...then were surprised!
While I try to decide whether this is depressing or perilously
crazy or a mixture of both let’s just have this out.
As a long-time BBC radio listener I have been
gobsmacked over the past 18 months as the BBC, to my ears, mindlessly
given unprecedented amounts of air-time to diddy-Hitler. Then after the endless
showcasing – the same corporation are claiming astonishment at the results in
Rochester and the new stranglehold on the political system.
It’s as if someone farted in a lift then acted
surprised at the smell.
With the occasional nod to the skeletons in the
cupboard, a passing mention of, for example, siding with fascists on the
European Parliament and a slight tut and a sigh whenever any of the party
members show their true, nasty selves, the BBC sailed on blithely. Without
heeding the small army of bigots and bad-mouths, the publicly funded BBC has
celebrated, by disproportionate platforming, the wide-grinning,
yellow-trousered, deeply unpleasant con-man-with-a-pint,
I’m-an-ordinary-bloke-like-you, oik; the worst joke that has slimed across the
political landscape in a while.
WHY?
That is not a rhetorical question – I'd really like to know.
A few months back I was listening to Radio 4. An
item came on about the environment. Ah, at last, I foolishly thought, they will
interview someone from The Green Party. No! They wheeled in mini-Hitler – for the
umpteenth time.
I’m not saying other news reporting media haven’t
been as bad but – and here is the rub – by receiving a licence fee from the
public (though not me thank God) the BBC automatically have a duty to behave
with a bit more savvy. They are under an absolute obligation not to collectively
act like a moron.Delve not too deeply into the phenomena (as it is
referred to) of what seems kind of bonkers and you soon find something that
takes on the profile of utter insanity.
No one interested in politics was surprised that the
Tories did a massively successful mind job on ‘hard-working’ Britain when they
set out to protect their own after the banking crisis (was there ever a more
misleading misnomer?) But this time they opened some portal to the dark side
which they can’t close.
Yes – with the use of tried and tested tactics of innuendo
and sound bites and proposals for (and actual) legislative changes e.g. bedroom
tax, they successfully shook off responsibility. They hung the country’s
economic and social woes on the poor, vulnerable, disabled and yes – of course
– the oldest trick in the book – immigrants.
Never mind that the bankers go unpunished (remember
them – they ACTUALLY wrecked the economy) never mind the warmongers (how much
did Iraq cost us again?) Never mind the tax-avoiders and those creaming off
massive profits from dodgy deals done with private contractors in what are
supposed to be public services.
Bigotry has followed hot on the heels of fear, insecurity
and jingoism. It’s always been a noxious mix. The problem is that having
taken the lid off the box the Tories can’t get it back on – in fact the lid is
broken and Hitler’s grubby, faded, diminished shadow has oozed out of the cracks. The objectionable
hangers on polished up racism, homophobia, misogyny and somehow made New Bigotry
all shiny and acceptable.
And while we are on the subject – it IS inflammatory, tasteless and crass to
drape national flags all over your house. Did we not accept years ago that
similar behaviour helped to inflame sectarianism in Northern Ireland?
But, however sanitised the new nastiness is, it’s
still nasty and dangerous.
I get where the Tories are coming from they just misjudged
the situation.
I can see what the gurning rich guy with a pint and
a fag is (and it’s not pleasant).
But
what the bloody blue blazes have the BBC been playing at?