R4 has been treating us to its interpretation of why we feel the need to identify as ‘English’. The clue to the BBC’s narrative, and it’ll be no surprise to those who already familiar with the BBC’s attitude towards English and British identity, is in the title…‘The English Fix’. It’s just a subtle version of ‘patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel’ type attack on those who don’t think of themselves as stateless citizens of the world. Apparently ‘Englishness’ is only invoked in times of emergency, real or imagined…and naturally, again no surprise to find the BBC had an endgame, this was used as just another BBC attack on Brexit. The last episode tells us there is nothing wrong with the EU, any problems we now mistakenly blame on Brussels will still be with us and we will have to find someone else to blame them on.
The whole series was threaded through with almost subliminal anti-Brexit, anti-nationalism, messages… naturally all this Brexiteering and nationalism is merely nostalgic pining for a lost golden age that never really existed and an angry howl against progress and modern life. We heard pro-nationalists aplenty but who had the final say and whose word was treated as the authoritative voice? The anti-nationalist voices that were brought on to ‘discuss’ what had been said and then give us their conclusions about the ‘dangers of popular patriotism’ The messages slipped into the programme based upon Orwell gives us another clue as it tried to build a comparison between the Germans blitzing London and those who want Brexit….the Germans were only normal folk ‘serving their country’….look how easy it is to slip from that into being a Nazi!
We of course, the BBC tells us, need more international interaction and cooperation rather than narrow nationalism [which will be the inevitable result of Brexit!?…..er…as Britain throws open its doors to the world for trade and cooperation] and English identity must be made inclusive [ie watered down and replaced by immigrant culture and values]….we also heard that many people might think of this nationalism as racist, and indeed, the BBC told us, some is racist.
Immigration is not a burden, the Poles are not a ‘horde’ invading Britain…and you know what…refugee Poles saved us in WWII…..hmmm….didn’t we in fact go to war in order to try and help the Poles rather than the other way around?
Brexit is all about prejudice, hatred and ‘othering’ immigrants…and all based upon invented, imaginary threats and hubris….the final word?…Pride comes before a fall. Oh right…the BBC sanctimoniously telling us pride in country will ruin us. Brexit is going to fail then?
Trust the BBC to spin a fantasy of lies and contempt in a programme ostensibly about one thing but really designed to send a message. You voted for Brexit? You’re a Nazi.
Practise makes perfect.
Thank you Alan, your analyses improve.
Rednecks, unless I missed it, only appeared in your headline, without explanation.
Redneck, a racial slur, against white people.
A slur which does not appear in the grand catalogue of Wikipedia racial slurs. Which is the largest catalogue of this essential subject in existence, to date.
A racial slur which may be repeated, ad libitum, by the whiter than the driven snow, lefties, because whites are categorised as sub human, even non human.
Without any consequences whatsoever.
Missing from your analysis, not omitted, because it was not your intention, I believe, to include it, was comment on the racial, class, social, hatred by the lefties.
The “We have only murdered one hundred million people so far and the Muzzies are in the gold medal position, Marxists ” “We must increase our run rate (cricket terminology) and overtake the competition whatever it costs.”
Because the Rednecks are not democratic, they do not share our beliefs, their right to vote, even breathe must be permanently withdrawn.
My suggestion to the BBC is that a quick way to obliterate a culture is to end the widespread use of its language. So BBC just stop all broadcasts in English . In that way you will make a both a great contribution to getting rid of the English people and , paradoxically , give most English people a rest from 24/7 anti English propaganda. Can anyone name another nation that has to put up with a state funded national broadcaster that actually hates its own country? It is astonishing that this awful institution is allowed to exist at the expense of the tax payers it so obviously detests .
Explosion: London police say e fit be terrorism {bbc.co.uk – 15sep2017 – pidgin}
Police don say di explosion wey just happen for one underground train station for London fit be terrorism case. Dem talk this one as rescue workers don take 18 people gop hospital. London Fire Brigade don send rescue team of 50 fire fighters and specialist officers go di London underground train station wey explosion just happen for.
UK Prime Minister, Theresa May, don tell di people wey di explosion affect, sorry.
Teenagers with fireworks!
Doublethinker Superb comment on the reality of the treachery of the verminous BBC.
I’ve never understood the term “rednecks”. It sounds like cowboys to me. Yeeee Haaaa!
From American TV or something.
I’m clueless as to what a “redneck” is supposed to be.
I believe it refers to the short hair and outdoor work of Southern US agricultural working class, resulting in the literal effect described. Gets projected further from there, rather selectively, to infer lack of education and/or class.
Afrikaners had a near identical derogatory version for English speaking South Africans. Ditto.
Patriotism the last refuge of the right wing scoundrel
Boswell tells us that Samuel Johnson made this famous pronouncement that patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel on the evening of April 7, 1775. He doesn’t provide any context for how the remark arose, so we don’t really know for sure what was on Johnson’s mind at the time.
However, Boswell assures us that Johnson was not indicting patriotism in general, only false patriotism.
How about a new one?
Racism first refuge of the lunatic leftie unable to defend the lunacy ?
“minority extremist” – someone in a minority group who feels the majority should bend to their own culture or traditional views using violence if necessary.
See how the terms ‘minority extremist,islamophobia’ are referenced the books ….
{old post}
“Racism first refuge of the lunatic leftie unable to defend the lunacy ?”
But in recent decades our expectations of the Left have been pretty low – we have learned to expect that sort of nonsense. The tragedy, IMO, is that people who should know better, people who claim to be Conservatives, and people who are otherwise right of centre, have cowardly adopted the same right-on attitudes. Even UKIP at its best was nervous of discussing Islam.
If spineless idiots were confined to the Left, it wouldn’t be such a problem, but we are left with nowhere to go.
The Left defined the argument and we tried to join them. Wrong. The Left had an argument and we should argue.
Thoughtful. love it . Good one
‘Diversity’ is the first, second, fourth, thirteenth, seventeenth, twenty-first, thirty-seventh, forty-fifth, fifty-eighth, seventy-ninth, and the next millennium, of refuges of the BBC.
(Note to spell check, ‘can you translate this into eighty-five languages please’).
Scrob
And eight-five different genders as well.
Alan. Excellent piece. Well done.
The BBC may deny it but the nation state is alive and well. Ask the Chinese, Japanese the Russians or the Americans! The EU is the odd one out among the major planks of the world economy . Eventually the federalists like Juncker will fail and Britain’s view of what the EU should have been will prove to be right.
The Eastern Europeans are only held in by EU largess, ability to freely send remittance workers to countries like Britain and fear of Putin. But they are already standing their ground on issues such as immigrant quotas being forced on them by Merkel.