A lot can change in less than a decade, and not just ones personal perceptions. BBC Breakfast, Victoria Derbyshire, BBC 'News', Panorama, Newsnight and the rest: it is now widely recognised that nobody in their right minds will tune in to these trashy propaganda specials any more. The credibility of the BBC has plummeted, as have its 'news' and documentary ratings. Maybe there is a light at the end of the Kali Yuga after all.
I recently read a book on the topic. Yes, we seem to be doing books on Pale G.V. at present. Relatively hot off the press, it was: 'BBC: Brainwashing Britain?' by David Sedgwick. Familiar territory, I thought to myself; no sweat. It's actually quite a big tome. And with page after page after 387 pages of BBC 'news' and current affairs being inspected, dissected, analysed, I was in quite a strange mood by the end.
I knew that the BBC was bad. But I had failed to absorb just how totally, utterly, unremittingly bad it is. When it comes to 'news', that much-lauded impartiality is quietly and cunningly jettisoned. Instead it is socio-political conditioning that is remorseless and relentless, purpose-designed to wear down the critical faculties of the viewer. It's not that most of the content is fine, with just the occasional hiccup. Everything, but everything, is viewed through a particular-coloured lens: liberal elitism, cultural Marxism, socialist multiculturalism, power-addictive globalisation, call it what you will. It is there, unmistakeable, once you know how to look.
If you have ever read George Orwells' '1984', you have probably never forgotten it. If you have never read it, well, it's not too late. It's a nightmare dystopian future that Orwell conjures up. When I last read it, about five years ago, even then I found it rather exaggerated. No longer. David Sedgwick, the author, refers to '1984' frequently when describing the ideal society envisaged by BBC types, and the many underhand tactics employed in order to try and bring about their elitist authoritarian vision of society. Selection, omission, distortion, personal smear campaigns, invoking of simplistic good versus bad scenarios, careful choice of language designed to persuade and manipulate: all is everyday fayre in the impartial world of the BBC. Nothing is too low to use, provided it works. Fake news is the norm at Broadcasting House.
The author focusses on two themes to highlight the propaganda nature of BBC (mis)reporting: its ceaseless anti-Trump stance, and its equally ceaseless anti-Brexit pose. He could equally have chosen other topics, such as the BBC's 'coverage' of the themes of climate change and so-called renewable energy. It was my own dip into the realities surrounding these topics which initially alerted me to the strange interpretation of the word 'impartial' by the BBC.
None of what I have written is intended as rhetoric or exaggeration. For once, a Pale Green blogpost can be taken pretty much literally. So too the content of 'BBC: Brainwashing Britain?'. Unlike much of what comes out of Broadcasting House, it is properly researched, not depending on rumour, tweets, or press releases. The BBC is indeed a most dangerous organisation, and it is with relief that I observe how many other people are realising the same. I suppose that, in their increased desperation to perpetuate unsustainable narratives, the BBC's tactics are becoming increasingly obvious, increasingly stupid and over-the-top.
In describing so clearly the nefarious means by which the BBC tries to manipulate the UK populace, the book also provides the reader with valuable tools of discernment which can be used equally with regards to anybody else's 'news'.
So I'm going to heartily recommend this book. If every adult in the UK read it, the nation would become a wiser, better place, more aligned with honesty and reality. And Broadcasting House could be used for something constructive and useful.
As a postscript, the website of the book's author, David Sedgwick, includes his blog, which provides well-written worthwhile pieces.
