Cognitive elitism makes its play for the cultural elite

Posted by Guessedworker on Friday, 27 June 2008 00:06.

Something odd happened today. An Indian gentleman who holds a British passport, and domiciles in my home, not his, misunderstood his ethnic claim to the spoils of England to include rights of social engineering.

Really, how ridiculous is that? Just put yourself in the place of any half-serious social engineer at the Beeb. What did these poor fellows think when they opened the Guardian at breakfast this morning, and read this:-

Broadcasters have over-compensated for their lack of executives from ethnic minorities by putting too many black and Asian faces on screen, a leading television industry figure said last night.

Samir Shah, a member of the BBC’s board of directors, said this had led to a “world of deracinated coloured people flickering across our screens - to the irritation of many viewers and the embarrassment of the very people such actions are meant to appease”.

Shah, a former BBC head of current affairs who now runs an independent production company, Juniper, as well as being a non-executive director of the corporation, used a speech to the Royal Television Society to call for current TV industry diversity policies to be ditched because they were not working.

... Shah said UK television had to go back to the drawing board to increase the number of black and Asian executives.

Speaking to an audience of television insiders, Shah said: “The difficult truth I want you to accept is this: the equal opportunity policies we have followed over the last 30 years simply have not worked.

“Despite 30 years of trying, the upper reaches of our industry, the positions of real creative power in British broadcasting, are still controlled by a metropolitan, largely liberal, white, middle class, cultural elite - and, until recently, largely male and largely Oxbridge.

... Shah said the reason there were so few executives from ethnic minority backgrounds in broadcasting was not because of institutional racism, but because managers liked to “clone” themselves when picking other senior staff.

... Shah said that if the UK TV industry did not change, then further regulation might force reform upon it.

“If you want to avoid that happening then maybe the industry ought to start taking really seriously the need to tackle institutional cloning,” he added.

“We urgently need to break the cultural hegemony that has dominated broadcasting in Britain if we are to tap into, and not lose, the creativity among all our people. It’s time to force the change, before the change is forced upon you.”

Creativity! Force! How do you like that? And what’s this about “deracinated coloured people” and irritated viewers? The fellow just doesn’t get it, does he? Just doesn’t understand what we are trying to do here, and how much he and his children will benefit if they will just stay in their proper station.

But quite apart from that, what on earth would be the point of introducing a system which does for all those ghastly jingoists, Little Englanders, assorted racists, homophobes and aspidistra-owners if it also does for one’s pampered and perfumed self? I mean, it’s all very well for these jumped up Bengali tea-wallers to make a bit of money from their grocers shops and buy some Queen Sharon monstrosity in Stangate, but we don’t want things getting out of hand here. We don’t want them thinking they can contribute to Our Patriarchal Labour.

One has to be clear about this sort of thing. Because if one’s not, frankly, Yorum and Gilean in the DG’s office might be quite tempted to break ranks and knife us in the back. They think they run the place all by themselves as it is. Bastards.

Tags: Oh Tempora, Oh Mores

Comments:

Posted by Calvin on Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:00 | #

Mr Shah uses four categories to define senior BBC executives. BBC executives are categorized as white, liberal, middle class, and Oxbridge educated. He addresses only one of these categories: ethnicity. These are Mr Shah’s biographical details…..

“He worked in the Home Office Research Intelligence Unit after graduating from Hull and OXFORD Universities, before joining London Weekend Television in 1979 as a researcher, rising to become Editor of a range of current affairs programmes.

Samir Shah joined the BBC in 1987 as Head of Current Affairs, moved to head up political programmes in 1994, before leaving to join the independent sector in 1998.

He is Chair of the RUNNYMEDE TRUST and a trustee of the Victoria and Albert Museum and of the Medical Foundation for the Victims of Torture.

