Monday 7 September 2009

BNP on the BBC

From this discussion:
I personally think that as an elected and legal political party the BNP have every right to a platform, even if i can't stand the garbage that comes out of their mouths. I don't think the educated liberal elite has the right to ban them any more than the BNP has the right to ride roughshod over the educated liberal elite.

My response to the original post includes an anti-Ian Dale rant

2 comments:

Soho Politico said...

Hi there, having found your blog, and this post, I thought I'd reproduce a part of my reply to your original comment:

Nobody's proposing to ban the BNP from anything. Omitting to invite them on national TV is not the same as banning. The BNP do not have a right to an invite or to a debate with others. We may think that issuing the invite is the most effective way of fighting them (and defend doing so on those grounds), but that is not to say that they have a right to be invited or to be debated. They don't. They have a right to speak, but not a right to an audience or a right to be listened to.

Bearded Socialist said...

it's an interesting difference you flag up between allowing them to speak and allowing them a platform.
I just think we're on thin ice, but it's a very worthy debate to have. I've always argued they should have a platform because they have a right to speak and be heard, rather than looking at it from the best way to defeat them.


I suppose i'm annoyed at all this because I was listening to some very highly educated people making jokes at BNP supporters not being able to spell, and the elite-ism of it all bugged me