For the BBC, it’s simple. It’s about a constant stream of newthink and newspeak, telling us that we should accept immigration, that any form of patriotism is evil, and that fear of danger from minorities – especially from Muslims – is idiocy.
Thus, this story about the Great Fire of London becomes an exercise in Goebbels-style propaganda. The facts are that back in 1666, Britain was in the middle of a major war with the Dutch; it was a battle for markets, against trade protectionism and much more; those who lived here at the time thought it was a vital cause and a just cause. Arguably, the actions of the brave men and women back then secured Britain’s place in the world and our future prosperity.
National security, unsurprisingly during war time, was a major issue – soon after the Great Fire, the Dutch mounted a major blockade of the Thames which led to the Battle of the Medway, a vicious action in which they attacked the fleet at its moorings. So when the Great Fire broke out in September 1666, it was hardly surprising that one theory about the causes of its outbreak was the Dutch.
But heck, for the BBC, any thought that Londoners should have been worried is just nonsense; it’s purely xenophobia at its worse that carries lessons for today. In this major re-writing and distortion of our past, I quote from the Meriel Jeater, the “expert” chosen by the BBC to play the Goebbels role. She says:
The dark side was that the fire burst on to the surface religious tension and paranoia about national security…It’s a tale with echoes today, says Ms Jeater. “When I was curating the exhibition, it wasn’t long after the 7/7 bombings and when I was reading about the reactions against Catholics and the Dutch, it struck me that there were a lot of similarities with the backlash against Muslim people after the bombing. A lot of suspicion about people living in London”.
So that’s it then. We should all ignore that many Muslims are busy trying to undermine us, just as back in 1666, we should have rolled over, forgotten about national interests and patriotism, and let the Dutch invade. And of course, our ancestors were nasty, xenophobic, insentient morons. In the US, they revere their founding fathers; here; the BBC leads the charge in denigrating and insulting them.
Was the actual cause of the fire ever established ?
Jews or Bush.
Global warming.
Tory cuts.
Maggie!!
Peyps, Feb 24th, 1667 –
“Asking Sir R Viner what he thought was the cause of the fire, he tells me that the Baker, son and his daughter did all swear again and again that their Oven was drawn by 10 a-clock at night. That having occasion to light a candle about 12, there was not so much fire in the bakehouse as to light a match for a candle, so as they were fain to go into another place to light it. That about 2 in the morning they felt themselves almost choked with smoke; and rising, did find the fire coming upstairs – so they rose to save themselfs; but that at that time the bavins were not on fire in the yard. So that they are, as they swear, in absolute ignorance how this fire should come – which is a strange thing, that so horrid an effect should have so mean and uncertain a beginning.”
It was of course a judgement on gluttony – as proved by the fact that it started (and this about the only thing I remember from school history lessons) in Pudding Lane and ended at Pie Corner!
Muslims are the new Juices…didnt you guys get the memo?
Fact is, there was NO upswing in race attacks against Muslims after 7/7…unlike say, race inspire hate attacks against Jews during and after Caste Lead!
Mailman
What backlash against Muslims? Did I fall asleep during that one? Did I miss all those nasty white people protesting against Islam in Trafalgar square or blowing up Mosques?
Oh hang on I remember now it’s the Muslims protesting and calling for the beheading of anyone who doesn’t like Mohammad and of course they continue to this very day to try to blow up up.
Stop snorting Cocaine beeboid mongs and take a LOOK AROUND.
AFAIAA “Lord” Blair rushed detachments of the Met to Muslim areas to “protect” their inhabitants. And whaddya know? No thugs turned up – there were no disturbances – no manifestations of outrage. The Moslems were safer here than they were – or are – in Pakistan.
There’s a surprise – our Meriel also curated an anti-smoking exhibition in 2008 at the Museum of London as noted here ( http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/5443/ ). So she’s completely on-message with the Righteous and, of course, the BBC. What a crock!
In effect, every item on Today – every item on the BBC – conveys the overt or covert message that if you’re white, Jewish or Christian, born in England of native-born parents, middle class, tax-paying, law-abiding, in a (private sector) job, able to read, write and add with some facility, then you are, by definition, racist, xenophobic scum. According to the BBC narrative, the national history of England is one of exploitation and enslaving of the noble savages of Africa (and of Wales, Scotland and Ireland). In that narrative, this shameful record has currently morphed into demonising Islam and grinding the faces of the benefiterati and criminals (none of whom have any responsibility for their crimes) in the dirt.
Meanwhile in the Persian Gulf war is moving closer. The BBC would be better advised to concentrate some of it’s energies on the situation there and give us some real reporting rather than indulge itself in liberal guilt waffling.
Once you realise that the loony lefties just do not see the world the way everyone else does, it makes sense. George Galloway without any embarrassment said on his Talk Sport radio show “there are too many countries”. They wish for the break down of individual countries, no wonder patriotism has become a dirty word. Mass immigration is the means to this end. We are witnessing this transition, maybe when we come out at the other side it will have been worth the crime, overcrowding, housing shortages, congestion, environmental stress etc.
Why does the BBC allow endless left wing Liebour scum to come on TV and spout utter shit about the new Government when they are so corrupt and useless?
Just had Alan Johnson (a man you wouldn’t want behind you in the shower) who was going on about evil Tory cuts putting us at risk.
So remind me again people, just which Government was in charge on the 7th July 2005?
Oh and notice how the gay beeboids are talking up the growing health gap between rich and poor, funny that when you listen to the rent boy rapists spouting off you get the impression the CURRENT Government is to blame, not the one that’s been in power for 13 years (when the gap grew by the way)
Good comment about the impending war Dave S, — and why is it that the curators of these right-on exhibitions are always wimmin.
Do they have a greater desire to stir things up, or is it that they just cannot do anything else?
Oh, good comment ! Some of them just love other people dying for their causes .
Yet another camp male beeboid (where do they get them from?) just stated on the BBC news that the troop reduction in Iraq was done as a result of the memo that said we could not sustain the number of forces in Iraq (about 40,000 at the time of the invasion)
So camp male says that the Government did was was right.
But hang on, didn’t the cutting of the forces in Iraq down to under 9,000 actually put soldiers lives at risk as there were not enough troops to hold down Basra? Didn’t we end up having ot get the yanks to bail us out as the British army was effectively pinned down at the airport?
The BBC re-writes Liebour’s failures as another ‘victory’
If the same people running the BBC today were in charge during the War, they would have reportd that all those rockets coming over from Germany were not a causus belli because they were random, haphazard affairs not actually targeted at anything specifically. They’d follow it with a gentle scolding that all that jingo-istic patriotism exhibited by the public was unseemly.
There is an important distinction. The Great Fire of London almost certainly wasn’t caused by the Dutch as part of their war effort. The events of 7/7 were without a shadow of doubt caused by Muslims as part of their war effort.
Good point. The thing the BBC twists here is the fact that the Dutch and English actually were at war against each other at the time, while the UK is not currently at war with all Muslims everywhere.
It’s a false analogy on so many levels. But that’s the BBC for you. Twisted logic, upside-down priorities, emotions over reason.
I seem to remember the BBC trying to convince us that the Spanish Armada was actually defeated by the Muslims and not the British.
Whilst we cowered in fear those brave bushy beared followers of Mohammad (you know the one who married a 6 year old girl then raped her at the age of 9) fought those evil Spaniards off for us.
Allah Ackbar!
At least he had the decency to wait until she was 9 !
The BBC seem to have form on their anti-English meme.
“With the country also at war with the French and Dutch, paranoid xenophobia – a familiar English trait of the period – was rife.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/great_fire_01.shtml