Sunday, October 25, 2009

A Depressing Week

We are sat there, listening to the following...

"We were sitting in bed discussing the BNP. We think he's going to get the protest vote. People who have had enough of the main parties. You can't trust them. Enoch Powell was right, my dad was right. There will be rivers of blood. Our people's blood, what with all these knives they've got. We'll soon be in the minority in our own country."

My grandfather fought the Germans, not an ideology. It was his patriotic duty. He loved his country, his England. And he agreed with Powell 100%. A white Britain full of "our" people was what he wanted.

Nick Griffin says his is not a Nazi party. It used to be, but not any more. He supports Israel. Can you imagine a Nazi being on the side of the Jews?

Watching Question Time. Watching a bunch of young, middle class Londoners (not your true working class white ethnically cleansed Eastenders, of course) attack one man and his views. Views which are held by a significant proportion of people in the UK. Labour, Tory, Liberal, too, attacking him. The people with their snouts in the trough. The people a significant proportion of the population are disgusted with, want no more to do with.

The BBC shot themselves in the foot. The "lynching" was wrong. It entrenched attitudes and even gained Griffin sympathy from part-time racists, your UKIP supporters. It converted nobody to the right side. Was I supposed to applaud along with the audience? Shout out, "Go on, David, you tell him!"? Feel smug that my representatives shouted him down? My 80% of the panel, my 95% of the studio audience?

If the BNP are legally obliged to be represented on Question Time, the law is an ass and Free Speech takes precedent over respect for others. But if they have to be, let them discuss the events of the week, let's see how their poisonous minds work in debate. Don't have Griffin on next time. Get another odious man on there. Or maybe one of their odious women. They do have women in the party, don't they? The BNP isn't a one-man show, now is it?

10 comments:

  1. Yes. If the BBC had been serious about anything other than ratings they would have had him on in front of a Burnley audience. I don't know what I would've asked, but the questions were totally predictable - and the dissembling of the rest of the panel (Bonnie Greer excepted) was cringeworthy. A missed opportunity.
    (Saw him being interviewed on Sky last Sunday morning and he got out of that much less easily)

    ReplyDelete
  2. The only topical question was the Jan Moir one, but even then Griffin and Warsi were allowed to get away with disguising their homophobia. There just isn't enough time on the programme devoted to one topic. They should just pick one topic a week and debate it thoroughly to bring out the panel's true views.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

    We like the idea that the members of the "great unwashed" are self-actualised moderates but a certain Mr H. from Austria managed to set an entire country on a collision course with history by whipping up similar sentiments.

    This frustration with the status quo that the everyman feels exponentially worsening can be manipulated with remarkable ease. The exposure of the inequalities between the ruling and chattering classes is a smouldering tinderbox at the best of times...a little hot air and whooooosh!

    If the Canadian Government allowed open referendums on issues Canada would have never ranked number one 8times on the annual Human Development Index.
    Just sayin.

    ReplyDelete
  4. He was asked if he was a Nazi. He said he wasn't.

    "He said he's not a Nazi."

    Oh, that's alright, then. If he says he's not, he can't be.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I read everyone's thoughts about this when I was away.
    I'm wondering whether to put myself through the iPlayer version.

    ReplyDelete
  6. It's not an uplifting experience. Especially when he's spouting the same shit that quite a few people I know spout.

    ReplyDelete
  7. As Beth and Diane Abbot said [in the programme following QT]- I wonder how this would have gone down in Burnley?
    I'm also familiar with the opinions in your/my old area.
    Sx

    ReplyDelete
  8. Burnley would have been a lot better. I just thank God I'm part of the chattering classes now and don't have to listen to it all.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Free speech trumps respect for others because without free speech, respect and all the other values that we treasure also go down the crapper.

    I agree, though, it would have been nice to see the loathsome runt being skewered on some real issues, rather than the ritual of taunting and name calling that we got.

    ReplyDelete
  10. So racist language should be allowed at football matches?

    ReplyDelete