ModernityBlog

As anti-Jewish racism seeps into the public discourse via the British liberal establishment, it is apparent why those with a fixation or animosity towards Israelis or Jews are largely impervious to reason as a poster at Engage relates her experiences:

“Israelinurse Says: October 25, 2009 at 9:20 am

Yesterday’s event at the Bolton Octagon was, of course, predictably depressing. The actual format of the event did not and could not promote real debate because of its structure whereby the Director called upon people to speak and most simply recited pre-prepared statements slamming Israel. We endured all the usual slogans (ethnic cleansing, massacre etc.) and were treated to quite a few downright lies including the bizarre claim from Richard Kuper (JFJFP) that no rockets were fired into Israel in the months prior to Cast Lead.

I found it particularly revealing that Dr Brian Iddon MP (Bolton SE, Lab) repeatedly tripped himself up by saying ‘Jews’ instead of ‘Israelis’.

As one lady said to me during the interval, the Miller play which should have been staged at this event is ‘The Crucible’; not ‘All My Sons’.

A particularly significant moment for me personally was when, in the interval just after I had ‘outed’ myself as an Israeli, I suddenly found that the stairs and corridors leading to the lobby emptied magically before me as various audience members pressed themselves against the walls as though they were afraid of any type of contact. Far from being curious at the chance to meet a real Israeli, these people seemed terrified that something, anything, might upset their world view.

In short, this was an entirely self-indulgent event on the part of the assorted PSC supporters, ‘AsAJews’, anarchists and Quakers present. Nobody had come to listen, nobody had come to bridge gaps. Their aim was twofold; firstly to outdo each other as regards which shocking ‘fact’ about Israel they could publicly reveal, and secondly to obtain reassurance for their world view and the comfort of being part of a group which they perceive as being righteous.

I cannot say that I was surprised; most of my dealings with the PSC have been of this nature. The event did, however, strengthen my growing belief that Britain is becoming increasingly irrelevant as a place for open and democratic debate. What a pity that this particular section of the theatrical community is co-operating with the attempts of organisations such as the PSC to stifle any views which do not conform to their monotone perceptions. In a place such as Bolton, this would seem to me to be particularly unproductive.

The event also strengthened my view that Britain no longer deserves its Jewish community and that the only real answer to this despicable phenomenon is aliyah. “

[My emphasis]

Readers will remember The Crucible, Miller’s tale of a witch hunt.

I have often found, from experience, that some of the most obtuse and dense characters that I have come across have been senior managers, who once convinced of an idea 1) can’t admit it is rubbish 2) continue with it until it blows up in their faces 3) will brook no dissent, etc

So it is with the BNP Question Time fiasco, the Beeb management have learnt nothing in the process, the Torygraph reports:

“Mr Byford said he did not regret Mr Griffin’s appearance on Thursday and he dismissed accusations that the programme was an attempt to boost viewing figures, insisting it had taken the same format as normal with audience members scrutinising the panellists.

“This was never about audience-chasing at all,” he told BBC1′s Andrew Marr Show.

The programme was watched by 8 million viewers at its peak time, the highest figures in its 30 year history.
Mr Byford reiterated that the BNP’s electoral support and two European Parliament seats meant the party fulfilled the necessary criteria to deserve an invite to the show.

While Mr Griffin would not be on Question Time regularly, Mr Byford said he could appear again from time to time because the BNP was “not banned from the airwaves”.

He said: “We will consider it in the same framework that we considered this one as well, and constantly monitor it. But I don’t regret it – in fact I think the BBC has been shown to take due impartiality incredibly seriously. It’s the central value.”

Update 1: Jim’s rather funny on Professor Griffin.

I wasn’t intending to post much for a while, but I had to laugh reading this article in the Guardian, even the knuckled heads in the BNP are ashamed of Griffin’s performance on Question Time:

“The leader of the BNP, Nick Griffin, found himself the victim of an extraordinary attack from his own supporters last night following his controversial appearance on the BBC’s Question Time.

As a public postmortem into one of the most divisive broadcasts in the corporation’s history attempted to gauge its impact on the party’s fortunes, Lee Barnes, the BNP’s legal officer, accused Griffin of “failing to press the attack” during the televised debate, which was watched by a record 8 million people. Others sympathetic to the BNP’s views expressed dismay at Griffin’s flustered attempts to appeal to the mainstream.

The BNP’s critics were quick to use the comments as proof of deep divisions within the party’s membership over how it should position itself with the electorate. Griffin has claimed that he has dragged the party into the political mainstream. But the resulting backlash from those on his own side suggests many are uncomfortable with the BNP’s attempts to cloak itself in more moderate terms.
…
In far-right chat rooms yesterday many were asking whether the Question Time appearance was a watershed. “Griffin carries too much baggage to act as spokesman for the BNP,” one said. “I lost count of the number of times past quotes came back to haunt him.”

Many times I think it is not so much the neofascists’ opponents that keep them split and out of power, rather the sheer incompetency and backbiting amongst these racists that helps to minimalism their impact, let us hope they never build up a critical mass or things could be very different, for the worse.