It's not easy being a politician in 2012 for five reasons.
1. You are born with an in-built lack of humility based on your assumption you are qualified to govern.
2. You're surrounded by people who are exactly the same.
3. You've done nothing with your life other than train to, or be, a politician.
4. You cannot see the wood for the trees.
5. That's it.
Reason 4 is the only explanation I can find for Diane Abbott choosing to use Twitter to pile into a complex debate around race, the day Stephen Lawrence's murderers are banged up. I - like many others - like her. She strikes me as someone who has three virtues you rarely see in a politician. She's honest, passionate and brave. (On bravery, how else to explain her Labour leadership bid?)
Politicians and Twitter are going to end up eating each other. Watch Question Time or listen to Any Questions, and it's not enough to listen to the views of 5 guests and an audience of 100 people. You have to have a Dimbleby stumbling over the term 'hashtag' before they start.
In its purest form, politics is about shaping a debate and influencing people within a larger narrative called society. Ideas and arguments need oxygen. They need room to breathe. They generally need more than 140 characters. Speeches, articles, print, blogs, podcasts. They're all there. And we do have time to think about these things.
Just use 130 characters and a bit.ly next time Diane. Save yourself a world of shit.
(Pic: Flickr/Amnesty International UK)
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Posted by: Online Movies | October 29, 2012 at 09:16 AM