Wednesday, November 04, 2009

It’s freedom of speech time again.

The BBC, Question Time, Nick Griffin.

You know the rest. Schoolyard-style bullying masquerading as political discussion.

Then there was the outrage that a racist such as Griffin, the leader of the British National Party, was allowed airtime to speak on the BBC.

Now, I’m no great fan of Nick Griffin or the BNP. Having spent a day in his company (for a project called Outsiders) I feel my views are not based on any kind of propaganda or misrepresentation.

But I do not like the way Griffin was treated. When the press shows bias in it’s handling of certain people just because it disagrees with that person’s views, it is devaluing itself.

Like it or not, the BNP are a political party. People vote for them. They should not be denied a place on the panel of a political talk show.

I can’t believe it took so long for someone from the BNP to appear on the show.

The most often cited reason for not allowing Griffin on Question Time was because he would somehow con people by charm and win more votes than he deserves. Having never seen a politician able to con people with charm, I wonder why there are those who think Griffin has the gift of the gab.

Whatever attributes Griffin does possess, the gift of the gab is not one of them.

He struggled on Question Time. But he should not have been bullied.

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