It is supposed to bring us together. But it has embraced a divisive agenda.
Calvin ROBINSON
While the identity-obsessed left peddles its white-privilege theories, white working-class boys languish at the bottom of the academic pile. The evidence is clear, available for all to see on Gov.uk — white working-class boys are the most consistently disadvantaged social group in our country, after gypsies, and nobody in the mainstream media is willing to fight their corner.
For the BBC to be further perpetuating the critical race theory myth of ‘white privilege’ adds insult to injury. To suggest ‘privilege’ is primarily based on skin colour is overly simplistic and, frankly, somewhat racist. That’s precisely what the BBC commissioned John Amaechi to say on its educational outlet, BBC Bitesize, last week. Worse, when called out by Andrew Neil on Twitter, John Amaechi acted as if his words were not his opinions after all, but indisputable facts.
Now, don’t get me wrong, individuals may experience many barriers and advantages in their lives, based on a whole host of socio-economic factors. However, these are very rarely constant. And to assume that race has more of an impact than class demonstrates ignorance of how a cohesive, multicultural society like the UK functions.
Addressing white people as a homogenous group with incendiary statements such as ‘Your skin colour has not been the cause of your hardship and suffering’ is not only problematic — it is outright insulting. Imagine trying to explain that to the young white working-class girls who have been the unfortunate victims of evil grooming gangs — who were often labelled ‘white sluts’, ‘white devils’, ‘white trash’ and the like by their abusers. Young girls who were let down by the supposedly racist system, which instead of helping them chose instead to protect race relations.
But of course, words are being redefined by the identitarian left to meet its agenda. Racism no longer means prejudice or discrimination based on race or ethnicity. It is now restricted to white-on-black racism. What used to be referred to as ‘reverse racism’, or black-on-white racism, isn’t racism at all, apparently. ‘It’s about power structures!’, they’ll say.
This kind of language is stoking up division in our society. A report in the Tablet this week shows considerable evidence that the media has had a detrimental effect on race relations. Ordinary folks are tired of being called racist by the so-called ‘woke’. And yet from the perspective of critical race theory, to deny your ‘whiteness’, or the ‘white privilege’ that comes along with it, is to confirm your unconscious bias. Everyone’s a racist by default, especially those who challenge that ‘truth’.
Here, they accuse you of the very thing they themselves are guilty of. On one hand, they shamelessly attempt to confine people to groupings based on race and prescribe them as oppressors or victims. And on the other, they accuse everyone who doesn’t agree with them of being a racist. They’re quite literally defining people based on the colour of their skin, while calling everyone else racist.
The worst thing about this is that they are well-intentioned. The BBC and others in line with identitarian groupthink have a sense of self-righteousness so strong that they never even question whether their approach is right or wrong. But what they don’t realise is that their approach is harmful. Recent research suggests their methodology is detrimental to the very causes they profess to support: ‘There is evidence, for example, that introducing people to the most commonly used readings about white privilege can reduce sympathy for poor whites, especially among social liberals’, a recent BBC report finds, ironically.
Only last week the BBC announced that it ‘should take a greater role in children’s education and replace some of the “traditional” elements of teaching’. It is already lecturing disadvantaged white working-class boys, who have the lowest attainment among their peers, about how privileged they are. At the same time, it is telling young, black African-origin boys, who tend to excel in every area of education, that they’re being oppressed by a structurally racist education system. The problem with these wild theories is that they may become self-perpetuating. The worst consequence would be if young black kids start to believe these lies and, as a result, their attainment levels drop.
The BBC is obliged by its charter to ‘bring people together… and help contribute to the social cohesion and wellbeing of the UK’. Instead, it is producing divisive material and fanning the flames of racial unrest, all while wanting a ‘greater role in children’s education’. It’s a scary prospect, and we cannot let it happen. It’s time to defund the BBC.
