr Cummings, in particular, should not be sitting in public sight, let alone in 10 Downing Street.
There are two reasons, at least, for that. One is that radical policy making is not something to be attempted amongst the smooth conversations and polished processes of Whitehall. It should be dreamed up and thrown about and tested and turned into documents all hidden well away until it is ready for adoption by the government. At which point, of course, all hell will break loose, politically and bureaucratically, but by then the Horse has been pushed into the city and its secret cargo unloaded.
The other reason, one of our times, is the amount of political debate now taking place in the dark, strange, and violent atmosphere of social media. This column recently finally joined Twitter. By the time you read this it will have left it. If that is what passes for modern public debate, you, as many Twitter correspondents would say, but more vulgarly; you can stuff it. It is a vile place, a sort of modern version of a Victorian drink den or heroin hole, full of ranting and abuse. Twitter is an invention with no benefits to humanity, only downsides. So many persons who may be perfectly lovable and respectable in private life, once they get into their twitter feed, seem to become abusive, intolerant, vulgar, repetitive, and indeed lose their ability to write coherently or even spell. (Joe Biden writes sweet little notes. They make him sound utterly out of touch with the modern world. It won’t bring you any votes, Joe. Just drop it.)
It’s not just Twitter of course. In the next door Facebook saloon is the same shouting, swearing, heaving, brawling crowd. But at least Facebook allows more words for reasoned discussion and some subtlety of argument. It is possible to learn something new on Facebook, and indeed there are a number of learned special interest groups to leaven the brawlers.
It’s not just the cesspits of social media that have no manners, that do not pause to think, that appear to have had common sense and humanity amputated. Open the cathedral doors – well, actually you can’t, they are all locked – and out come the nation’s Bishops. Leeds and Worcester and Norwich and Ripon and Newcastle and yet more. Christian patience, tolerance, forebearance, and understanding? A sympathetic and supporting (metaphorical) hand to those taken sick and troubled, trying to best protect their child? Not likely. The Bishops don’t even need Twitter to hit a man when he is down; in go the purple daggers – before Mr Cummings even had a chance to explain and justify (a “with benefit of hindsight” apology might have added something too, Dom.) A few weeks ago this column called for church doors to be unlocked. We should like to modify that. Unlock them but keep the Bishops out, send them on a ten year course of basic Christian caring.
But no doubt Mr Cummings does not care, indeed probably nobody cares, nobody out there is really listening to anybody else, or considering or modifying their position. It is frightening to think that public opinion is being expressed in this way and it is one of the reasons why populism is the political movement of our time. The brawlers and shouters are taking over. The whole thing is a serious threat to our whole civilised gentle freedom loving democratic way of life.
It, alas, will not go away, but we must learn how to live with it, to persuade others to behave in a world which permits, nay, encourages, such semi-anonymous abuse. The best hope is probably that eventually, when the users realise nobody ever listens to them, they will get bored with it and give up. It would help if politicians and serious persons would stop Twittering major announcements – Donald T of Washington DC – as though that was the way to reach anybody. It isn’t. It is just a way to be mocked and vilified but of course the serious persons broadcasting their serious messages do not read their feedback, so still think social media use makes them look hip.
As we suggested in our notes on the BBC a few weeks ago, we live in an age when rudeness seems to have become prized as a means of expression. Rudeness can be witty; satire is a dangerous weapon but used with economy and accuracy it can be powerfully revealing. But most of what is flickering endlessly across social media is not wit; it is nonsense. Enough damage has been done; away with it please.
