Althouse: What's wrong with this picture?

November 22, 2014

What's wrong with this picture?

"If you’re not British, Labour politician Emily Thornberry’s resignation for posting a tweet of a house, some flags and a van may seem baffling. Here’s why it happened."

62 comments:

The Drill SGT said...: It's the Cross of St George, e.g. the "English Flag". Lots of Muslims and Labour Pols who pander to the Muslims object to the "Flag of the Crusaders". Thus the St George Cross has become the symbol of the anti-immigrant movement.

a Labour MP, who is Labour's "shadow" Attorney General effectively was interpreted as making a "still cling to their flags and religion" tweet about the white English working class.; 11/22/14, 6:57 AM
Carnifex said...: It has a lot to do with the UKIP, the large elephant in the room that "polite" English society, also read as lib-progressives, don't like to think of at all. It's just too too traumatizing to imagine those barbarians actually wanting to defend western civilization.

Sorta like the Tea party has the lib-progs pissing their pants over here.; 11/22/14, 7:08 AM
virgil xenophon said...: The Drill Sgt is right on tgt here. The contempt of the leftist British upper class for the loathsome "racist" "chavs" (i.e., the white blue-collar working-class they supposedly represent) knows no bounds..; 11/22/14, 7:11 AM
The Drill SGT said...: virgil xenophon said...
The Drill Sgt is right on tgt here.

Hehe, I've very good at putting "steel on target". And not bad with grenades either :); 11/22/14, 7:18 AM
Unknown said...: Another upper middle class liberal caught trying to separate herself from her lower middle class roots by putting out nasty and uncivil social commentary. Like NPR lecturing the great unwashed on the "proper" way to think or Hollywood movies like Winter's Bone, when will these newly minted elites learn that being upper middle class is still just middle class.; 11/22/14, 7:18 AM
Sean Gleeson said...: Very strange, that the country’s flag, the very same banner that flies over courthouses and government halls, is perceived as some kind of partisan symbol. It can only mean that one party really does not care for their country at all.; 11/22/14, 7:33 AM
Jaq said...: Labor was so disgusted with their own working class that they tried to import a new one from the Middle East. After all, all the working classes in England (Scotland is happy with handouts) wanted was jobs, something Labor is not good at providing. Labour have admitted they increased immigration to change the electorate and stick it to the "chavs". How has that worked out for them and where else have we seen politics like this?; 11/22/14, 7:39 AM
MadisonMan said...: What would an equivalent infraction be in the US? Is there one?

Am guessing it would involve Feminists and outrage.; 11/22/14, 7:41 AM
Ken B said...: Actually this is easy to understand.
She wouldn't tweet it unless it's relevant to a point she wants to make, and that point can only be to sneer at it. I am actually impressed that no-one even tried the "what, it's just a picture?" gambit. It's only hard to understand if you think that deniability dodge should work, as it just might here with everyone playing along. Obama plainly called Palin a pig, and plainly gave Hillary the finger on camera, but did so deniably.; 11/22/14, 7:44 AM
Ken B said...: Virgil Xenophon, I cannot quite agree. If you read my other comment you will see I am suggesting the contempt of the Brit leftist upper class is actually exceeded by that of ours. So it does have limits ... 😉; 11/22/14, 7:55 AM
traditionalguy said...: We call them the "Reagan Blue Collar Democrats." They learned the limits of reality among politicians in the Great Depression and in WWII. Our Lib/Progs have long wanted to see them replaced here by Hispanic servants that have no clue what is going on but genuinely fear the Federale Policia.; 11/22/14, 8:10 AM
MartyH said...: Madison Man-

From reading the article, it looks like there are two elements to the "dog whistle"-the flags and the white van - "white van man" being a term for the working class in England.

I could see an equivalent in the south for racism with three Dixie flags, but I don't know what would easily stand in for the van that is associated with the working class. Maybe a gun rack if you left those outdoors, or some hound dogs. But that doesn't bring the element of labor into it.

