Another trip around the sun completed
Feb. 25th, 2026 09:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glassy_witchAnd it will come as absolutely no surprise to anyone that I have picked up an absolutely stinking cold along with it. I heard mention of a cold vaccine they've been testing on mice of late. I am over here, looking for ways to volunteer for human trials. Seriously, pick me already.
The world is continuing to turn, albeit a little graunchily. A recent kerfuffle was again the BBC showing its rather evident stumbling to the right like a drunk elephant. Short version, an awards ceremony, a case of tourettes, and evident editing decisions taken by the BBC.
During the collection of an award, the person with tourettes shouted out a racial.slur which the Beeb chose to leave in their later broadcast, despite having edited out two of his other same outbursts and also, a rather lovely gentleman who was trying to offer a crumb of hope to the oppressed and embattled peoples of the world.
This was entirely an editorial decision and served two purposes. The first being that the slur in question, loaded as it is, is possibly one of the most hateful, hurtful things that could have been said to our black and brown brothers and sisters. It has been used to degrade and dehumanise for so long and... yeah. I am not even from that community and words fail me as to how horrified I am to think of people sitting in their homes, where they should be safe, being exposed to that word. Just because there was no intent by the speaker is irrelevant (and I'll get there shortly). There is no excuse whatsoever for the BBC choosing to keep that in THAT move...that was calculated to hurt.
The second purpose? To take direct aim at disabled communities. To "prove" that they are not "deserving" of special treatment... Where special treatment means : they should be shut out of spaces where the "normal" people are. Why should we make concessions for the disabled minority anyway? Or any minority? It's a way to push them back into the wings, out of sight, out of mind. No more special.parking spaces, no more extra time to complete tasks, no "special treatment" when queuing, no more being perceived by the envious to get "more".
The person in question has a specific type of tic. One that knows the absolute worst words that could be said in a given situation, and blurts them.out. Obviously, if he thought the worst possible word to say was "hamster" or "lemon tree", then that is what he would have shouted. But no, he knew the worst possible words because let's be honest- we ALL do. We have heard them our entire lives and most of us have the good fortune to be able to stop ourselves from using them. If that ability to control what i said was gone, I would be mortified.
But instead of recognising the hurt and harm against both communities, we're tripping over ourselves to defend or accuse one or the other instead of looking hard at the Beeb and reminding them that they are not there to be partisan and support either a left or right wing agenda. And we know from the actions of the people at the top of the tree that they are very firmly to the right. I used to be mildly amused when I heard people claiming that the BBC was both Left and Right aligned. To me, it suggested they were navigating a broadly central path. Tricky, but evidently preferable. These days, when someone who doesn't even watch TV (seriously, we don't even have one in the house) can see the path has gone off on a tangent, and as the various scandals come out, and the toxic, bullying culture of the executives comes to light - you have to admit they have lost their claim to be speaking peace nation unto nation. They are actually causing unnecessary pain and fighting within the population, and allowing the scumbags at the top to get away with spreading hatred and corruption.
So yeah. Not the best.
The world is continuing to turn, albeit a little graunchily. A recent kerfuffle was again the BBC showing its rather evident stumbling to the right like a drunk elephant. Short version, an awards ceremony, a case of tourettes, and evident editing decisions taken by the BBC.
During the collection of an award, the person with tourettes shouted out a racial.slur which the Beeb chose to leave in their later broadcast, despite having edited out two of his other same outbursts and also, a rather lovely gentleman who was trying to offer a crumb of hope to the oppressed and embattled peoples of the world.
This was entirely an editorial decision and served two purposes. The first being that the slur in question, loaded as it is, is possibly one of the most hateful, hurtful things that could have been said to our black and brown brothers and sisters. It has been used to degrade and dehumanise for so long and... yeah. I am not even from that community and words fail me as to how horrified I am to think of people sitting in their homes, where they should be safe, being exposed to that word. Just because there was no intent by the speaker is irrelevant (and I'll get there shortly). There is no excuse whatsoever for the BBC choosing to keep that in THAT move...that was calculated to hurt.
The second purpose? To take direct aim at disabled communities. To "prove" that they are not "deserving" of special treatment... Where special treatment means : they should be shut out of spaces where the "normal" people are. Why should we make concessions for the disabled minority anyway? Or any minority? It's a way to push them back into the wings, out of sight, out of mind. No more special.parking spaces, no more extra time to complete tasks, no "special treatment" when queuing, no more being perceived by the envious to get "more".
The person in question has a specific type of tic. One that knows the absolute worst words that could be said in a given situation, and blurts them.out. Obviously, if he thought the worst possible word to say was "hamster" or "lemon tree", then that is what he would have shouted. But no, he knew the worst possible words because let's be honest- we ALL do. We have heard them our entire lives and most of us have the good fortune to be able to stop ourselves from using them. If that ability to control what i said was gone, I would be mortified.
But instead of recognising the hurt and harm against both communities, we're tripping over ourselves to defend or accuse one or the other instead of looking hard at the Beeb and reminding them that they are not there to be partisan and support either a left or right wing agenda. And we know from the actions of the people at the top of the tree that they are very firmly to the right. I used to be mildly amused when I heard people claiming that the BBC was both Left and Right aligned. To me, it suggested they were navigating a broadly central path. Tricky, but evidently preferable. These days, when someone who doesn't even watch TV (seriously, we don't even have one in the house) can see the path has gone off on a tangent, and as the various scandals come out, and the toxic, bullying culture of the executives comes to light - you have to admit they have lost their claim to be speaking peace nation unto nation. They are actually causing unnecessary pain and fighting within the population, and allowing the scumbags at the top to get away with spreading hatred and corruption.
So yeah. Not the best.