Americans are thick – Bush to blame

This morning, impartial and objective BBC Radio Scotland decided to discuss the death penalty as practiced in the United States.

So who did the BBC choose to join presenter Gary Robertson for this impartial and objective discussion? None other than Sister Helen Prejean, long time campaigner against the death penalty.

The discussion then proceeded along the lines of ‘how could something so awful still be part of the US legal system?’ with both Helen Prejean and Robertson offering nothing but criticism.

Here’s the reasons why:

• Americans are thick
• Americans lack the sophistication of older more mature European societies
• Religious nutcases
• The Bushes both support the death penalty

Of course, Bill Clinton’s endorsement of the death penalty whilst in office both in the Whitehouse and Arkansas went unmentioned, as did his reasons for doing so.

I’d also point out the opinion polls here in the UK frequently show considerable support for the death penalty for certain crimes, for all our ‘sophistication’ and ‘maturity’.

Personally I don’t support the death penalty, but if the subject is to be covered it should not be covered in such an openly partisan way.

It seems to me as a listener that anti-Americanism is ingrained as an acceptable bigotry within the BBC.