Additionally, England is a lot more of a class based system than the US.; 11/22/14, 8:12 AM
traditionalguy said...: We southern illiterates like our Confederate Battle flags with the St Andrews Cross (a red X on a white background) on the roof of our General Lee Dodge Charger.

At least we are not a bunch of sissy Norwegian Dairy Farmers snowed in for six months a year.; 11/22/14, 8:25 AM
lemondog said...: “I’ve never seen anything like it before. It had three huge flags covering the whole house. I thought it was remarkable. I’ve never seen a house completely covered in flags.”

Two measly flags? How 'bout these:

Brits fanatic fans heheheh; 11/22/14, 8:28 AM
Bob R said...: This is the first time I encountered the term "white van man." My car is getting on in years, and I was thinking about getting a used van (most of which are white.) If I do, I'll have to seek out upper class Brits so they can look down their noses at me.; 11/22/14, 8:48 AM
Insufficiently Sensitive said...: Mark Steyn absolutely nails the would-be upper class Lady Thornberry. The following can't be topped:

Now, though, to that metropolitan elite, men with vans and flags are a joke. Miss Thornberry - or Lady Nugee, to use her married name - Tweeted her Tweet because, as I wrote in that Ukip piece, she assumed that her condescension was universally shared.; 11/22/14, 8:57 AM
Deirdre Mundy said...: And see, as an ignorant American I looked at the picture and thought "Why isn't the red-cross van marked? And are the British so poor that their bloodmobiles are passenger vans?"; 11/22/14, 9:05 AM
Anonymous said...: I was actually heartened to see that the story was about somebody who got sacked for sneering at a display of English flags. When I first glanced at the picture, I assumed somebody had got sacked for "racial insensitivity", or visited by the plods for "inciting racial violence" or something, for displaying them.; 11/22/14, 9:12 AM
Michael K said...: Labour's contempt for their voters was matched this week by Obama's phony "amnesty." I just hope the GOP doesn't over react.

Some good suggestions here.

Make Democrats vote against a border security bill, and make Obama veto one while his own amnesty remains in place.

How many Senate Democrats would be willing to sustain that veto before the 2016 election?; 11/22/14, 9:13 AM
L Day said...: Bob R - Do it! White vans used to be pretty much invisible to me, then I got one. A Chevy with 150,000 miles on the odo, it feels like new and gets 20 mpg. Tons of room for a trip to the recycle center, or loaded up with dirt bikes, fly fishing and camping gear along with canoes and kayaks on top. I love it! Now I see them eveywhere, mostly driven during the work day by plumbers, electricians, satellite dish installers and such. Most useful vehicle I've ever owned. I'm proud to be a White Van Man!; 11/22/14, 9:31 AM
L Day said...: Bob R - It also tows our camper or drift boat with ease. You really can't beat 'em.; 11/22/14, 9:34 AM
The Drill SGT said...: First Job I ever had was 1966, driving a White Ford Econoline van. Delivering chandeliers.

Learned how to drive a stick shift between the garage and the loading dock...; 11/22/14, 9:35 AM
Quaestor said...: ...a Labour MP, who is Labour's "shadow" Attorney General effectively was interpreted as making a "still cling to their flags and religion" tweet about the white English working class.

Correct. And the panel van suggests a working class bloke self-employed in a trade such as plumbing or carpentry. Labour is in exact lockstep with its sister party here. They hate, Hate, HATE!; 11/22/14, 9:37 AM
Carol said...: but I don't know what would easily stand in for the van that is associated with the working class.

4x4 pickup. sadly, the imagery has been confused by a similar fondness for 4x4s in the middle class. perhaps a light bar or dually wheels would distinguish it from the software salesman's new Silverado.; 11/22/14, 9:37 AM
garage mahal said...: We southern illiterates like our Confederate Battle flags with the St Andrews Cross (a red X on a white background) on the roof of our General Lee Dodge Charger.

