Why Question Time was appalling

Didn’t think I would deviate from web-type-stuff on my blog, but I feel so strongly about this I need someplace to vent.

Firstly, let me say that I appreciate everyone’s beliefs, sexuality and opinions. I am a very firm believer of free speech and anti-oppression. And, in the words of a certain overweight sweaty chap that everyone threw verbal mud at the other evening, “I am not a racist”.

However, I have been completely outraged and disgusted by the treatment of Nick Griffin on Question Time the other night. Let me explain why.

Free speech

Firstly, everyone in this country has the right to speak their opinion without fear of prejudice or attack. It is a fundamental right, and one that is precious and should be cherished. Many people across the planet do not have this right. The protesters on Thursday should remember that, when they’re protesting to stop somebody from airing their point of view.

You might not like what someone has to say, you might despise and hate them for saying it, and you may consider their point of view disgusting and degraded and wrong – but nonetheless it is their point of view and they have a fundamental right to tell people what they think. Put your banners away, they’re not helping anyone.

Media

The other thing that very much annoyed me was the media spin. The next day, headlines in not only the tabloids but also the more ‘respectable’ broadsheets spouted drivel such as ‘When Aunty Met Nazi’ and ‘Griffin attacks Islam’. If you saw QT on Thursday you will have seen that actually, Griffin confirmed that he thought the religion didn’t fit into the British way of things, for various reasons mentioned in their holy scripture (plus, his answers were quite direct and specific, the way they should be – unlike Straw who skirted around an issue for about 15 minutes).

I certainly would not call this an attack. He was responding to a question put forward by the audience, to answer a previous comment – he certainly did not initiate it, and simply explained his reasoning. While I’m talking about the questions, too…

Mudslinging

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good argument. But when did Question Time become a forum for attacking one individual based on his point of view? I was ready to hear some interesting answers from Griffin on his thoughts around the Iraq war, the postal strike, MPs expenses and so on. Instead, it became the stocks in the town centre, where Griffin was cuffed and left for the crowd to spit in his face,  and throw rotten fruit for being an outsider.

If they were going to make it a BNP special then there should have been other panellists sharing a similar point of view, or at least some subjectivity. In fact, a UKIP member should have been welcome. Whilst they don’t have a past impression of racism, they share very similar views to the BNP (which is somehow OK, in the eyes of the British public). There should have been a structured debate, and not a facade of intellectual congress in front of a public rogering. It was horrible to watch.

Nitty-gritty

The BNP used to be a racist, anti-semitic party. There’s no doubt about that. Griffin, over the last few years especially, has been slowly changing them from this dangerous racism to a more objective, solution-focussed party. With that in mind, there are several things that I believe people are interpreting incorrectly.

For example – when Griffin talks about ‘indiginous people’ he doesn’t mean Neanderthal man. He doesn’t mean a white person. I believe that he means someone who lives here, who has grown up here, been educated here and works here, and pays taxes here. He is right when he says Britain is becoming overcrowded, and when he talks of deportation, he doesn’t mean people of a different colour, he means people that have not lived here their whole lives, people who have come over here to live off our benefits system or to use our resources without paying and the like.

The problem is that Griffin has always found this point difficult to get across because people automatically see it as racist.

There were lots of other things I was going to say but I’ve forgotten them all, so I’ll leave it there. This really is just my take on things – I don’t believe his solutions are right, and I certainly won’t be voting BNP (or anyone else for that matter), but it’s certainly his right to have those opinions.

And it’s your right too – I’d love to hear your points of view and responses, so please do leave a comment below.

Leave your comment below. Go wild! Just curb the naughty words.