I have given up on the BBC of late. Sad as there was a time when I listened to R4 all day whilst working and could tell time of day and day from the voice alone.
Then a few years ago I felt an agenda begin to show itself. The BBC is now actively promoting various minority agandas to fit in withnthe way it sees the world. They celebrate “queer art”, minority ethnic groups and everyone but the majority of the population who come from what can loosely be called British.
Well, queers can be British too, surely. But I had a look at the Radio Times on BBC Genome yesterday, to see the schedules on a particular day in April 1981 (a friend’s birthday). It looked like the BBC has been doing this identity politics programming for a long time. BBC London even had a “Black Londoners” slot. But the BBC have certainly upped the ante on R4 of late. It’s identity politics daily in their schedules.
AB
Andrew Best
3 years ago
What about toxic brands like Disney star wars?
Managing to turn a 40 year love affair with fans into a toxic brand that bangs on about female empowerment but fires a strong female for supposed bad tweets but keeps on writers and promoters who tweet racism against white people?
The hypocrisy is so blatant that they are destroying their own fan base?
Then there is the BBC and Dr who but it’s the BBC and they have been destroying their own brand for years.
It’s not always toxic fans
DB
Daniel Björkman
3 years ago
The nerds and noisy complainers have to be put back in their box — I can confirm, as a member of the nerd community, that we were happier there.
… yeah. As a huge freaking dork, I can second that. The worst kind of nerds are the kind who take themselves seriously. The fact that the world at large has started taking us seriously has not done anything good to us.
AH
Alex Hunter
3 years ago
Thank you Gareth for a very interesting and entertaining read. It’s true that people become very passionate about these things – whether it’s a football team, Dr Who or Jeremy Corbyn.
Thankfully I am not one of them. There are things I care about (Dr Who being one of them) and if they aren’t great (and that hasn’t been of late!) I don’t get het up about it.
Yet every day we can read The Guardian and still people are banging on about Brexit or Corbyn both of which are, essentially, over. It’s quite sad really.
I think the passions mean people can’t accept losing anymore. Loser’s consent is vital to a functioning democracy and ‘fandom’ of various types is causing untold damage.
Yes indeed, I fear that multiculturalism and hyper-capitalism (multichannel TV for example and a million product choices) have atomised society. I for one mourn the loss of this shared common culture.
A phrase I heard ages ago that encapsulated the “common culture” was that your fifty year old plus milkman would be whistling the current number one single. Happy days.
CH
Chris Mochan
3 years ago
An unwelcome modern phenomenon is when popular TV programmes or movie franchises start to communicate with their fandom through in-jokes and unsubtle nods and winks during the show. It’s a particularly annoying way to break the 4th wall and it instantly pulls you out of it. Game of Thrones and Sherlock were particularly bad for it, you can tell the writers had been reading the obsessive accounts on twitter and were trying to curry favour.
One day a major business is going to respond to twitter obsessives and the buzzfeed ‘journalists’ who thrive off them with a two finger salute. Hopefully when nothing actually happens everyone will see that they are a paper tiger and stop pandering.
CG
Carl Goulding
3 years ago
Thank you Mr Robert’s you have hit one of the nails right on the head. However, the only way to get the nerds and noisy complainers back in the box is to cut the head off the social media snake and I cannot see that happening anytime soon.
DG
Daniel Goldstein
3 years ago
It’s a pity that the age of mass culture seems to have passed on. One of my most hated cliches is “viewers took to Twitter” forming the basis of what is loosely described as ‘journalism’. As you rightly point out, Gareth, this is mistaken for mass opinion by the media. Twitter seems to be a bubble of the important, those who think they are important, and those who think their views are important. I’m increasingly convinced that normal people don’t use social media.
AH
Andrew Harvey
3 years ago
Nice picture.
Do they actually let non-white people attend Glastonbury these days?
Thanks for this! I liked “Antifa and the storming of the Capitol are cosplay gone wild in the streets.” Regarding “Ofcom can be “deluged” by “fury” after about 40 complaints.” that reminds me of the old cliche “switchboards were jammed…”.
A solution is, as I think the author opines, simply not to take all this stuff too seriously. Newspapers are used to wrap chips “and keep their readers warm at night by filling the slats on park benches”. (Auberon Waugh, I think)
RB
ralph bell
3 years ago
Great amusing and illuminating article.
I completely agree, lets bring people together with common aims and share some love.
TT
Tony Taylor
3 years ago
An entertaining read, Gareth.
It’s the political party barrackers who are the worst. Sport barrackers and pop culture mavens are lightweights compared to the angry hoards of party followers who eviscerate their betes noires then blithely turn a blind eye or fiercely defend identical faults from their own side.
Last edited 3 years ago by Tony Taylor
WM
William Murphy
3 years ago
I love the line about fans being very, very mad and often very, very bad. You see the same mentality in allegedly more “serious” fields like politics and religion.
Just try questioning the sanctity of Mother Teresa, as I have done a few times, and see the holy venom spewed at you. Nowhere can people be so very, very bad as when they are trying to be very, very good.
As for Boris’ deranged fan club….I had an unforgettable on line exchange with a guy denying that Boris was a serial liar. And there was the lady at Tory conference a few years ago who proclaimed that, with Boris in charge, politics would at least be fun. How did she enjoy 2020?