At least we are not a bunch of sissy Norwegian Dairy Farmers snowed in for six months a year.

It turned out those Norwegian Dairy Farmers fought better, and smarter, than their Confederate counterparts. The War Nerd argues here that burning Atlanta was a "no-brainer". He also argues General Sherman was the greatest general in AMerican history. The War Nerd is always a fun read if you disagree.

Sherman was trying, in everything he did, to wake these idiots from their delusion. That’s why they hate Sherman so much, 150 years after his campaign ended in total success: Because he interrupted their silly and sadistic dreams, humiliated them in the most vulnerable part of their weird anatomy, their sense of valorous superiority. Sherman didn’t wipe out the white South, though he could easily have done so; he was, in fact, very mild toward a treasonous population that regularly sniped at and ambushed his troops. But what he did was demonstrate the impotence of the South’s Planter males.; 11/22/14, 9:40 AM
MadisonMan said...: First Job I ever had was 1966, driving a White Ford Econoline van. Delivering chandeliers.

Am assuming you delivered most of them to politicians, and each was missing a light bulb or two.

Hence the saying.; 11/22/14, 9:55 AM
chickelit said...: Shorter garage mahal: "With malice towards some but charity for all"; 11/22/14, 9:56 AM
Lewis Wetzel said...: "Additionally, England is a lot more of a class based system than the US."

That is changing.; 11/22/14, 10:09 AM
ganderson said...: Tim in VT- you are no doubt familiar with the great Howie Carr's maxim "when the Democrats talk about working families, they are really talking about non-working families". The British elites have imported, to a large extent, a non-working class to replace the working class.; 11/22/14, 10:10 AM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: but I don't know what would easily stand in for the van that is associated with the working class.

A pickup truck with a ladder rack over the bed.; 11/22/14, 10:16 AM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Almost forgot, there needs to be an number 3 sticker in the back window!; 11/22/14, 10:16 AM
Big Mike said...: "A white man in a white van" was the police mantra during the time of the Washington sniper, until it turned out to be two Black men in a Chevy.

@Drill SGT, thanks for your early morning comment explaining why Muslims object to the Cross of St. George flag. I guess that also explains why Labour was pissing its collective knickers over Scotland withdrawing from the UK -- the flag would revert to something very like the flag of England.

@Madman (7:41) the equivalent would have to be the South's battle flag, which drives Blacks and Liberals nearly insane.

@garage (9:40) good cases can be made for Stonewall Jackson's Valley campaign and Grant's Vicksburg campaign, but Sherman is obviously right up there with them. And I agree 100% with your last paragraph. You better cut it out! I read your comments mostly to find something to mock, but once in a while you post something manifestly true. You better cut it out!; 11/22/14, 10:18 AM
Jaq said...: That's my problem with immigration of low skilled, illiterate workers, and why I think it is different than the past.

Welfare is now a multi-generational lifestyle. I would be all for immigration from Mexico if welfare reform that could somehow break the cycle it creates went with it. I just can't imagine what such a reform would look like.; 11/22/14, 10:22 AM
Anonymous said...: White trailer trash? Jingoistic clingers?

Some Progressives here deem the Star and Stripe anti-immigrant too, but activists could wave their Mexican flag to protest to stay in this racist country. Go figure!; 11/22/14, 10:23 AM
RecChief said...: so the english equivalent of "bitter clingers?

Kind of like taking a picture of a shotgun shack, with an old ford on blocks in the yard, with a confederate flag and making a snarky comment?

Damn, if we had the same code of conduct here, most of the Democrats on both coasts, with a fair number in the flyover, would have to quit their jobs.; 11/22/14, 10:24 AM
RecChief said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 11/22/14, 10:26 AM
Jaq said...: Had the Muslims been able to restrict their love of destruction of the sacred religious artifacts of other religions, a tendency seen even in Afghanistan as the Muslims destroyed the massive Buddhas carved into the mountain, they could have avoided the whole crusade thing.

