The British National party and the BBC
 

In reference to the question time programme that was on thursday 22nd oct

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8321578.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8321683.stm

Has the BBC went to far by allowing the BNP leader Nick Griffin to make an appearence in one of its shows?
The BBC made a statement that they have a duty to be impartial. Was the BBC being reckless in allowing the BNP leader to go on the air?

I do think that the BBC has been irresponsibleto allow the BNP leader to come on to the show.

Thoughts / comments please.

Re: The British National party and the BBC
 

- the old saying -

Give them enough rope to hang themselves, which by the looks of it they did.

Reckless no, they do have a duty to be impartial, and no matter what they said or did, this is free speech !

To have freedom of speech, you must be prepared to give it, no matter the colour of skin, opinion or religous belief.

Re: The British National party and the BBC
 

I would love to be able to say that this was a great idea. On an abstract level, having views such as his aired and debated is a good way to show the fallacies contained within.

HOWEVER...

there is not a good atmosphere in thois country (or probably any country) in which sensible debate is to be had, especially on television.

Immigration is a particularly good point. I would say that I know as much about immigration as the averge person on the street (i.e. not much at all), yet it is an issue people feel strongly about.

A lot of the blame falls to the media* for running the same immigrant stories. A lot of blame falls on our education system which does not deal with the social sciences in any way whatsoever. Immigration will rise and immigration will fall. There are some good things and some bad things, but I sure as hell don't know enough to make a judgement on the effect of immigration on a country.

what I would suggest to those who think immigration is too high is this:

encourage your government to stop doing siht things around the world which create situations from which people want to flee.

*the singularly worst source of information on which to base an opinion, becuase it is trusted to some extent

Re: The British National party and the BBC
 

History has learned us one thing, that these folks should be put out of action as soon as possible, not given air-time.

Goddamnit. Why can't people f******** learn things, but do the same mistakes all over again.

Re: The British National party and the BBC
 

So now I'm wondering if you're a marxist or neocon.

Re: The British National party and the BBC
 

Neocons could not learn from history, even if they're life depended on it.

Re: The British National party and the BBC
 

It's misleading to suggest that any tangible rise in BNP support will be down to exposure on the BBC. Their meteoric rise to mediocrity is the fault not of the BBC, but of the current government and its abject failure to deal with increasing racial segregation in British society.

It's also misleading to suggest that letting them on Question Time is somehow irresponsible. It is by no means the purpose or the job of the BBC to influence popular support for political parties, wherever they lie on any spectrum. It might be considered irresponsible to allow them airtime in the current political climate, but again, such judgements do not fall under the remit of the BBC. The current government gutted the corporation of quality journalism and demanded it maintain impartiality in coverage of political and social affairs, which it did on Thursday night. The BNP are not going to go away because the mainstream parties attack them without offering alternatives to racism and fascism, and in a society where mainstream politicians are loathed and distrusted by a majority of the population, such negative propaganda will only continue to boost their support. To quell the growing tide, the mainstream parties first need to allow the BNP to expose itself for what it is, and then need to offer tangible alternatives to economic and immigration policies based on outright racism.

Re: The British National party and the BBC
 

Certainly a good point there. I would also to a degree blame the mainstream parties / government in their handling on immigration.

Re: The British National party and the BBC
 

it is difficult - go far enough to the extreme of any ideology and you find people very similar to eachother.

hence we should ignore both.

moderates and liberals have very few dead bodies to attone for.

Re: The British National party and the BBC
 

If one has any faith at all in the electorate then allowing the free airing of views by idiots should make it easier for the citizenry to make an informed decision to ignore them. Look at some of the individuals who post here. They are allowed to say what they will and that informs the rest of us that they should be ignored. Same can work with politicians.

If you don't have any faith in the citizenry, then you are an elitist bastard who thinks that they are above the average man and should be making decisions for them. This is the most dangerous lunacy of all.

Re: The British National party and the BBC
 

The problem is two-fold,

1) the debate is not sensible and certainly not based on the evidence. It, like all politics, is about appealing to the emotions and bypassing rationality.

2) The general thrust of society is to make emotions based on opinion and not on the evidence. This is not a consious decision most people make, but is the natural starting point for forming an opinion.

This is all really and anfd it needs to be rectified and without it, 'idiots' like that BNP can make actual progress by having an oppertunity to spout their emotioally-fueld bigotry.

Re: The British National party and the BBC
 

But you just said that all of the parties engage in the same emotion laden rhetoric to appeal to the emotions of the masses. Who gets to decide who should and who should not be allowed to spew their nonsense. That is the slippery slope you get on when you start to limit political debate. There must be some reliance on the good sense of the populace (not always well placed but necessary).

Re: The British National party and the BBC
 

hence we put them on the bbc.

They were rubbish btw.

Re: The British National party and the BBC
 

I have no doubt.

Re: The British National party and the BBC
 

"Churchill, can you really save me money on my car insurance?"

"Ohhhh yes"

"I wouldn't believe everything he says - he told me he was on the front page of the bnp website!"