Documentary about the "Britain First" anti-Muslim nationalist party. Follows the two leaders of the party and goes behind some of its campaigns to investigate if it really lives up to its cl... Read allDocumentary about the "Britain First" anti-Muslim nationalist party. Follows the two leaders of the party and goes behind some of its campaigns to investigate if it really lives up to its claims not to be racist and violent.Documentary about the "Britain First" anti-Muslim nationalist party. Follows the two leaders of the party and goes behind some of its campaigns to investigate if it really lives up to its claims not to be racist and violent.
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Biased as per usual. Typical BBC then.
Before I start here, I must this make this known; I am not a supporter, member of or a sympathiser of Britain First. I feel that they are a violent rabbling rousing football hooligan organisation, similar to their counterparts in the English Defence League. They make (or should that be made, given how little relevance they now hold) important issues surrounding immigration and radical Islam hard to talk about or discuss, allowing for corrupt globalist politicians cover to further ignore them. With that out of the way, here goes.
They could have at least tried to make a less politically biased, simplistic and often misleading piece about this organisation, as opposed to using it as a convenient springboard to act like anyone who cares about similar issues is akin to such fools and violent thugs. Instead, this is what we have; a biased and intellectually lazy programme, of which is a far cry from the BBC's best on similar subject matter.
And it starts out so promising; the first half of this show is rather good as it gives you a fascinating and in-depth look in to this group and what it stands for, and their minor popularity as well. Admittedly a lot of it is ugly, but that isn't the point; showing what such groups are like and how they come about is worthy journalism in and of itself, and the first half at least is a good demonstration of that.
However, from the second half onwards, the thing collapses quicker than paper on a wet day, and it is utterly embarrassing to watch. This is because it becomes so overtly slanted to left-wing talking points and ideology that it borders often on propaganda.
All the usual and sadly expected viewpoints and bullet points are ticked off: blunt refusal to be critical of some of the more problematic elements of Islam let alone its more radical sect (#NotAll, right?), full blown blunt manipulation of footage (showing 'violence at an event', of which was simply a bit of pushing) and supposed 'hypocrisy' that never comes to pass (the group apparently 'censors' the documentary filmmakers, although they just don't walk to talk to him, which given the slant this thing takes, you can't really blame them).
It even goes for really low blows too; the most obvious example is that it situates the horrific grooming gang scandal of Rotherham in a weird way, by claiming that it was mainly British Pakistani men who have committed such acts, of which while true ignores possible religious elements, as explored by other scholars and MPs. Or there is the nasty other elements as well. The implications about Jayda Fransen (the former co-leader of the party) being controlled by Paul Golding (the leader), which seems to contradict how clearly independent she is as a person who isn't stupid (as much as you can being a member of such a group any way) with a law degree in tact (now admittedly, this is before the recent domestic abuse allegations against Golding by Fransen, but this show came out long before such things were revealed).
Meanwhile, there are other odd things too. The prominent example of this is that the show explains that the Zakat meat tax that is implemented in some part of the country of which BF are doing their usual is being used for charity purposes. This may very well be true, and if so, fair enough. But there is no actual evidence shown here for it, and given how sympathetic the show is towards Islam as a whole and how anti-BF it is, it comes across as odd that such evidence isn't shown. It shows how poorly produced and made this documentary is that a simple fact can't be trusted at face value, given how openly biased it is in one direction or the other.
And again, I don't support or back this group, as shown above. That being said, any group deserves fair representation regardless of how abhorrent their views are, otherwise you end up with angelic hagiographies or ghoulish slander. The latter is definitely the route taken here, and while this group is contemptable, portraying them as a major threat, and using them as a microcosm to pretend that anyone who shares their views are as well, is utterly deplorable and ridiculous. It echoes Neil Postman's wise warning about turning public conversation into baby talk would lead to culture death, and there is no better example of such a prophecy being fulfilled than with legitimate rot like this, and the several other serious 'exposes' of similar groups, which are good for a laugh, but little else.
No wonder BBC Three was cancelled shortly after this.
They could have at least tried to make a less politically biased, simplistic and often misleading piece about this organisation, as opposed to using it as a convenient springboard to act like anyone who cares about similar issues is akin to such fools and violent thugs. Instead, this is what we have; a biased and intellectually lazy programme, of which is a far cry from the BBC's best on similar subject matter.
And it starts out so promising; the first half of this show is rather good as it gives you a fascinating and in-depth look in to this group and what it stands for, and their minor popularity as well. Admittedly a lot of it is ugly, but that isn't the point; showing what such groups are like and how they come about is worthy journalism in and of itself, and the first half at least is a good demonstration of that.
However, from the second half onwards, the thing collapses quicker than paper on a wet day, and it is utterly embarrassing to watch. This is because it becomes so overtly slanted to left-wing talking points and ideology that it borders often on propaganda.
All the usual and sadly expected viewpoints and bullet points are ticked off: blunt refusal to be critical of some of the more problematic elements of Islam let alone its more radical sect (#NotAll, right?), full blown blunt manipulation of footage (showing 'violence at an event', of which was simply a bit of pushing) and supposed 'hypocrisy' that never comes to pass (the group apparently 'censors' the documentary filmmakers, although they just don't walk to talk to him, which given the slant this thing takes, you can't really blame them).
It even goes for really low blows too; the most obvious example is that it situates the horrific grooming gang scandal of Rotherham in a weird way, by claiming that it was mainly British Pakistani men who have committed such acts, of which while true ignores possible religious elements, as explored by other scholars and MPs. Or there is the nasty other elements as well. The implications about Jayda Fransen (the former co-leader of the party) being controlled by Paul Golding (the leader), which seems to contradict how clearly independent she is as a person who isn't stupid (as much as you can being a member of such a group any way) with a law degree in tact (now admittedly, this is before the recent domestic abuse allegations against Golding by Fransen, but this show came out long before such things were revealed).
Meanwhile, there are other odd things too. The prominent example of this is that the show explains that the Zakat meat tax that is implemented in some part of the country of which BF are doing their usual is being used for charity purposes. This may very well be true, and if so, fair enough. But there is no actual evidence shown here for it, and given how sympathetic the show is towards Islam as a whole and how anti-BF it is, it comes across as odd that such evidence isn't shown. It shows how poorly produced and made this documentary is that a simple fact can't be trusted at face value, given how openly biased it is in one direction or the other.
And again, I don't support or back this group, as shown above. That being said, any group deserves fair representation regardless of how abhorrent their views are, otherwise you end up with angelic hagiographies or ghoulish slander. The latter is definitely the route taken here, and while this group is contemptable, portraying them as a major threat, and using them as a microcosm to pretend that anyone who shares their views are as well, is utterly deplorable and ridiculous. It echoes Neil Postman's wise warning about turning public conversation into baby talk would lead to culture death, and there is no better example of such a prophecy being fulfilled than with legitimate rot like this, and the several other serious 'exposes' of similar groups, which are good for a laugh, but little else.
No wonder BBC Three was cancelled shortly after this.
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- eddie052010
- Feb 28, 2021
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