Dougal Paver and the BNP - North West Media Comment

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Dougal Paver and the BNP

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Monday, 26 October 2009

Paver Smith MD Dougal Paver considers the BNP's recent Question Time appearance, and the party's subsequent 'poll bounce', and asks the question - 'can the wrong publicity be right?'

Let's get one thing clear straight away: the more publicity the BNP get the better.

The moment their arguments and values are held up to even the lightest scrutiny, it becomes clear just how objectionable they are. For all but the most recalcitrant knuckle-dragger there's nothing to commend them and Griffin's shambolic performance - nervous, sweaty, inarticulate and grinning inanely - bore testimony to their awfulness.

Media spotlight on Griffin

So why, then, have they enjoyed a poll bounce since? How could such a poor performance be good for the party? Perhaps there's truth, after all, in the maxim that there's no such thing as bad publicity.

The weekend's papers agonised long and hard over the issue, some blaming the BBC for putting Griffin in the spotlight in the first place. I always thought that one of the great strengths of democracy was its ability to cope with testing viewpoints and deal with them by dint of reasoned argument. Protesting about a fascist by using thuggish tactics, as the protesters outside the Beeb did, seemed somewhat ironic to me.

Anyhow, I think the answer lies somewhere with the two following (and related) observations.

First, Griffin was ganged up on throughout the programme, which made it a rather unedifying spectacle. Those with a twinge of fellowship for the BNP's policies will have felt agrieved at that. There's nowt like a victim culture to rally the fetid masses, now is there?

Straw: ill-conceived tactics?

Second, Labour's core white working class constituency feel they have been taken for granted and that they are the primary losers of the government's relaxed immigration policy. The BNP have only made ground in former Labour heartlands, after all. Ganging up on the one bloke standing up and articulating their sense of injustice - however inconsistent, racist and misguided he may be - was maybe not the cleverest thing to do.

Get him back on Question Time and run the programme along normal lines. If he wishes to run the country, as he does, why are we denied his views on the economy, on education, welfare reform and security, for example?

Let's have 'em, because you can bet your bottom dollar that they are ill-thought-through, inconsistent, intellectually bereft and generally useless. And that, good readers, is the best way of chipping away at the BNP's support.

This opinion piece also appears on the Paver smith blog, which can be found here

www.paversmith.co.uk

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Comments (7)

1 By Paul Fabretti , on 26-10-2009 12:41
Great points Dougal, mirroring my own views exactly.

Giving the BNP enough rope with which to hang themselves is exactly what is needed!

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2 By adam c, on 26-10-2009 14:36
Sorry - but these are totally naive comments.

People like Nick Griffin are masters of deception and should be kept off the air.

There's no point having a sensible discussion with someone who makes things up as they are going along. What does that achieve?

The party is based on a bigoted and racist ideology - dressed up with some soundbites and populist policies to draw in the more naive member of the public.

Why put him back on air so more people can vote for them....

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3 By Mordor She Wrote, on 26-10-2009 15:08
How fortunate are we wee gullible souls to have the likes of Adam C as our mind minders. Heaven forfend the British public be trusted to be as perceptive as he when it comes to the likes of Griffin et al.

Anything you'd suggest I skip on the box tonight, Mr C? For my own good of course.

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4 By debator, on 27-10-2009 10:10
I presume this comment was tongue in cheek adam c
"People like Nick Griffin are masters of deception and should be kept off the air.
"There's no point having a sensible discussion with someone who makes things up as they are going along. What does that achieve?"
Given that this just about covers every politician going!
One of the best things about our society is democracy and free speech - to keep the BNP off the air would be the ultimate irony - the moment we stop allowing people the freedom of speech is the moment we ourselves become dictators

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5 By Steve Downes, on 27-10-2009 10:16
Some good points well made there Dougal. The only worry I have is 'acceptancy creep'. Once you invite these people into the mainstream a 'watered down' version of their insanity can appear more reasonable.

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6 By Be Afraid...Be Very Afraid, on 27-10-2009 13:48
Bottom line is we live in a democracy and one of the fundamentals is the right to free speech. As soon as that is undermined then we compromise the political system that we all (seem) to so cherish. So give them enough rope and let them swing, but also be sensible enough to recognise that their current level of support is an indicator of issues that could well escalate in time. In some respects therefore, organisations like the BNP serve as a useful early warning system. Regarding Steve's point, I for one am much more fearful of the kind of "Mission creep" that is endemic in our civil services as soon as some apparatchik/quango is given responsibility over what is and isn't deemed to be acceptable. Have a look at the current furore over the police and their use of anti-terrorist powers to brand peaceful protestors "Domestic extremists" and you can see where this could well head if we started to arbitrarily censor people whose opinions we disagreed with. After all, history shows that only governments with totalitarian tendencies resort to these kinds of tactics and nobody would accuse Gordon and his henchmen of that now, would they?

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7 By debator, on 27-10-2009 16:44
here here be afraid!

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