I watched a programme on BBC 3 last night knowing that a blog post was an inevitable outcome. “KKK: The Fight for White Supremacy” proved to be the shout-at-the-telly kind of viewing that I’d normally associate with Channel 4. The maxim “no pain, no gain” endorsed once again.
The documentary, filmed in the USA’s deep-south, followed a chapter of the Klan and its altercations with the authorities and the New Black Panther Party. Both the KKK and the NBPP preached racial hatred and both organisations evidenced memberships made up of narrow-minded, poorly educated, poorly paid, history-denying morons with an inclination towards violence and pyromania.
Much dressing up, flag waving, slogan shouting, showboating, icon burning, route marching, race-war-predicting, bullshit spouting followed…
…and one hour of my life was taken up feeling embarrassed that I am a member of the same human race as the assorted detritus given air time on the BBC.
At one point during a demonstration there was a scene with a white supremacist and a black protagonist shouting white power and black power respectively in each other’s faces. It was as pathetic as it was ironic (because it suggested to me that the opposing hatred movements have more in common with each other than they have with the rest of society). White trash and black trash but ultimately all trash.
The rights conferred by the US Constitution on American citizens to carry guns and enjoy complete freedom of speech indicates to me that the Constitution is well overdue a rewrite. My view is that gun carrying should be linked to a minimum IQ and that free speech should be dependent upon the completion of a high school education and the ability to string a coherent sentence together.
Bearing in mind all the problems that the middle-east is facing right now, it was frankly depressing to learn that the USA - the land of the free, one of the wealthiest and most powerful countries in the world - has some social factions that have more in common with ISIS than they have with you and me.
If you want to know what all this fuss is about and can bare the hour of wincing that watching it will result in - the documentary is available on the iPlayer. Though I’d rather watch Bake Off or Strictly Come Dancing than be subjected to it again.
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The documentary, filmed in the USA’s deep-south, followed a chapter of the Klan and its altercations with the authorities and the New Black Panther Party. Both the KKK and the NBPP preached racial hatred and both organisations evidenced memberships made up of narrow-minded, poorly educated, poorly paid, history-denying morons with an inclination towards violence and pyromania.
Much dressing up, flag waving, slogan shouting, showboating, icon burning, route marching, race-war-predicting, bullshit spouting followed…
…and one hour of my life was taken up feeling embarrassed that I am a member of the same human race as the assorted detritus given air time on the BBC.
At one point during a demonstration there was a scene with a white supremacist and a black protagonist shouting white power and black power respectively in each other’s faces. It was as pathetic as it was ironic (because it suggested to me that the opposing hatred movements have more in common with each other than they have with the rest of society). White trash and black trash but ultimately all trash.
The rights conferred by the US Constitution on American citizens to carry guns and enjoy complete freedom of speech indicates to me that the Constitution is well overdue a rewrite. My view is that gun carrying should be linked to a minimum IQ and that free speech should be dependent upon the completion of a high school education and the ability to string a coherent sentence together.
Bearing in mind all the problems that the middle-east is facing right now, it was frankly depressing to learn that the USA - the land of the free, one of the wealthiest and most powerful countries in the world - has some social factions that have more in common with ISIS than they have with you and me.
If you want to know what all this fuss is about and can bare the hour of wincing that watching it will result in - the documentary is available on the iPlayer. Though I’d rather watch Bake Off or Strictly Come Dancing than be subjected to it again.
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