Hey,
So, whilst re-familiarising myself with the University's surroundings following the summer's reprise (and more recently the activities of Fresher's Week) amidst the Fraser Building, the GUU and QMU were rather unflattering posters and graffiti of the current government and their proposed heavy spending cuts. Excuse my language for a moment, but the general theme of this PR was that of "Fuck Off Tory Scum".
Now, before I continue, can I stress that I oppose said cuts. In my opinion these cuts are extremely premature due to the fragile economy and the threat of a double-dip recession and other equally frightening jargon. But by venting anger in this way, involving spray paint, swear words and megaphones is wrong and a bit thoughtless. In pragmatic terms the bill to clean up the graffiti will have to be met by the educational institutions they are trying to protect. It's like trying to raise awareness STDs by writing "I Have Chlamydia" on someone. Yes, your point has been made, but you're not the one who has to go round with that on your shirt, are you? The use of the loud megaphones push more people away from their views than pull them in, and it kind of portrays an image not of "freedom of speech" but of "my voice is louder than yours".
In an article in The Guardian Charlie Brooker wrote of how the Left is generally not as good as the Right at creativity, and with this point he is right; whilst the Left has had to deal with such phrases as "Deficit Deniers" or supporting an apparent "Job's Tax" (the proposed National Insurance contribution increase) we on the Left's line hasn't really strayed too far away from "Nazis!" or "Fascists!". Or in this case, "Scum!".
A change in approach feels needed. Although Charles Saatchi (the man behind the famous "Labour Isn't Working" election poster) recently said in The Times that only negative campaigning is truly successful, that doesn't make it right. Ethically, how can you claim moral high ground when you are attacking a faction of society the way these posters do, in this case those of upper-class and prestigious educational backgrounds . Yes, the Government's proposals may be wrong, but by bringing it down to a class war is simply not the way forward. If roles were reversed, how would we like it if "Fuck Off Poor Twats" (or something similar) was brandished around in an equally carefree manner? I suspect it would not go down too well.
Believe it or not but people outside our higher-education bubble voted Conservative. As a consequence, we have a Government that many of us didn't want. The only way we can ensure that this doesn't happen again is that we campaign in the right ways until 2015, but that shouldn't involve megaphones and swear words.
