When will the BBC be held accountable for their lack of patriotism

[longfingernails]

Why does this far-left propoganda group continually try to do Britain down?

Why can't they have more presenters who think like the majority of Brits - people who believe that Britain is truly great - indeed, the best country in the world.

People who believe in our institutions, who love the monarchy, who revere the military, who speak in hushed awe about the majesty of our traditions. Presenters who are over-awed by the silent beauty of our countryside, and the glory of our heritage and history. Why do they always use their sneering, supercilious, Guardianista attitude - this constant insinuation that Britain should always be taking the blame and apologising. Coincidentally, it seems to stem from the same sort of sneering middle-classery that is prevalent on MN...

The most recent, shameful episode is the Beeb trying their best to spoil the England 2018 bid. Now I have no time at all for football - I can't stand it - but I fully recognise how important it is for our economy, and also for our national psyche.

The sooner the BBC withers and dies the better. Sadly, it has gotten away with a miniscule 16% cut in the TV tax over 6 years. They will continue their ramblings for the foreseeable future.

So a - say - quarter English, quarter French, quarter Norwegian, quarter Scottish person would feel patriotic about ALL those countries?

Probably not Huddspur, but he certainly wouldn't help matters. As I said, sales people need to have authenticity, he severely lacks this common characteristic. Also, the desperation was causing a stench. Oh and the arrogance.

smallwhitecat, have you lived in England all your life? Do you still visit relatives in Scotland? Have you possibly lost some of your Scottish roots? If you lived abroad and you heard the bagpipes playing Auld lang Syne, I bet it would all come back to you.

I agree swc. I think it is a constant battle of awareness. Let's face it, people are extremely prejudiced about disabilities in RL.

My best friend said to me a few weeks ago. "it's all very well having inclusion and SN kids at school........just not in my DD'd class"

I have another friend who has a very disabled DD and the prejudice she faces on a daily basis is staggering.

I don't think the BBC are the worst culprits for propagating prejudice against disabled people, yet that is not to say that should not improve.

I fucking hate Jimmy Carr

'So a - say - quarter English, quarter French, quarter Norwegian, quarter Scottish person would feel patriotic about ALL those countries?'

some people would, others would have lost some of their roots. The links need to be maintained, which is why many children are sent to weekend schools to learn about their cultures in order to maintain the link.

And I also think the BBC make attempts at breaking down prejudice, away from the crap like HIGNFY

And what amount of patriotism for each country would be genetically 'felt' by someone an eighth English, Scottish, Norwegian, French, American, German, Hungarian, Russian?

Ad infinitem.

So. If there is a genetic mechanism for patriotism (which there isn't, by the way), there would have to be some evidence for it (which there isn't).

What you mean is you 'want' there to be a genetic explanation for patriotism, because that would be simple and easy.

But there isn't.

So without that biological explanation, what else is there that might explain people's patriotism?

I don't think you can say that nationality has no impact on you. If I was in a room with various people of various nationalities I would likely gravitate towards the english person/people. That said blind patriotism is pretty silly and has been used to justify many horrific acts through history.

OK, you've already answered my question: 'people have lost touch with their roots'.

By which you mean, I presume, in order to feel patriotism, people have to be in regular contact with the expression of it, in cultural forms? They have to see it, feel it, recognise it as 'theirs', for example, on their state TV station?

Claig - You live in a very odd world with it's mix of romantic fantasy and paranoia. It is a fascinating place to visit.

And NO ONE like bagpipes. Not even scots. Some of them pretend to, buts that's just to wind up the rest of us.

I'm proud of the BBC - it is not perfect, but of all the channels that I have watched in various places, it is far and away the best.
Look

I don't know. Boyle has been 'let go' from Mock the Week

Carr is rarely on the BBC - he is more C4.

What I was saying in my last post is that the BBC (despite apparently been run by a mafia of lefties), are still quite representative of the public, and unfortunately at the moment, that includes some prejudice against disabled people.

