The organisation Choose Suffolk asked people to submit their favourite photographs of landscapes, people, or products for the Suffolk Icons contest which was designed to promote the county as an attractive place to visit.Oooh! How many?
Many local residents joined in the spirit of the contest by nominating traditional images of coastal beach huts, landscapes, historic buildings and figures like former Ipswich Town manager Sir Bobby Robson.
But members of the public also nominated Dani Filth, the self-styled 'crypt-crawling' frontman of the notorious death metal band Cradle of Filth which was formed in Suffolk in 1991.
Records show that Dani Filth, 37, recorded 13,025 votes by having his image clicked on the Suffolk Icons website - more than six times the votes recorded for the next most popular icon.The public have spoken! What can you do, but acquiesce?
The poll of members of the public put the Broomhill swimming pool - a near derelict 1930s former lido in Ipswich - in second place with 2,055 votes.
Silly of you to think for one moment that that was what actually happened, wasn't it?
But all the public votes now appear to have been ignored by the judges at Choose Suffolk who have instead drawn up a shortlist of 20 images that they want the public to vote on to decide the overall winning icon.How are they going to get out of this one?
Dani Filth who still lives in Suffolk does not feature at all in the final shortlist...
With utter chutzpah, of course:
Tim Passmore, the interim chief executive of Choose Suffolk, said in a statement: "The idea of what constitutes an icon will always divide opinion and stimulate engaging debate (which was part of the project's remit).
"The finalist Icons have been selected because the judging panel believe they have a countywide resonance and are symbolic of Suffolk, and extend across the county and beyond its borders.
"As a user-generated gallery, the site was designed to engage with visitors and encourage their participation. We are encouraged this remit has been successful.
"However, while some of the images on the site may have gained a larger proportion of visitors' votes, the judging panel felt that their list of finalists displays the required credentials to act as representative iconic images of Suffolk."'You vill OBEY ZE WISHES of ze Committee! If you know vat is gut for you....'
H/T: Steel Rain via Twitter
So, despite the public's choice, countrywide cultural resonance is respectable while Mr Filth's musical dissonance is not.
ReplyDeleteDon't you just love authoritarian discomfort when the average bloke or blokess about town is given the opportunity to extract the micturation?
Heh heh
This is the reason they, the government, do not want the people voting in referenda/referendums. Because we will not vote how they want nor would we choose their pet causes for such referenda.
ReplyDeleteHowever, this one was funny and exposed the authoritatian bansterbators for exactly what they are.
reminds me of a time when some local council/radio station etc ran a competition to 'Name the Piglet'.
ReplyDeleteThey withdrew it after the majority of punters opted for Mohammed.
"Don't you just love authoritarian discomfort when the average bloke or blokess about town is given the opportunity to extract the micturation?"
ReplyDeleteI do, indeed I do... :)
"This is the reason they, the government, do not want the people voting in referenda/referendums. "
They certainly go to extraordinary lengths not to hold one, don't they..?
"They withdrew it after the majority of punters opted for Mohammed."
Bwahahahahs!