Comments on: Ohhh-klahoma

By: Max Dunbar

Max Dunbar — Tue, 20 May 2008 11:15:11 +0000

What impressed me about Dispatches was that it showed how media-savvy and sophisticated and well-organised some of these people are.

True, there are shrieking fundamentalists like Stephen Green who routinely convict themselves out of their own mouths. But Williams presented herself and her organisation very well, even though her views are as hardcore fundamentalist as Green’s.

Example: during a Westminster demo she steered cameras away from some deranged skinhead screaming about repetance and brimstone. When asked by the reporter: ‘Is it what he says, or the way he’s saying it?’ Williams said (quoting from memory) ‘I don’t disagree at all… but it’s all about presentation.’

These people need to be taken seriously - although it’s always difficult when we’re talking about Nadine Dorries…

By: john b

john b — Tue, 20 May 2008 09:26:00 +0000

“ah, she’s just a Quisling for a group of males who have found a way they can re-package good old sexism as ethics.”

I’m genuinely not sure that this is a reasonable way to characterise women like Dorries who are anti-choice - indeed, it’s almost sexism in itself to say “no sane woman could want her reproductive rights restricted, so she must be brainwashed by evil men”.

(according to the YouGov poll discussed and admittedly criticised on another thread, a *higher* proportion of women than men support greater restrictions on abortion…)

By: V Samuel

V Samuel — Tue, 20 May 2008 07:34:01 +0000

On thing which is interesting is that this prompted me to look at my Conservative MPs voting record and revise my previously good opinion of him. It is noticable that when he was voting (rightly in my view) to oppose the ban on fox hunting he was all for freedom and keeping the state and public sentiment based on very poor information out of private decisions. When it comes to one of his female constituents, suddenly I’m a moral imbecile and not to be allowed to make my own decisions in my own life over my own body. Freedom for him, but not for me, because I am female and can neither be expected nor allowed to make my own decisions.

Why a Dorries goes along with this is one of the mysteries of the universe. She is a direct beneficiary of the view of her as a morally competent fully-aware being, not ruled by her genitals. This suits her when it comes to being allowed to hold a seat as an MP, and she presumably thinks that her decision to dump a marriage is her own business, but when it comes to some other woman’s body, then suddenly only Nadine is able to make a decision on their behalf. The technical name for this is ‘Queen Bee’ but at least as plausible description is ‘useful idiot’. Dorries thinks she’s being respected for her own views; nah, she’s just a Quisling for a group of males who have found a way they can re-package good old sexism as ethics.

It’s been a useful discussion in as much as it has shown that the Conservative front bench’s authoritarian streak is, from the point of view of someone on the receiving end, indistinguishable from the left-wing variety. The first chance they’ve had to refuse to allow further state incursion in to the decisions which should be taken in the individual case and resist ill-founded hysterical appeals to emotion, and they have failed abysmally. They also failed to spot Dorries for a barker.

The Conservatives look as though they can still snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and be caught reverting to nasty-party type, particularly when it comes to kicking women whilst simultaneously preening themselves about their superior moral sentiments.

By: Alan Thomas

Alan Thomas — Tue, 20 May 2008 06:59:30 +0000

Mind you, given the damp squib that the “anti” vote proved to be last night, I imagine the pro-choice side will be OK today.

By: HumbleNorm

HumbleNorm — Mon, 19 May 2008 23:06:24 +0000

I watched bits of it through my fingers, but I’m ashamed to say that I had to keep switching over, as some of the stuff the fundies were spouting was setting my teeth on edge. The bit that really stuck in my head was one gentleman, talking straight-faced about how “us native Britons” and Christian immigrants weren’t reproducing enough, creating the threat of Muslims getting into power and provoking the wrath of God.
As I say, I wasn’t particularly good at forcing myself to watch (I have a thing about ranting loonies) It was definitely scary to discover how much influence certain crackpots seem to have over a Member of Parliment though.

By: Sunny Hundal

Sunny Hundal — Mon, 19 May 2008 21:17:26 +0000

Sweet. It would have helped if this programme was last week. None of the MSM coverage focused on Nadine Dorries’ links to these Christian fundamentlists except on blogs. Shameful.

Can anyone get this on YouTube? I missed it unfortunately.