Nowadays we have almost unlimited opportunities to insult each other via the Internet.
Norman Le Brocq was not so much a target by electronic means but he experienced a great deal of mud-slinging - actual or otherwise - during his long political career. And the media of the day - notably the JEP - was ever ready to discredit him and his political aspirations - and those of his supporters - for decades.
Yet when world leaders such as Donald Trump are now actually banned by Facebook and Twitter because of the general rubbish and personal attacks that they publish then we know that something has gone seriously wrong with our modern concepts of "free speech" and "expression."
Norman is well known now for his anti-Nazi activities during the Occupation but the Jersey establishment very soon disowned him and his vews during the post Liberation election processes.
Although Norman was a very placid man and his family background was hardly ever discussed except that he was orphaned and had attended Victoria College as a scholarship student - there was a secret that has strangely never been fully explained.
He was the victim of a family tragedy in 1934 when his parents and 2 young sisters were found dead - by a servant or maid - in their Rouge Bouillon house from gas poisoning.
The court hearing concluded that this was a double suicide - by the parents - and double murder of the children.
The family appeared to be reasonably well-off and the father - Stanley Albert aged just 37 - had been a fruit grower at St Peter and ran a couple of florists shops in St Helier.
Norman aged 11 had survived because he was sleeping in another room and the tragedy took place in a bedroom where the father normally slept alone.
Since Norman became such an important part of Jersey's post-war political development I am surprised that his tragic family legacy is so little known or discussed. Especially since Norman's own left-wing political awareness was so untypical in this very conservative and small community.
It also provokes me to wonder how political critics can be so cruel to candidates or those who express "different" points of view without any understanding of their personal circumstances.
Below I have posted Norman's Jersey Democratic Movement (JDM) re-election manifesto - I think for the elections of c 1982.
It was a modest proposal which could well be appropriate for the approaching elections in 2022.
Yet there would be plenty of people insulting him or anybody else who tries to present such views even today - the moreso if they do so in the name of a "political party."
It seems to be just another aspect of the "Jersey Way" and is encouraged by the "wonderful anonymity" and or remoteness of the NET.
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