The British Politics Thread - The Bear and Badger

RedDave2

SpaceGazelle wrote:

Those currently in power the butt of most jokes shocker.

Very hard to make jokes against the opposition regardless of the political leanings as they aren't making (and fucking up) policy.

JonB

It was the Telegraph that kicked all this off at the beginning of the week with their story about the BBC DG clamping down on left-wing comedy. The only thing is, he never said any such thing, and has since said that he's looking to increase diversity, which isn't the same thing by any stretch.

It was completely made up. Same with that crap about the Proms the other week, which had nothing to do with banning lyrics. All concocted by right-wing press.

The problem is that it's working. It stokes fury and the inevitable counter arguments. They're getting everyone to join in the fight and pick a side in a culture war, creating deeper social divisions.

GooberTheHat

SpaceGazelle wrote:

Those currently in power the butt of most jokes shocker.

I'm shocked.

b0r1s

mistercrayon wrote:

Do people still watch bbc comedy?

Fleabag and Carshare are good.

LivDiv

There is often something worth watching but hidden on iPlayer.

AndCallMeCharlie

JonB wrote:

It was the Telegraph that kicked all this off at the beginning of the week with their story about the BBC DG clamping down on left-wing comedy. The only thing is, he never said any such thing, and has since said that he's looking to increase diversity, which isn't the same thing by any stretch. It was completely made up. Same with that crap about the Proms the other week, which had nothing to do with banning lyrics. All concocted by right-wing press. The problem is that it's working. It stokes fury and the inevitable counter arguments. They're getting everyone to join in the fight and pick a side in a culture war, creating deeper social divisions.

Very this

RedDave2

Must admit I was guilty as well, I assumed that he had said those things. That's the last time I trust twitter for my facts

monkey

acemuzzy wrote:

monkey wrote:

acemuzzy wrote:

afgavinstan wrote:

My problem is I couldn't give a hoot about bias or whatever. These shows are just doing what they've always done, poked fun at whoever is in power. To try and paint it as the beeb caught in the act, or that it's in any way an EXCLUSIVE ALL CAPS, is laughable in and of itself.

Well the accusation is that they haven't, and bias is at play. So surely disproving that (e.g. evidence of what happened under Labour) is useful?

No because it probably will be less for Labour because they (and no other government of right or left) ever got themselves into a mess like Brexit.

But the counterargument is that that's subjective. That Brexit is a glorious, democratic reclaiming of sovereignty. And hence not at all deserving of comic mirth. That isn't the side of the argument I'd be on, but is hard to totally objectively counter.

No you can be pro-Brexit and still think that period is a shitshow - extensions, 3 PMs, no confidence votes, two elections, no one knowing what the next week would bring, complete gridlock. It’s not been a normal period.

djchump

right wing snowflakes stoking a culture war by lying through their teeth and clutching their handbags... same as it ever was.

acemuzzy

Oh god the replies to this tweet I really think we are doomed...

https://twitter.com/BBradley_Mans/status/1302684380327030790?s=19

LivDiv

Its a move to get their spokesman a platform on the BBC, they achieved it with the news now they are going after comedy.

The problem with the BBC is they have a mandate for balance but no diversity at the top. They only understand one point of view so are reliant on third parties to tell them what the counter argument is.

This is how Farage became a household name. They didn't know what the genuine argument was for leaving or changing the EU relationship so it was hijacked by an extremist.

It will happen again because shows like The Mash Report and FB's New World Order are openly left leaning with no counter view in their show or equivalent show for the counter argument. The BBC won't know how to handle it and end up axing the shows or coming up with a format for Geoff Norcott where he hosts a series of cunts shouting and dinghies, exec produced by some shady right wing media channel.

This balance thing has become at odds with truth and moral standards because they don't know where to find honest balance so pricks are stepping in.

Edit: That os a bit harsh on Norcott. He is probably who they should be booking.

SpaceGazelle

acemuzzy wrote:

Oh god the replies to this tweet I really think we are doomed... https://twitter.com/BBradley_Mans/status/1302684380327030790?s=19

Never read the comments, and Twitter is one big comment section.

No Twitter, no FB, YT allowed for watching vids, reddit allowed for hobbies. It's the new Buddhism without the fat guy.

Armitage_Shankburn

acemuzzy wrote:

Oh god the replies to this tweet I really think we are doomed...

https://twitter.com/BBradley_Mans/status/1302684380327030790?s=19

You wanna see my local FB, proper crazies out in the open. Eg - circulating an image of a message, no name, saying hospital admissions for pneumonia are skyrocketing as mask users are "rebreathing bacteria they were meant to breathe out".

