: Not really; jingoism/nationalism and collectivism are not the same thing at all; see any number of posts in this DR on why the Nazis weren't socialist.The tribal mindset placs the individual under the banner of groups as the Marxist 'classes' does.
: The Sun has, for much of its recent history, trumpeted the ideals of Thatcherite Britain; ideas pretty similar to the American Dream, in a different wrapper;
very different, thoughh i havent read every issue ofcourse.
: the ideals of becoming an owner of capital and aspiring to greater personal wealth
Really? the few ive looked at are a mix of jingoism, jibes at 'fat cats' regardless of whether the money was earned via effort of favor, and a plethora of exploitative 'suffering as entertainment' stories about various peoples misfortunes. Its awful! (me, a snob?)
: appeal to the attitudes of those classes; xenophobic, money and gossip-obsessed, small-minded and prone to portraying itself as "the voice of the common man" or "the voice of reason".
It may sell itself as the voice of reason, it isnt! Its the voice of populism. Arent you being a little classist (!) about C1 people?
: As such, it is the ideal mouthpiece for Rupert Murdoch to dictate his thoughts to the working class;
Here we come to a crux. Does the sun have a huge influence over peoples beliefs? Why are some people supposedly malleable but others not?
: The Sun is also well-known for contradicting itself over the course of a few days (most recently over the Serbian affair; on one day, it declared that "Britain and The Sun...were going to sort out Slobba, whatever it takes"; a couple of days later it declared that The Sun was utterly opposed to the use of ground forces, as it had been all along.)
Hence my contention that it has no particular philosophy, its mere populism, appealing to whatever it believes to be public opinion, regardless of whether it arrogently believes it creates such.
: Really? Tony Blair has repeatedly voiced his praise for right-wing policies like Thatcher's and Reagan's economic policies;
Whilst continually voiced approval for a 'caring society', caring under law that is.
: Fascism is never collectivism; a collective is a voluntary grouping of people
And therefore entirely compatible with individualism,a lso based upon voluntary action.
None.
