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Original poster

Telegraph article on Speechless documentary about universities and ideological capture on BBC

35 replies

Veilsofmorning · 23/07/2026 12:52

First time starting a thread, so hope OK.
Article today in the Telegraph about the BBC documentary series Speechless. The tide must have turned and come well in for this to be on BBC?

“Ric Bienstock is a Canadian documentary filmmaker whose two-part documentary series Speechless is now streaming on BBC iPlayer.”
From the article:

“What followed was a near 10-year journey across campuses in North America and the United Kingdom. Again and again, I saw complex issues giving way to ideological certainty. A generation was being taught that disagreement was harmful.”
and
“Universities should be the one place where difficult ideas can be examined without people worrying about damaging their careers. When we teach students that disagreement is violence, that discomfort is harm, that the proper response to an idea you find threatening is to make sure nobody else hears it, we weaken them.”
Gift link below, hopefully.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/23896ce75f82762f

OP posts:
TheywontletmehavethenameIwant · 23/07/2026 14:50

No idea, at the risk of falling down the rabbit hole of trying to make sense of the insensible, if you wave a point finger in someone's face when your speaking to them that would be an aggressive gesture.

That however is not what they mean when they say someone's talking with their hands, but the snowflakes in the usual fashion equate any gesturing with your hands when you speak as being the same thing. 🤷

HaveYouActuallyDoneAnyWashingThisWeekMum · 23/07/2026 14:47

Thank you, I will look out for this on iplayer. Sounds very interesting.

(How do these little bunnies cope in countries where people routinely speak “with their hands” eg Italy?)

Seethlaw · 23/07/2026 14:45

BunfightBetty · 23/07/2026 14:40

How is waving your hands around when you’re talking a micro aggression? Provided you’re not doing it violently, what’s the supposed problem?

I asked AI and even it couldn't hallucinate an answer. The best it could give me was:

Waving hands while talking becomes a microaggression when it crosses into boundary-crossing physical space, aggressive power plays, or cultural appropriation.

So basically, "it becomes a microaggression when it becomes aggressive," which, duh.

BunfightBetty · 23/07/2026 14:40

How is waving your hands around when you’re talking a micro aggression? Provided you’re not doing it violently, what’s the supposed problem?

TheywontletmehavethenameIwant · 23/07/2026 14:33

Thanks for the link, a depressing read, but all too believable.

"I saw the university’s president, George Bridges, get accused of a "microaggression" for using hand gestures while trying to calm down a room of angry students. He wasn’t being aggressive. He was just talking with his hands, the way people do. They mocked him, shouted over him and demanded he keep his hands still. Eventually, he did."

It's straight out of Mao's China.

I was in a situation in work where a younger colleague complained about me waving my hands around when I was talking to her, fortunately the manager she was complaining too was of the same age as me and didn't understand it as a "microaggression" but as a normal thing for some people to do when they talk because she did it herself.

The younger generations are really mobminded, I don't see things ending well for them, certainly don't see it ending in Uptopia.

Original poster
Veilsofmorning · 23/07/2026 13:05

It does cover a lot more more than gender issues, but that’s the part that makes it surprising for me

OP posts:
TwoLoonsAndASprout · 23/07/2026 13:04

Archive link for when the gift token expires:

https://archive.ph/pU5IQ

Glamourreader · 23/07/2026 13:01

Yes, very pleased it is. Thank you for sharing. We can help it get enough clicks to realise it is worth publishing.

Original poster
Veilsofmorning · 23/07/2026 12:59

Glamourreader · 23/07/2026 12:56

Sounds good and I will have a look but universities shouldn't be 'the one place' we can challenge ideas, we need to be allowed discussion anywhere.

I agree, but it remains notable that this is on BBC i-player

OP posts:
Glamourreader · 23/07/2026 12:56

Sounds good and I will have a look but universities shouldn't be 'the one place' we can challenge ideas, we need to be allowed discussion anywhere.

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