Just like Afghanistan could have been left alone by us, if they could just have resisted committing 9-11.; 11/22/14, 10:27 AM
RecChief said...: It turned out those Norwegian Dairy Farmers fought better, and smarter, than their Confederate counterparts

That, and all the industrial production capability was in the North. NOt to mention the railroad network.

If Lee, Jackson, Longstreet, Hood, and a few others hadn't left the Union Army at the start of the war, I think the whole thing would've been over in a year.

Logistics, man.; 11/22/14, 10:33 AM
Anonymous said...: I have seen so many tweets of reporters making fun of GOP. Should they resign, too? They are making fun of the people voted in office. I have seen statements of people like Gruber making fun of voters, like me. Should they resign (from MIT) and his supporters (from White House to Congress) also resign?

I want to see some resignations here. I am tired of having no scandals. I want scandals and resignations.

When I read about Jonathan Gruber, I said: Praise the Lord. But, no one is focusing on him now.

I am sad. Help me.

I am also afraid. 2016 will get Hillary back. The best part of that fear is, there will be some scandals.; 11/22/14, 10:35 AM
RecChief said...: Sean Gleeson said...
Very strange, that the country’s flag, the very same banner that flies over courthouses and government halls,

don't they fly the Union Jack over government buildings?; 11/22/14, 10:36 AM
The Drill SGT said...: MadisonMan said...
Am assuming you delivered most of them to politicians, and each was missing a light bulb or two.

New custom construction. Not McMansions, but not Levittown either. a van with one dressed entry foyer chandelier hanging in the center of the truck and the rest filled with bathroom fixtures, and recessed lighting cans... maybe a couple of lamps for a model home...

strictly middle America

http://hobrechtl1.com/search_result.asp?params=Installation:1;; 11/22/14, 10:42 AM
Leora said...: I think tweeting a picture of a pickup truck with toolboxes and ladders in the bed in front of small house or trailer displaying a large American flag would be equivalent if it had the same whiff of contempt.; 11/22/14, 10:59 AM
The Drill SGT said...: RecChief said...
Logistics, man.

Army saying:

"Politicians talk about strategy,
Amateurs talk about tactics,
Professional talk about logistics"; 11/22/14, 11:02 AM
The Drill SGT said...: RecChief said...
Sean Gleeson said...
Very strange, that the country’s flag, the very same banner that flies over courthouses and government halls,

don't they fly the Union Jack over government buildings?

The Union Jack consists of the Crosses of St Andrew (Scotland), St George (England), and St Patrick (Ireland) superimposed on each other.

The Union Jack is the Official Flag.

The English flag is flown on Anglican Churches (sometimes with the Bishopric emblem in the upper left), at sporting events, and in some local government functions in England and Wales.; 11/22/14, 11:09 AM
RecChief said...: The Drill SGT said...
RecChief said...
Logistics, man.

Army saying:

"Politicians talk about strategy,
Amateurs talk about tactics,
Professional talk about logistics"

Oh, I'm well familiar with that saying. Not to mention the concept. having made the change from crossed rifles to flaming piss pot, (bad knees but not so bad I had to get out entirely) I can assure you there is more truth in that saying than most people know.; 11/22/14, 11:14 AM
tim maguire said...: What's wrong with the tweet is that she didn't bother fuzzing out the license plate. She had to resign because of her inept and offensive defence of her tweet.; 11/22/14, 11:38 AM
Marc in Eugene said...: The Labour leader, Mr Miliband, who required Lady Nugee's resignation, was asked what his reaction is when h e sees a white van in someone's driveway. Stuttering, he said, 'I feel... respect.' He is a cross between Messrs Biden and Kerry and Mrs Warren, although more gaffe prone, and wouldn't be caught anywhere within touching range of the folks who live in the white van house.; 11/22/14, 11:50 AM
Clyde said...: Maybe the homeowner is just a big fan of the English national soccer team. I saw lots of people waving/wearing it during the last World Cup.

