A rational act? - by Richard... Sunday, July 24, 2011

A rational act? - by Richard... Sunday, July 24, 2011

Europe's second bail-out for the crisis-hit Greek economy risks undermining the foundations of the European Union, the president of Germany's Bundesbank has warned. And the picture was taken before photoshop was invented. It's real, and was seen as a solution at the time. An anonymous donor paid good money for the street advert, "somewhere in London". It wasn't an answer.

It has to be said, though, that our masters are driving us in the same direction and some might think that a repeat is called-for. When the euro finally goes belly-up, and the EU with its gods off multiculturalism falls apart, there are a lot of people who will turn to violence, as their idea of a solution.

So what do we make of the Norwegian killings? In an outwardly calm and civilised country, still waters run deep. Is this a "nutter" running amok, or is there something more to it? Is there something in this society of ours that is driving apparently rational people to take such extreme measures?

But ponder if you will – even the perpetration of the most extreme violence can be made to seem a rational act. The decision to bomb Dresden was taken by officers of the Crown, sanctioned by a prime minister, and carried out in good faith by brave, sincere and dedicated people. Whether killing is permissible, therefore, depends entirely on context - not on the act or the consequences.

We look upon those same people differently now, and ask how they could have killed people on an industrial scale - innocent women and children amongst them. Should we be looking at Anders Behring Breivik, and ask ourselves what made an intelligent and educated man take the action he did? Or are we to dismiss him as a rabid, extreme "right wing" madman and leave it there? Should we ignore his manifesto and pretend it didn't happen? Until the next time?

On the other hand, we could look at related events in the wider context, analysing them not only for what they are, but what they might be and what they might provoke. There is no excuse for violence, the sages might say. And that might be true. But there are often reasons - and of those we need to know something. Certain acts might be wrong, but some of the thinking behind them might be sound.

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No need to argue - by Richard...

In his column this week, Booker does a fairly comprehensive demolition job on the BBC Trust review of the impartiality and accuracy of the BBC's coverage of science. Writing the column was not easy, but it was not the labour of months. The basic theme was easy to establish, and relatively little work was needed to put the arguments together.

And that makes for an intriguing puzzle – another one. Why are the arguments adduced by the BBC are so shallow and implausible that they can so readily be demolished? You would have thought that, if the BBC wanted seriously to make its case, it would have done a far better job than it has done.

But then, the probability is that the BBC does not see the need to substantiate its case. Endowed with that mystical quality known as "prestige", massively supported by its hypothecated tax which relieves it of the burden of responding to customers who might otherwise exercise free choice, and endorsed by the Scumset classes, it need only to make an ex cathedra statement.

Since, in its own terms, it controls the debate in the media of which it has charge, it has no fear of challengers, as their arguments can be drowned out. And even though the naysayers might be right, what does that matter to the BBC? They cannot hurt it, or even begin to dent its supreme arrogance and indifference to the truth.

What we have, therefore, is the ultimate examples of two phenomena – the effect of absolute power, albeit in a narrow context, and the exercise of power without responsibility. When you have power, you do not need to argue.

And that of course points to only one long-term solution. The BBC must be broken up. But that is not going to happen in a hurry. In the interim, the Bookers of this world will challenge the monster, but they cannot prevail.

The real answer is power – you need power to beat power. And no one gives you power. You take it. The BBC will die when we wish it to die, and there are enough of us, determined enough to make it happen. And I could not even begin to estimate when that might be.