12 October 2006

"Who's the more foolish - the fool, or the fool who follows him?"

I really do find the original Star Wars movie (aka Episode IV) an extraordinary source of choice quotes. (Another favourite is "bring 'em on! I'd prefer a straight fight to all this snoopin' around", which I often use when frustrated by the subtle strategies the Red/Green movement is forced to use in the battle against Corporate Power.)

But that, as with so many things, is "by the bye"... dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the Initial Fool, Dave Cameron, who recently launched the bonesplittingly awfully named "Webcameron", an attempt to present all his speeches, interviews and just walking round his house talking waffle, with what the BBC have called a "vaguely YouTube-style interface". This is a misguided attempt to look "hip" and "street" whilst trying to connect to a "yoof" audience who are probably never going to look at this site anyway. But time will tell... maybe this will be the hottest ticket on the web within 6 days.

The Fool Following The Fool is Labour MP Sion Simon, who has put a Cameron spoof video on YouTube. "And why not?" you may think. After all, Webcameron may be Dave's biggest own goal since "hug-a-hoodie", and Labour haven't really managed a king-sized hit on the Camster since their "Chameleon Dave" effort back in the spring.

So what's the problem?

Well, the two things Sion-as-Dave wants to get across in this video are:

  1. Dave is "just like you."
  2. He wants to give/lend/sell you his wife and kids.
Now, as far as I can see, the conclusion to be drawn from these two statements in combination is:

3. You (the great British public) are someone who wants to take/borrow/buy kids, partners and other family members from Dave, or, by extension, other members of the Great British Public and...


So far, I've found a lot of rubbish on Webcameron, but nothing to suggest that David Cameron encourages prostitution or child trafficking, or that he thinks great swathes of the web-literate British public do either. As satire goes, this is so way-over-the-top that it becomes simply irrelevant to anything happening today in politics.

The one thing I will give Simon credit for is that he does look a bit like Cameron when he ties his hair back (you can see his normal look here) and he has the right build for the job too. If the Tories do win next time and he loses his seat (which is likely if the best Labour can do is stuff like this) he might be able to pay the bills by becoming a Cameron impersonator.

But what a missed opportunity, what a complete failure to meet an open goal. Almost any half wit could have concocted a fairly amusing spoof lampooning the pomposity, vacuity and sheer mediocrity of Webcameron. (Even a bunch of quarter-wit UKIP suppporters almost managed to do it with webcameron.info, although not quite.) Instead Sion Simon has made himself look bloody stupid whilst ensuring that Cameron is receiving much louder and more vigorous backing from the Tories than was the case after last week's conference in Bournemouth. So to answer Ben Kenobi's original question - it's the latter!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

'You're far too trusting.....but don't worry, we will deal with your rebel friends soon enough' UKIP supporter looking to mobilise 'Small businessmen,Ethnic majorities and the Right'......

Anonymous said...

Leia: "Dan Tooine. They're on Dan Tooine."

Grand Moff Tarkin: "Dan Tooine is too skint to pay for the next round. We'll have to ask Al deRaan."