He also holds a Special Professorship in the Department of Post-Conflict Studies at the University of Nottingham”

No surprise that middle-class, Oxbridge educated, liberal, Mr Shah has no objection to the BBC’s continued discrimination on the basis of class, education and politics, but only carps about the particular prejudice that might affect him and people like him. Looking forward to a brave Nu-Beeb, populated by a cosmetically diverse panoply overprivileged, brown middle-class liberals.

Posted by Svigor on Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:04 | #

Broadcasters have over-compensated for their lack of executives from ethnic minorities by putting too many black and Asian faces on screen, a leading television industry figure said last night.

A bald-faced lie. Here’s another in the same vein:

“Plantation owners have over-compensated for the lack of negro plantation owners by putting too many blacks in the fields.”

Come on, how stupid does one have to be to buy this horseshit?

I’m all for diversity in the media (all sectors). I want the each and every media industry staffed top to bottom with blacks. All those Jewish and white writers, producers, directors and other suits should be replaced immediately with negros.

I’m dead serious. I’d throw a party if this happened. Not even remotely joking.

Posted by Svigor on Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:11 | #

Funny this should come up now, btw. I just rented the first two discs of the new Dr. Who series and in the first episode it’s a blonde paired with a black. A few weeks ago I rented the first season of Hex and it was the same thing, this time a blonde slaveholder’s daughter with a black slave. In the case of Hex it was what CarolontheWeb used to call a bit of “drive by” diversity. Nothing to do with the plot, just a bit of racial beat down/indoctrination/triumphalism for the white males/white females/black males watching. I turned the first episode of Dr. Who off in disgust so I don’t know how long our swarthy friend hangs around in that case.

WTF? Even American sewervision isn’t this bad. It’s enough to make a man vomit.

How about a little diversity? Isn’t the blacks on blondes thing a bit OLD by now? How ‘bout blacks on Jewish American Princesses? How about that for a while?

Posted by Svigor on Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:21 | #

I’m all for diversity in the media

Sorry, not exactly true, given that I want nothing but blacks working in the media. I want blacks holding every single job in the media. I want nothing but black anchormen and teleprompter-readers, black correspondents, black reporters, black consultants, black commentators, black pundits, black hosts, black moderators, black writers, black columnists, black editors, black publishers, black CEOs, black management, black directors, black producers, black agents, black actors, black everything.

If absolutely necessary (i.e., they run out of blacks), then I’d be okay with non-blacks in the media as janitors, grips, gaffers, cameramen, etc., but nothing but blacks in decision-making or creative positions.

And none of these mocha blacks, either. I want all of them to be at least as black as Wesley Snipes. As black as Sidney Poitier would be best.

And I know my further protests along these lines risk undermining my efforts, let me reiterate that I’m not kidding.

Posted by Bill on Fri, 27 Jun 2008 06:12 | #

Bring it on

... “Shah said the reason there were so few executives from ethnic minority backgrounds in broadcasting was not because of institutional racism, but because managers liked to “clone” themselves when picking other senior staff.”

Ah! now we’re getting down to the real nitty gritty, what a laugh, the metropolitan, largely liberal, white, middle class, cultural elite are coming into view in the rearview mirror for replacing - bring it on.

Posted by Siddharth on Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:09 | #

Hello everyone

I’m from India and have recently come across this site. Real hard hitting stuff, some of your posts. It didnt take me long to realise that you guys are fighting a losing battle, especially where immigration is concerned. And its every man’s nightmare (but apparently not your liberal whites’) to suddenly wake up one day and see his country peopled by foriegners. Believe me, I’m on your side.

Let me move on to a slightly different topic. MAy seem pointless, but bear with me. You british today are fighting to keep your respect in the world intact. I think your presence in the UNSC is, like many other things, just a historical necessity and that you’re largely irrelevant in the world today.
Take a look at your own society now. Your people held power over most of my country once. I hate to admit it, but the white man here then was associated with power, prestige, respect and a keen military and economic sense. Indeed the “gora sahib” was feared and respected for his ingenuity and tact. But you have today, in simple words, degenerated, and that is as clear to me as it should be to you.

Change in society is inevitable. But a change for the worse is only lamentable.

Sid