Demagogue

Right after the new year began, Minette Marrin, wrote this column for the Times of London in which she kindly suggested a few resolutions for political leaders and the media in her native Britain.

But one of Marrin's suggestions should also be heeded by the media on this side of the Atlantic:

Stop using the expression "community leaders." This is a piece of lazy sentimentality and can be counterproductive because these so-called community leaders do not necessarily speak for their so-called communities, yet the rest of the public imagines that they do.

To lump all British Sikhs or Muslims or Ukrainians or Jews into one “community” is self-evidently a mistake. Who is to decide who represents them? The Archbishop of Canterbury certainly does not represent me, even though I am ethnically English and Anglican.

These self-styled community leaders are often self- appointed and are accepted uncritically by reporters and commentators because they are vociferous or easy to get to appear on a programme.