Tuesday 5 March 2019

False equivalence



"Well, have a sort of almost parallel controversy in the Tory Party as we do in the Labour Party". 
"Fascinating to look at the parallels, but clearly, both parties now facing very, very  significant difficulties and criticism, Labour obviously over antisemitism, but it would now appear an emerging controversy and problem for the Conservative Party too over Islamophobia".
So said the BBC's deputy political editor Norman Smith on the BBC News Channel this lunchtime. 

Here's a comment at 'the other place' about the very same BBC moment. I think it sums it up very, very well:

AsISeeIt
“A peculiar kind of parallel”
So says BBC man Norman Smith of the current problems Labour have with Anti-Jewish sentiment among its members and Baroness Warsi’s claims of institutional Islamophobia in the Tory Party.
Of course such apparent mirror images are absolute grist to the mill of supposed balance in BBC reporting. They are therefore quickly and unthinkingly made by the chap passed over by Ms Kuenssberg for the top Corporation political journo job.
Smith, who makes a name for himself popping up outside Westminster with pink ties, extravagant cartoonish reporting and his catchphrase “..but Labour say…”, is delighted to dish it out to the Tories and cover his own rear end from the Lefty Twitter mob who idealise Corbyn and will hear nothing against the Dear Leader.
Despite the BBC’s delighted newfound equivalence the two notions of actual Anti-Semitism and supposed Islamophobia are very very different beasts.

3 comments:

  1. He might be thinking..."If Labour get elected, the Corbynites won't take long wrestling control of the BBC and getting LK removed..."

    The false equivalence of anti-semitism and alleged Islamophobia (Islamorealism of course) is extremely dangerous. For Sharia promoters, Islamophobia seems to consist in supporting Prevent, being sceptical about MEND and not wanting to see Israel wiped off the map.

    Cameron has a lot to answer for - his rapid promotion of Warsi was a grievous political error.

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  2. "Well, we have a sort of almost parallel controversy in the news reporting and the news analysis divisions of the BBC.

    Fascinating to look at the parallels, but clearly, both parts now facing very, very significant difficulties and criticism...news reporters like Laura Kuennesberg obviously over anti-Corbynism but it would now appear an emerging controversy and problem for Newsnight being accused of Torytrumpophobia...

    Still this might open up opportunities for forward thinking, fast talking, energetic types still in the prime of life, though maybe thinning slightly on top, able to seize the chances offered by this strange confluence of polar-opposite accusations."

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  3. Appeaser Guido approves of Warsi-inspired Conservative clampdown on "Islamophobia": what is probably in large part honest discussion of the Sharia belief system. Guido, with no access to the posts in question, uses the Warsi-approved definition and refers to this as "racism".

    https://order-order.com/2019/03/05/conservatives-hardline-email-14-suspended-members/#disqus_thread

    Just being covered on ITV news - Warsi piling in and just ramping it all up. ITV very happy with the false equivalence.

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