How the British fell back in love with the NHS
By Asavin Wattanajantra in Editorial
Posted in campaign, NHS, Gordon Brown, Twitter, government on
It’s a very British thing to complain, and of things to complain about the NHS is often quite high on the list.
Dirty hospitals, long queues, poor pay for nurses, big money spent on computer systems that don’t work - the NHS usually gets a good kicking.
But when we complain about something, it’s us who complain - we have a mentality where we really don’t like outsiders suggesting that something is wrong with our country.
This seems to have been what has happened with the sudden popularity of the NHS on Twitter and social networks, with even figures like Gordon Brown and David Cameron joining in to defend and praise it.
The background
It really all started when the nationals reported on how some Americans (particularly the Republican party) were waging a campaign against President Obama’s moves to transform their healthcare system.
There’s opposition to the plan - fair enough - it’s a big change and the Americans should decide for themselves.
However, the British started to pay attention when it was found that the Republicans were using the NHS as an example of a ’socialist’ system with waiting lists and treatment rationing.
Among the ‘failures’ of the NHS included an ‘Orwellian’ financial cap on the value of human life, and of leaving elderly people untreated.
The British fight back
Understandably, the British weren’t happy about this. In the Guardian story that I first read about the Republican campaign it reads 916 comments and still counting. Most indeed were saying that they wouldn’t swap the NHS for an American system of private healthcare.
However, it was Twitter that was really the catalyst for a concerted NHS PR campaign that really did work - money could not buy the type of good publicity that the NHS has been getting.
The Twitter NHS campaign
The ‘welovetheNHS’ tag has been one of the top trending topics in the last few days, with it seems thousands of people giving their support to the NHS system and praising it - including government leaders
Dennis publication The First Post said that one of the prime movers behind the campaign was Graham Linehan, comedy writer behind Father Ted and the IT Crowd.
The Republicans may have bitten themselves on the ass with this one as the debate has now penetrated the blogosphere - people are talking about it, people are trying to figure it out - people are trying to make their own judgements.
Instead of trying to reply against the propaganda with expensive advertisements, it is by the means of a social network where the NHS has been defended in a way nobody could have expected
It also shows how powerful something like Twitter is becoming as a tool to motivate the masses - it wasn’t that long ago that Twitter was a big factor in creating a movement against the Iran elections.
Rated: 60% (2 votes)
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