Perhaps the Daily Mail should be sued for damaging people’s health? Across Britain, millions have cringed so hard at its audaciously sexist front page that they’ve strained their face muscles, or given themselves a migraine from slamming their heads repeatedly against the nearest wall.
It comes to something when this open sewer is still capable of shocking us with its stench. The newspaper’s decision to objectify the legs of the country’s most prominent female politicians — focusing on what they look like rather than what they stand for — represents one of its many lows. But while it should be mocked, parodied, ridiculed, it should terrify us: Because it is indicative of what is happening in Brexit Britain.
Yes, the Daily Mail has form. This previously Hitler-supporting rag once attacked Ralph Miliband — a Jewish refugee who fought the Nazis — as the “man who hated Britain” — because of his left-wing beliefs. This is somewhat ironic as the Daily Mail hates almost everything about modern Britain. On a daily basis, it spews out hatred about women, immigrants, Muslims, the National Health Service, comprehensive education, unions, the welfare state: You name it, they hate it.
But there is something far more sinister about this front page. Britain is now in the throes of a national counter-revolution. Thought Brexit was all about Britain’s relationship with the European Union (EU)? It wasn’t even just about immigration. While millions who voted Leave had multiple, complex reasons for their choice, the most bigoted elements of British society decided that the referendum presented them with a mandate.
This was a glorious national uprising not simply against Brussels, they decided, but against “political correctness”, against the conquests made by everything from the anti-racist movement to feminism to trans rights. The gloves were off, they decided. You’ve had your party, PC liberal do-gooders, and now it’s over and you will pay. And so we end up with hate crimes surging on Britain’s streets, with judges denounced as “enemies of the people”, all because they want parliamentary scrutiny, while female politicians are leered at for having legs.
For the right-wing Brexiters, this is a great national awakening, the resurrection of mighty Britannia. In truth, they want to turn the United Kingdom into the drunk man at closing time, stumbling around yelling obscenities at everyone, leering at women and shouting racist abuse. Both the Brexiters and the Trumpists believe that their respective nations can be freed from the oppressive yoke of minority rights and feminism. So yes, mock and ridicule that front page. But above all else, be prepared to fight back — because the bigots are winning the battle for their country’s future, and that should terrify us all.
— Guardian News & Media Ltd
Owen Jones is a columnist and the author of Chavs: The Demonisation of the Working Class and The Establishment — And How They Get Away With It.
