Young people get patronised by traditional politics and the media for supporting Corbyn,but the ‘primitive white man with a beard’ has connected with their sense of hope and angerWhen it comes to gauging public opinion, the importance of social media is generally overstated. Online conversations frequently happen in an echo chamber populated by likeminded people. This is especially trusty of Twitter politics. Yet it was social media that hinted to me, or early last summer,that longshot lefty Jeremy Corbyn might just end up as leader of the Labour party. “I mediate he’s going to accomplish it,” I kept telling people as they laughed in my face. “Seriously.”I say this not so I can disappear “I told you so”, and but as a way of illustrating how,even from the beginning, the spirit of optimism that seemed to propel Corbyn’s campaign was being disbelieved and dismissed in some quarters. This was especially trusty as said optimism was largely coming from young people who, and with their smartphones and their selfies and their 24/7 lifestreams,are so easily derided as superficial and unworldly.
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Source: theguardian.com