Wednesday 22 April 2009

Daily Star celebrates St George, but doesn't follow any of what he stood for

The Daily Star have been obsessing over the impending St George's Day, blurring the line between patriotism and racism. Today, three pages and an editorial are dedicated to him. It includes a '10 facts about our hero' which includes a helpful reminder that 'George never slew a dragon.' Thanks for that. I'm sure most people realise that already, as they don't exist...

But...umm...one person who doesn't realise is Emma Wall. Reporter for the Daily Star. In her full-of-irony article St George's Daze: Kids haven't got a clue about him, she laments the results of a new poll showing 'half of us are clueless about our saint...seven in 10 young people do not even know when St George's Day is.' She goes on:

Shock new figures show 25million have no idea why the famous dragon-slayer is our patron saint despite a recent swell of English pride.

Clueless indeed.

The article continues with a quote from the editor of This England magazine, Stephen Garnett. He says:

“St George stands for everything that makes this country great – freedom of expression, helping those less fortunate, tolerance of other people’s beliefs, kindness and standing up for what you believe to be right."

But when did the Daily Star ever exhibit any of those characteristics? Its editorial rants about 'mass immigration,' 'PC loonies' and 'Islamic extremists' having 'confused our sense of identity'. Note that these people are not considered one of 'us'.

The Muslim Luton protestors were exercising freedom of expression but were vilified by the Star. Asylum seekers are less fortunate, but their second editorial calls them all undeserving benefit scroungers. The Star certainly doesn't tolerate the views of the so-called politically correct.

So what is it about St George they do like? The answer is, it appears, rather sinister.

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