Let's start with a fact that everyone should know. The S*n is a despicable hard-right propaganda rag that nobody should read. They have no respect for the truth or basic human decency. If they decide to attack you for any reason, they will print lie after lie to smear you, even if you've just survived a horrific football stadium disaster at the hands of a negligent police force.
On evening after The S*n mocked a footballer with black ancestry by comparing him to a gorilla and attacked the city of Liverpool on the eve of the Hillsborough disaster, hacks at The S*n decided to turn their fire on the Labour MP and Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon.
The S*n's political editor Tom Newton Dunn attacked Burgon for supposedly joining "a heavy metal band that delights in Nazi symbols". Everything about the story is fact-averse nonsense.
Burgon hasn't joined the (not very famous) band Dream Troll, they're actually some of his old heavy metal mates from his teenage years in Leeds. He still knocks about with them now that he's an MP and they invited him to sing on one track for their latest album.
The band are not Nazi sympathisers in any way.
It is so obviously a tribute to the legendary 1975 Black Sabbath album "We Sold Our Souls For Rock n' Roll" it's ridiculous. (judge for yourself).
Before they went to print The S*n hacks were sent a copy of the Black Sabbath album cover, but they denied that it was relevant to their story and published their misleading hatchet job regardless
The S*n even got rentaquote Tory MP Charlie Elphicke to put his name to a load of sanctimonious drivel criticising Richard Burgon for hanging out with his old mates, calling it a "terrible misjudgement", accusing him of "sending the wrong message" and demanding that he "distance himself from this band as soon as possible".
That lot would be sanctimonious enough in its own right, but it comes from a guy who Tweeted furious condemnation of anti-fascist protesters, but said nothing to criticise the actual fascists they were opposing.
When picking a guy to condemn someone for his old mates' totally made-up fascist sympathies, it's probably best not to pick a guy who (like a lot of other Tories) is clearly a lot more sympathetic to extreme-right fanatics than those who oppose them.
A badge of honour
 |
| Burgon is a target for hacks at The S*n because he's one of the few MPs who criticise the ruinous neoliberal economic dogma that Rupert Murdoch and The S*n endlessly propagandise in favour of. |
The problem is that an awful lot of idiots read hard-right propaganda rags* and allow themselves to be influenced by this kind of spiteful and ridiculously dishonest hatchet job.
Even if gullible people have been convinced into hating Richard Burgon by this smear-job, it's quite telling that this piss-weak fabricated nonsense is the best they can come up with to attack him.
If this embarrassingly lame rubbish is the worst they can sling at him, that just goes to show that he must be a pretty good guy that they couldn't find anything else.
Additionally, the fact that Burgon still knocks about with the mates he's known since he was a teenager, rather than going out on junkets with lobbyists and corporate executives in his spare time like a lot of other MPs do, is another quite strong indicator that he's a pretty decent bloke.
Burgon should see this embarrassingly lame fact-free character attack from bitter black-hearted hacks at The S*n as a real badge of honour.
Burgon's response
Richard Burgon posted a response to the hatchet job on his Facebook page. Here's an extract.
"When The Sun hates you and what you stand for, they'll come at you. That's not right, but it's what The Sun does to people like me who have different views and principles to those of Rupert Murdoch, Kelvin MacKenzie and the rest of them.
But The Sun should leave my mates out of it. They are not politicians and they shouldn't have their lives intruded upon in this way. They are mates and they will always be my mates. In places like Leeds, we stick together.
The Sun doesn't get that. They'll make up stories about innocent people dying at Hillsborough and not care.
They'll attack trade unionists.
They'll attack police officers for getting a lunch break.
They'll attack immigrants and asylum seekers.
They'll attack people who are looking for work and people who can't work because they're ill.
Don't ever let The Sun become "The Voice of Britain" - because if it does, we will all become victims of the hate of those who run the show at The Sun."
Boycott the S*n
On the 28th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster it's worth reiterating that no true football fan would ever touch a copy of the S*n or be seen dead sharing links to their website on social media. How could anyone imagine that The S*n wouldn't have printed the same kind of disgusting lies if it had been their club that had lost 96 fans to appalling police negligence that day?
Even if you don't like football, there's still no excuse for supporting Rupert Murdoch's disgusting hard-right propaganda empire by actually paying money to read the utterly misleading bile he's intent on spoon feeding his readers, or giving him free publicity by sharing links to The S*n website.
Another Angry Voice is a "Pay As You Feel" website. You can have access to all of my work for free, or you can choose to make a small donation to help me keep writing. The choice is entirely yours.
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