Personally I can’t think of many things worse than a BNP government and would love to do everything possible to stop them… hence this article.
So, I hear you ask. Why such a controversial headline?
Well, in my opinion the answer is simple, by having Nick Griffin on Question Time last night, the British media, achieved one goal, to expose this being for what he really is, a bigoted idiot. Thankfully every newspaper and most websites have joined forces in displaying their disgust to Mr Griffin’s opinions.
However, Great Britain has a population of about 60 million people. 8.2 million of these tuned into Question Time last night. A thousand people were even so incensed by the appearance of the BNP on Question Time that they protested outside of BBC Television Centre. That leaves 51.8 million people (roughly) who didn’t see this programme. Many will have seen excerpts on the news, read about it in the papers and undoubtedly discussed it during their day, but that won’t afford them the same insight that we who have seen the episode in full have received.
By the way, if you’d like to see the Question Time episode, it can be found on BBC iPlayer at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00nft24/Question_Time_22_10_2009/
What I feel needs to happen now, and I’ve been speaking to people all week about this idea, is that Nick Griffin and the BNP should be given the second chance with the media and the public that they are calling for. Why? Well, there are two reasons.
Firstly; people who will have watched Question Time last night are a very small proportion of the populous; they’re the sort of people who understand words like populous, as well as being actively interested in ideas such as politics, racial equality and intelligent conversation.
Many members of our country who would have been less likely to have seen Question Time are the people we need to expose to the BNP’s beliefs. Such as the viewers of programmes such as The Jeremy Kyle Show, The Wright Stuff, Trisha and so on.
I’d also like to point out that I don’t think there’s a class/ intelligence difference between all the viewers of these shows, however they are designed for an audience type different to that of Question Time.
So, we put Nick Griffin on these shows, do we put other politicians on there too? No, not at all.
As Chris Huhne, Jack Straw and Baroness Warsi displayed last night, they are not the people to destroy the beliefs of the British National Party.
The star of last nights programme was Bonnie Greer. The American writer and Deputy Chairman of the British Museum: who time and again exposed Mr Griffin as being somewhat of an imbecile.
Not only was she incredibly calm and composed throughout the programme, she also proved more engaging with the audience both in the studio and at home. Mainly, because as a Writer and Historian rather than a Politician, her view was seen as personal, rather than one borne of political spin.
With this in mind I suggest Nick Griffin, or another member of the BNP is placed on a television show to debate against well respected figured from across the spectrum of subjects. As this would afford the BNP with their ‘second chance’ but it would more importantly, engage viewers who would not otherwise watch a debate show and expose them the hate filled beliefs of the BNP.
The second reason they should be given another chance, is displayed by what history has shown us before.
In the 1930s, Germany was going through a torrid time in two specific areas, the economy and immigration. During these struggles a man appeared in political circles who said he had a solution to the problem. He had written a book that many had found inspiring and started to be taken very seriously. The man was Adolf Hitler, and the solution was the Third Reich and the attempt to install the Arian race as all powerful.
If you know nothing about the British National Party, they campaign mainly on two political issues, the economy and immigration, their solution, the preservation of the indigenous British race.
Sound familiar? I thought it might.
This is the exact fear that Welsh Minister Peter Hain has recently been talking about to the BBC. He has accused the BBC of glorifying the BNP and pushing them into the mainstream to be seen as any other political party.
Much like the Nazi party were seen as by German citizens in the 1930s
This is why we need to continue to expose the BNP, in the 1930s there was no television or internet for people like you or I to communicate and put forward counter arguments to beliefs such as the ones Hitler wrote about in Mein Kampf. If we wanted to disagree about it the best way was to either write a book or to get onto a stage and hold a debate.
With today’s technology we have to power and the ability to be a truly united country against suggestions of fascism and therefore we should easily be able to stay away from the Great Britain that the BNP wants us to see.
So, at the end of this impassioned rant, I would like to know your opinions, should we stay angry at the BNP, and hope that one appearance on a Question Time in October will be enough to stop them. Or should we start inviting the party onto programmes such as Trisha, and The Jeremy Kyle Show, so that the media and the public can take a stand against them, again and again until the homophobic, racist and fascist views of the BNP really are a thing of the past.
Paul
3 years, 6 months ago
Racism begins with our families, parents, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, grandparents, people we admire, respect and love.
However, as we grow and mature we come to the realization that what we were told by our family when we were children were slanted lies base on their prejudices. We realize that most people are like ourselves and not so different and want the same things, like a home, steady work, a Medicare plan and schools for our children (if you travel you will see this). We realize that most people are of good hearts and goodwill.
This reminds me of a parable from the good book where a Levite and Priest come upon a man who fell among thieves and they both individually passed by and didn’t stop to help him.
Finally a man of another race came by, he got down from his beast, decided not to be compassionate by proxy and got down with the injured man, administered first aid, and helped the man in need.
Jesus ended up saying, this was the good man, this was the great man, because he had the capacity to project the “I” into the “thou,” and to be concerned about his fellow man.
You see, the Levite and the Priest were afraid, they asked themselves, “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?”
But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”
That’s the question before us. The question is not, “If I stop to help our fellow man (immigrant) in need, what will happen to me?” The question is, “If I do not stop to help our fellow man, what will happen to him or her?” That’s the question.
This current climate of blaming others for our woes is not new. We have had this before and we have conquered it.
Remember “Evil flourishes when good men (and women) do nothing”. Raise your voices with those of us who believe we are equal and we can win this battle again.