I would be more inclined to be involved in Inclusion groups for example, and make that something to be talked about, than attacking the BBC for occasionally being off-message on disabled people.

Overall, the BBC are pretty good at keeping bigots off screen. Jimmy Carr being the exception atm, granted. But his time is limited.

This thread is getting hilarious in so many directions at once, esp thanks to claig:

• The example of English people living in Spain loving England more because they're English: why on earth have they bloody moved to Spain then?

• The concept of "roots" and some kind of genetic attachment. Your birthplace/nationality doesn't necessarily have any effect on you if you have no physical contact with that place. For example, lots of people will have a "right" to claim the nationality of a country according to the rules that country decides to apply to this qualification, but that doesn't mean they know about it/go ahead and claim it.

• The point of the BBC's news coverage is that it employs journalists that are positively encouraged to use their critical faculties to present and analyse what's going on in this country and in the rest of the world. Can you really say that the organisation that went through the whole Hutton enquiry post-Gilligan is left-wing? Do you know Alistair Campbell's relationship with the Beeb? Puhleese.

• The English countryside is the most silently majestic in the world, or whatever guff-ridden phrase you used.

I'd like patriotism to include an ability to be realistic about one's country, not assume it's the "best" in any way but to recognise its faults as much as its attractions. Otherwise, it's just blind nationalism that makes you the laughing stock.

Questions for Claig and LFN:
Do you really think that British trains were the best in the world because they were British?
Are you proud of the fact that we have about the highest prison population per capita in Western Europe?
How about the worrying studies on the stress and unhappiness of Britain's children?
And you probably think that the British booze culture is one of the more commendable aspects of life here.

Don't get me wrong, there are loads of things I like about Britain; but this does not mean I am blind to the negative aspects.

I'm not Scottish, but I love the bagpipes. When the popers play a lament it is a heavenly sound. At the D Day landings, a piper played the pipes and the Germans knew the British were coming.

I'm not indian but I love a bit of Bollywood type dancing

I'm not Irish but I love Riverdance

I'm not Argentinian but I really love the Argentinian Tango

Not sure of the point

'By which you mean, I presume, in order to feel patriotism, people have to be in regular contact with the expression of it, in cultural forms? They have to see it, feel it, recognise it as 'theirs', for example, on their state TV station?'

Yes people must know their history and their roots and their family backgrounds. That is why the Tories will undo what Labour did, and are reforming the teaching of history in our schools and are going to concentrate on teaching British history.

Claig - Rightwing people around the First World War loved the rigid class structure and were rather gutted that it fell apart from 1918.

Before that, there were other ghastly principles and activities that rightwing people supported. Being rightwing or leftwing is not a constant state of affairs, or do you hold to every principle that anyone on the rightwing of British politics/economics has ever held dear? If so, I think you must be rather confused.

'And NO ONE like bagpipes. Not even scots.'

is what TCNY said. The point is I do love the bagpipes.

Claig - Actually, people in general didn't evolve to operate in groups of more than about 12. This is why teams in the military and organisations tend to settle down to about that amount.
We need to use hacks that use the parts of out brains that anthropormise in tools like religion and patriotism in order to control people.

But you said that patriotism was about ALL the people in our country. And you also said English, not British.

So Welsh, Scottish and Irish schools should teach 'their' history?

How far back would you go with people's genetic family and historical backgrounds? The Normans? The Vikings? The Indo-European tribes?

How far back would similar histories in other countries go? Say, for Americans? Or those in the Caribbean? Or Australia?

'Claig - Rightwing people around the First World War loved the rigid class structure and were rather gutted that it fell apart from 1918.'

I think you are assuming that right wing people are only the rich elite. Many working class people are right wing. In fact I think that the majority of working class people believe in right wing values.

I don't believe in all right wing conservative policies, but I believe in more of them than I do in socialist ones.