Or maybe not.; 11/22/14, 1:37 PM
Michael said...: Garage

The last sentence of the last paragraph fails on the fact that the white planter's "impotence" resided in their absence. They were elsewhere fighting.

The copious writings on Sherman's March frequently note the plantations were manned by women.

Read Sherman.; 11/22/14, 1:53 PM
Stephen said...: MadisonMan said...

What would an equivalent infraction be in the US? Is there one?
Gadsden flag. More or less.; 11/22/14, 2:25 PM
Stephen said...: And a parked F350.; 11/22/14, 2:26 PM
Stephen said...: 4x4; 11/22/14, 2:27 PM
Stephen said...: Crewcab; 11/22/14, 2:28 PM
Stephen said...: Gunrack; 11/22/14, 2:28 PM
traditionalguy said...: Hey Garage.... I am a Sherman admirer too. The CSA fired it brilliant commander before the Atlanta siege and replaced him with a crazy aristocrat Episcopal a Bishop who made three useless frontal assaults to prove something. Sherman already proved frontal assault a were suicide at Kennesaw Mtn.

My point was that it's arrogant to use stereotypes from a century ago and never experience a culture for yourself.

I am a Heg admirer. The real Battle of Atlanta happened at Jonesboro and was fought for two days mostly by Texans under an Irish immigrant General named Patrick Cleburn.

My great grand parents were from a Western New York family living in an Atlanta that was only about 10 years old in 1860 ,. They went north to rejoin family when Sherman gave everyone a choice which way to to leave before he burned Atlanta.; 11/22/14, 2:54 PM
tolkein said...: I'm English. I'm a member of the Labour Party. Let me explain why this tweet was toxic for the Labour Party. Labour needs white working class votes, and lots of them, to win a General Election. Seats like Clacton (won by UKIP from the Tories) and Stroud have been won by Labour within recent memory. Labour needs to show that it understands concerns over immigration, which is associated with the EU, and will do something about it. And tweets like Emily Thornberry's seem to show a contempt from the progressive wing for traditional Labour voters. My first thought was 'why are you mocking Labour voters?' Lots of Labour MPs were equally horrified. I'm not surprised she was sacked. I have no time for UKIP, but I have a great deal for their voters. White working class voters are worried about immigration, because of the pressure on housing and schools and jobs, because immigrants compete for these things where white working class voters live. And Labour needs to understand that these concerns are legitimate and tackle them, and not just pretend it is just xenophobia.
The St George's Cross was used by the National Front, a truly nasty (albeit fringe far right) party, which is why it has, unfortunately, unpleasant linkages.; 11/22/14, 3:08 PM
cubanbob said...: If the Labor Party and the Democratic Party actually cared about the laboring class they wouldn't be importing poor people in tough economic times.; 11/22/14, 6:55 PM
Drago said...: Michael: "Garage
The last sentence of the last paragraph fails on the fact that the white planter's "impotence" resided in their absence. They were elsewhere fighting.
The copious writings on Sherman's March frequently note the plantations were manned by women.

Read Sherman."

Precisely.

Previous writers already mentioned the massive industrial and manpower advantages of the North.

It was the tactical brilliance of the Southern Commanders compared to most of the Northern counterparts that allowed the war to drag on as long as it did.; 11/22/14, 7:32 PM
Drago said...: tolkein: "Labour needs white working class votes, and lots of them, to win a General Election."

Not unlike here, where our white working class voters are "affectionately" referred to as "bitter clingers" by the leftist elites.; 11/22/14, 7:34 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Tolkien, I hope that you know that you have no more right to rule the working class than they have to rule you?; 11/23/14, 1:30 AM
stlcdr said...: England is not like America. Never will be. Two completely foreign countries.; 11/23/14, 6:11 AM
Rusty said...: stlcdr said...
England is not like America. Never will be. Two completely foreign countries.

Thank God. I hope, someday, we each learn the others language.; 11/23/14, 8:45 AM