SpaceGazelle

I rest my case.

RedDave2

Won't someone please think of the ninjas???

GooberTheHat

I really hate people. Not you lot, you lot seem fairly sensible (yes, even you), but other people? Stupid shits that I could do without.

SpaceGazelle

This is why social media is bad for everyone. It's either shouting in rage at people you don't understand and they don't understand you, or an echo chamber of people as ridiculously and wrongly confident as you, or basic internet madness.

Without being that guy and pointing out the obvious, hate is just ignorance in disguise.

Brooks

The only acceptable social media is highly curated marginal webforums, this has and will be forever a natural fact.

poprock

SpaceGazelle wrote:

This is why social media is bad for everyone. It's either shouting in rage at people you don't understand and they don't understand you, or an echo chamber of people as ridiculously and wrongly confident as you, or basic internet madness.

Y’know, social media isn’t all about debating the issues of the day. Most of it is just nice photos of pets, chat about food, and people talking to their friends.

davyK

Brooks wrote:

The only acceptable social media is highly curated marginal webforums, this has and will be forever a natural fact.

This is, in fact, correct.

Any discussion no matter the medium requires a modicum of control. Be that a chair, a moderator , or whatever. However it seems even that wouldn't be enough now with a widespread belief that an opinion has as much leverage as a fact.

Lurch666

And as soon as you do moderate something accusations of bias and suppression of 'free speech' starts.

RedDave2

I hate the free speech argument. I think it's often confused with the desire for consequence free speech.

Roujin

I don't have any problems using Twitter, or Instagram, or Twitch or Facebook tbh. You are not required to argue against every incorrect point made, or difference of opinion you see online. In fact I think social media has only ever been a net positive for me, bringing me into contact with amazing art, people who have really interesting things to say, coming across new music, making new friends and just exposure to a wealth of ideas and opinions that I think have greatly broadened my own personal horizons waaaaaaay further than I would have ever got without them.

It is entirely possible to either accept that in the world there are going to be people who are wrong about things and you don't need to intervene whenever someone is chatting bollocks, or just filter/block the things you don't want to see if they are causing you distress. By all means if your mental health is being negatively affected to the point of concern then step away from the platforms, but this attitude of social media bad - forums gud, is a real boomer take imo, because this forum and it's previous lives has over the years and still has to this day some absolute chuds posting on it.

SpaceGazelle

I don't think it's an exaggeration to say they are causing society harm. I mean look at Trump FFS. Facts aren't facts anymore and it's the size and speed of networks that allows this to happen.

Funkstain

Roujin wrote:

still has to this day some absolute chuds posting on it.

oi

hunk

Social media aren't the problem per se; it's the ad driven buisiness model powering it.
Targeted ads and thus targeted (unregulated!) propaganda is one of the driving factors behind the current imbalance between left and right. Couple that to a low education (ignorant?) population craving sensationalist media and news and you get a growing and thriving (alt) right voter base.

This is what the right understood early on about the rise of tech, smartphones and social media. They knew how to commercialy exploit and weaponise it to gain ground in politics. The left are still scratcing their heads about what happened in 2016.

poprock

Propaganda and misinformation are nothing new. Social media is just another form of media. Another tentacle of the Lovecraftian horror.

RedDave2

poprock wrote:

Propaganda and misinformation are nothing new. Social media is just another form of media. Another tentacle of the Lovecraftian horror.

Well that's not overly dramatic.

hunk

Exactly, propaganda/misinformation is nothing new. Murdoch and the tabloids have honed and perfected the technique. The explicit and precise online targeting of propaganda (swing voters per region!) is new though and it can be scarily effective going by the shift in public opinion alone.

Roujin

Yeah, I think I fall into the same category as others here, social media is a communication tool and as such like anything else it's open to misuse by those who wish to do so.

Where we currently have problems is owners of these platforms being libertarian fuckers and acting like everyone on the platform should be exercising personal responsibility when it comes to advertising and policing inappropriate content, instead of doing the decent thing ans actually investing some of the money that is being made into a robust method of policing their platforms for illegal or inappropriate (as so far as whatever the platform holder deems inappropriate) content. Which seems like it needs a rather large team of humans who have to wrangle the results of some horrible content spotting algorithm.

That is further compounded by many people having no education in terms of what might actually be going on when they are participating in any social media platform. That's not really their fault, we can stand around pointing out that the government need to do more, and they do, to get kids to develop their critical thinking abilities (insert your favourite theories here about the government deliberately keeping the populace ignorant), but a large number of people currently getting their ideology warped into a dumpster fire on these platforms were already way out of school by the time social media platforms were becoming a mainstream means of communication.

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