Alastair Campbell was the guest host of Have I Got News for You this week. While the bright young comics of 10 O’Clock Live were downright obsequious towards him Ian Hislop was at least a bit disdainful: firing off gags about Iraq, state secrets and the manipulation of public opinion. Therein lies the problem. Those are subjects that deserve more than gags. Campbell giggled over each of the veteran satirist’s jibes because he knows the programme has all the teeth of an octogenarian with an 8 can-a-day coke habit. There’s no moral power to its comedy: warmongering is treated with no more seriousness than dodgy tax returns and either will have been forgotten once they’ve reached the missing words round. It’s essentially a roast: the panelists insult the visiting politico but they win affection or, at least, grudging respect by showing their ability to have a laugh at their own expense. And, being rational enough to grasp that mild embarrassment is a small price to pay for this, they giggle like schoolchildren. So, you helped to plot a catastrophic war, Alastair? Giggle, titter, chortle, guffaw et cetera.
Our political culture is unpleasantly forgiving. Not that I’ve got anything against forgiveness; it’s just it’s expected, in any other context, that the object of one’s pardon should first accept responsibility for their wrongdoings. In politics, however, where misdeeds are of the greatest consequence, what happens in Westminster or Washington tends to stay there. Thus, Paul Wolfowitz, an architect of the Iraq invasion, chatted about Syria on yesterday’s Newsnight while Campbell, a vicious bully whose indifference to the truth allowed him to help con us into joining it, cracked jokes on Have I Got News for You and the only mentions of the war elicited laughs.
June 6, 2012 at 1:36 pm
Unpleasantly forgiving, or unpleasantly apathetic?
June 6, 2012 at 2:52 pm
Well, both. But the “forgiving” part was the audience’s willingness to chuckle along with Monsieur Campbell.
June 6, 2012 at 4:29 pm
At least Hislop did throw a few barbs at Campbell; I almost threw up over Wolfowitz attempting to be an authority on war crimes.
June 6, 2012 at 5:13 pm
I should probably clarify that I agree with you, I find the approach distasteful. (That’s not to suggest that there isn’t value in the ‘just enough rope to hang themselves’ approach, but I think that’s distinct as it has a clear agenda and is irrelevant in this scenario). In addition to apathy, I think that there’s a tribal attitude towards some figures. Think how many people still think Obama’s cool, when his foreign policy suggests something quite different. I think people overlook (deliberately or otherwise) because their man is deemed to be the good guy keeping Republicans, or Tories at bay – a victim of right wing nutters and the media. And people except that leaders have to get dirty hands. (And I’d argue that excepting dirty hands are distinct from forgiveness).
… I haven’t even seen the episode of HIGNFY – you just got me thinking.
June 6, 2012 at 5:14 pm
Septicisle -
Indeed! I look forward to Gordon Ramsay lamenting the vulgarisation of culture; Pepe bemoaning foul play in football; EL James wondering what happened to the classics et cetera.
Kit -
Very true. One only has to compare peoples’ reactions to similar behaviour from different political figures. It’s amusing, for example, to read the Conservatives who worried about Clinton’s “rush to war” in Kosovo before beating the drums for the neocons. And, indeed, Democrats who wailed about Guantanamo while Bush was the President have been much quieter throughout Barry O’s rule. If the next Republican incumbent as foreign relatives one can only speculate as to whether the parties’ supporters will be as enthusiastic about getting their grubby mitts on the birth certificate.
February 14, 2013 at 4:03 am
[...] retreated to luxurious retirements. Tony Blair is paid millions to spout cliches to plutocrats. Alastair Campbell is a guest of honour on satire [...]