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I have given up on the BBC of late. Sad as there was a time when I listened to R4 all day whilst working and could tell time of day and day from the voice alone.
Then a few years ago I felt an agenda begin to show itself. The BBC is now actively promoting various minority agandas to fit in withnthe way it sees the world. They celebrate “queer art”, minority ethnic groups and everyone but the majority of the population who come from what can loosely be called British.
Well, queers can be British too, surely. But I had a look at the Radio Times on BBC Genome yesterday, to see the schedules on a particular day in April 1981 (a friend’s birthday). It looked like the BBC has been doing this identity politics programming for a long time. BBC London even had a “Black Londoners” slot. But the BBC have certainly upped the ante on R4 of late. It’s identity politics daily in their schedules.
What about toxic brands like Disney star wars?
Managing to turn a 40 year love affair with fans into a toxic brand that bangs on about female empowerment but fires a strong female for supposed bad tweets but keeps on writers and promoters who tweet racism against white people?
The hypocrisy is so blatant that they are destroying their own fan base?
Then there is the BBC and Dr who but it’s the BBC and they have been destroying their own brand for years.
It’s not always toxic fans
… yeah. As a huge freaking dork, I can second that. The worst kind of nerds are the kind who take themselves seriously. The fact that the world at large has started taking us seriously has not done anything good to us.
Thank you Gareth for a very interesting and entertaining read. It’s true that people become very passionate about these things – whether it’s a football team, Dr Who or Jeremy Corbyn.
Thankfully I am not one of them. There are things I care about (Dr Who being one of them) and if they aren’t great (and that hasn’t been of late!) I don’t get het up about it.
Yet every day we can read The Guardian and still people are banging on about Brexit or Corbyn both of which are, essentially, over. It’s quite sad really.
I think the passions mean people can’t accept losing anymore. Loser’s consent is vital to a functioning democracy and ‘fandom’ of various types is causing untold damage.
I’ve got to that “losers consent” point myself with Dr who… Loved it for 40 years, and now given up on it and quite happy not to watch the new ones
“A common culture, a still centre, should be the cardinal purpose of the BBC.”
I think that ship sailed 20 years ago, what with the adulation for “multi-culturalism” that’s overtaken us in that time.
Yes indeed, I fear that multiculturalism and hyper-capitalism (multichannel TV for example and a million product choices) have atomised society. I for one mourn the loss of this shared common culture.
A phrase I heard ages ago that encapsulated the “common culture” was that your fifty year old plus milkman would be whistling the current number one single. Happy days.
An unwelcome modern phenomenon is when popular TV programmes or movie franchises start to communicate with their fandom through in-jokes and unsubtle nods and winks during the show. It’s a particularly annoying way to break the 4th wall and it instantly pulls you out of it. Game of Thrones and Sherlock were particularly bad for it, you can tell the writers had been reading the obsessive accounts on twitter and were trying to curry favour.
One day a major business is going to respond to twitter obsessives and the buzzfeed ‘journalists’ who thrive off them with a two finger salute. Hopefully when nothing actually happens everyone will see that they are a paper tiger and stop pandering.
Thank you Mr Robert’s you have hit one of the nails right on the head. However, the only way to get the nerds and noisy complainers back in the box is to cut the head off the social media snake and I cannot see that happening anytime soon.
It’s a pity that the age of mass culture seems to have passed on. One of my most hated cliches is “viewers took to Twitter” forming the basis of what is loosely described as ‘journalism’. As you rightly point out, Gareth, this is mistaken for mass opinion by the media. Twitter seems to be a bubble of the important, those who think they are important, and those who think their views are important. I’m increasingly convinced that normal people don’t use social media.
Nice picture.
Do they actually let non-white people attend Glastonbury these days?
I’ve never seen so many white people.
Thanks for this! I liked “Antifa and the storming of the Capitol are cosplay gone wild in the streets.”
Regarding “Ofcom can be “deluged” by “fury” after about 40 complaints.” that reminds me of the old cliche “switchboards were jammed…”.
A solution is, as I think the author opines, simply not to take all this stuff too seriously. Newspapers are used to wrap chips “and keep their readers warm at night by filling the slats on park benches”. (Auberon Waugh, I think)
Great amusing and illuminating article.
I completely agree, lets bring people together with common aims and share some love.
An entertaining read, Gareth.
It’s the political party barrackers who are the worst. Sport barrackers and pop culture mavens are lightweights compared to the angry hoards of party followers who eviscerate their betes noires then blithely turn a blind eye or fiercely defend identical faults from their own side.
I love the line about fans being very, very mad and often very, very bad. You see the same mentality in allegedly more “serious” fields like politics and religion.
Just try questioning the sanctity of Mother Teresa, as I have done a few times, and see the holy venom spewed at you. Nowhere can people be so very, very bad as when they are trying to be very, very good.
As for Boris’ deranged fan club….I had an unforgettable on line exchange with a guy denying that Boris was a serial liar. And there was the lady at Tory conference a few years ago who proclaimed that, with Boris in charge, politics would at least be fun. How did she enjoy 2020?