Boycott Outrage: A Bit Overblown?

Joe Murphy asks whether all this outrage over The Sun is really justified.


That’s it folks, The Sun will no longer be sold in The Shop. From now on you’ll have to get your topless women giving in-depth political analysis from a shop that’s not on campus. Like the Tesco that’s a gruelling, death defying ten minute stroll away.

Or perhaps not. After all, it’s amazing how everyone expressing outrage at the boycott are quick to point out that they don’t read The Sun, obviously. They’re complaining on behalf of…er… a friend.

One of the very first comments when the story of the proposed boycott broke was “Fascism at UEA,” a ludicrous statement that’s insulting both to UEA and to top quality fascism. It’s important to note that this isn’t a ban, it’s a boycott. The former suggests something should be stamped out of existence, the latter that they’re just not going to associate with it. Let’s get some perspective here.

Have you seen this man on campus?

It could only be described as a ban if the Union hired burly men in balaclavas to go around mugging people for their copies of The Sun (which they totally don’t read anyway…) and throwing them in the designated UEA newspaper furnace. Unless I’ve massively misunderstood the new policy, this isn’t going to be happening. You will still be able to buy and read The Sun. Just not from The Shop. I’m sure you’ll survive (not that you read The Sun, obviously).

Whatever you think of The Sun as a newspaper, the simple fact is that the motion didn’t pass because of Orwellian machinations. It passed because the people who proposed it actually did a good job of representing those who appointed them. “How could they do this without consulting every one of us!?” demanded some, spectacularly failing to understand the concept of representation.

If the majority of students are really so against a boycott of The Sun, they should be asking why their representatives on the Union Council didn’t reflect that. Perhaps a boycott of The Sun is totally against what the majority of students want; if that’s the case they shouldn’t be angry with the proposal itself, but with their representatives who let it go through. It’s your Union; make sure it represents you.