The BBC is now beyond any measure of neutrality. They are for the big state with no questions asked, they are now publishing articles in support of a 'nanny state'. Apart from the articles being blatantly incorrect, suggesting that the libertarian position was mainstream in order to attack it, it strikes me as obscene that the BBC could publish an article so opposed to freedom.
Among the errors is a picture of Piccadilly Circus, with the sentence 'A truly libertarian state would have no advertising at all, remaining entirely neutral' underneath. That isn't libertarian, that is communist, surely? What we would have is the government not telling us what to do - how poorly does the BBC have to represent the libertarian position before it is realised that the BBC is deliberately doing so.
Let's look at another false statement:
"The foibles of citizens should be placed beyond comment or criticism, for fear of turning government into that most reviled and unpalatable kind of authority in libertarian eyes - the nanny state."
The foibles of citizens will be open to comment from other individuals and, in certain circumstances, businesses and non-governmental organisations. The government shouldn't be making comments on individuals, why would we want them to? They are there to serve the people, not comment and criticise them. The most reviled thing for libertarians is not a nanny state, but an authoritarian dictatorship and a nanny state is just one step in the direction to that. We hate the idea of a nanny state because we hate the idea of government controlling our lives and taking away freedoms because apparently some people know better than us. This is exactly the logic of the Bolshevik leaders when they dissolved the Russian Constituent Assembly in 1918, after just 13 hours of sitting. They knew what was best for the people.
The article had numerous other errors in what was at best, an absurdly poorly researched article, or at worst (and given the detail, the more likely), a deliberate attempt to misplace the libertarian position to ridicule it. It might just be one guy, but given that Alain de Bottom (from the left-wing Indy) is regularly allowed to use the BBC as his mouthpiece, it seems that anyone under the impression that the BBC is neutral is simply and unquestionably in denial. As for it just being 'a point of view', the question is, when is there a rebuttal?
Why do I have to pay for someone to misrepresent me and not be questioned for it?
Lord Monckton and James Delingpole have both recently seen the obscene side of BBC programming, and here is a clear example of the BBC website chiming in. The BBC hates libertarians, they are against the expansion of the state, the BBC hates climate 'sceptics' because they don't bow down to orthodoxy, they generally dislike people who don't fit into their left-'liberal' mould. It surely is time that the BBC was, at the very least, radically altered, because there cannot be a question of this anymore, can there? The BBC has an institutional bias and it isn't going to go away.
Saturday 5 February 2011
Tuesday 1 February 2011
"We should bring down the Israeli government!" - Those lefties again...
An Israeli diplomat called Ishmael Khaldi was invited to the university, and today he gave a talk on Israel and security. I say again, a diplomat, more, a Bedouin Arab, Israeli diplomat came to speak on the issue of security in the middle east and his life as a diplomat (as well as maybe talk about his book, not that he got the chance).
The left came out in force, no banners though, but still they came to heckle and insult and generally disrupt everyone else. What did it achieve? Nothing, everyone else saw them as the childish, incoherent, moronic fools that they are - their actions won them no converts. They used up time with pointless irrelevancies and prevented others from asking more prescient questions than "what is wrong with Israel?" after talking about unicorns. I kid you not, they brought up unicorns.
What is it with these people who come into meetings around the country, in talks and meetings in universities and public arenas to systematically disrupt and shout down others? Why is this useful or necessary? What goes through the minds of these people when they hold meetings to draw up notes on what to shout. They failed to convince anybody and the rest of the audience was more disdainful of the interruptions than the guest.
The stated suggestion of the lefty's leader, who self-identifies as a Trotskyite (and one of my uni's NUS delegates), is to bring down the Israeli government. He offers no suggestion of what to do afterwards. Now, I would concur that removing statism would improve the lot of the people living there, but I'm not sure just some vague suggestion of bringing down governments does anyone any good.
It was clear that this group wanted nothing more than to make themselves sound superior to others, to self-please until nobody else existed. It was a horrible (if utterly predictable) sight to see. My uni being embarrassed because some people were unable to sit and listen like adults is not something I want. Given that nobody was coerced to go, it seems rather more than puerile to attend just to annoy others.
If you are unable to talk to others in a reasoned manner, please don't turn up and ruin it for the rest of us, it is not welcome. It will never be welcome. Whether you're a far-left Trot, a 'green' campaigner', a conspiracy theorist or anything else, learn to talk like an adult before instead of throwing your faeces out of the cage. Grow up and listen to others - if you intend not to listen to what others have to say, then go away and let more open-minded people do it instead.
The left came out in force, no banners though, but still they came to heckle and insult and generally disrupt everyone else. What did it achieve? Nothing, everyone else saw them as the childish, incoherent, moronic fools that they are - their actions won them no converts. They used up time with pointless irrelevancies and prevented others from asking more prescient questions than "what is wrong with Israel?" after talking about unicorns. I kid you not, they brought up unicorns.
What is it with these people who come into meetings around the country, in talks and meetings in universities and public arenas to systematically disrupt and shout down others? Why is this useful or necessary? What goes through the minds of these people when they hold meetings to draw up notes on what to shout. They failed to convince anybody and the rest of the audience was more disdainful of the interruptions than the guest.
The stated suggestion of the lefty's leader, who self-identifies as a Trotskyite (and one of my uni's NUS delegates), is to bring down the Israeli government. He offers no suggestion of what to do afterwards. Now, I would concur that removing statism would improve the lot of the people living there, but I'm not sure just some vague suggestion of bringing down governments does anyone any good.
It was clear that this group wanted nothing more than to make themselves sound superior to others, to self-please until nobody else existed. It was a horrible (if utterly predictable) sight to see. My uni being embarrassed because some people were unable to sit and listen like adults is not something I want. Given that nobody was coerced to go, it seems rather more than puerile to attend just to annoy others.
If you are unable to talk to others in a reasoned manner, please don't turn up and ruin it for the rest of us, it is not welcome. It will never be welcome. Whether you're a far-left Trot, a 'green' campaigner', a conspiracy theorist or anything else, learn to talk like an adult before instead of throwing your faeces out of the cage. Grow up and listen to others - if you intend not to listen to what others have to say, then go away and let more open-minded people do it instead.
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