# The BBC completely fails to understand the Tea Party movement



## Big Don (Sep 8, 2010)

*                 The BBC completely fails to understand the Tea Party movement            *



By Janet Daley     World Last updated:  September 7th, 2010
Telegraph.co.uk EXCERPT

With the smug incomprehension in which it takes so much pride (can&#8217;t  understand &#8211; won&#8217;t understand!), the BBC sets about the American Tea  Party Movement as if it were a cross between the Klu Klux Klan and the  German neo-fascist brigade. Not once in all the demonic depictions I  have seen and heard (last week&#8217;s Newsnight package was particularly  outrageous) have I heard a mention of what the TPM is actually about:  taxation. (Note to BBC editors: the movement is named after the Boston  Tea Party because it is protesting about the imposition of higher  federal taxes and over-weening controls on citizens who believe their  voices have been ignored.)
 The British generally and the BBC in particular have a real  problem understanding the obsessive suspicion in which the power of  central government is held in the US. This is not some funny  redneck eccentricity: it is fundamental to the Constitution which gives  individual states much greater sovereignty than the countries of the  European Union enjoy.
END EXCERPT


> the BBC sets about the American Tea  Party Movement as if it were a cross between the Klu Klux Klan and the  German neo-fascist brigade.


 Just like the American media (and a number of posters here...)do


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## geezer (Sep 8, 2010)

Big Don said:


> The British generally and the BBC in particular have a real problem understanding the obsessive suspicion in which the power of central government is held in the US. This is not some funny redneck eccentricity...


 
Don't sweat it Don. The Brits didn't understand the first "Tea Party" either. Not till too late anyway.


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## Touch Of Death (Sep 8, 2010)

Big Don said:


> * The BBC completely fails to understand the Tea Party movement *
> 
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> 
> ...


Truth be told the English Tea was cheaper than the American Tea. The Boston Tea Party was more about protectionism than high taxes. And yes, it was without representation, but protectionism sparked the revolt.
Sean


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## FieldDiscipline (Sep 8, 2010)

I wouldn't let the BBC worry you.  Their impartiality was gone a long time ago.  All for the left - that's them IMO.


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## seasoned (Sep 8, 2010)

It will all be much clearer come November.


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## CoryKS (Sep 8, 2010)

Why would the BBC or anyone else in Europe be expected to understand the Tea Party movement?


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## Bill Mattocks (Sep 8, 2010)

I'd kind of like to know what the Tea Party Movement does believe.

I checked my local chapter and they say: _"We are a  watchdog organization with the long-term goal of protecting the  Constitution through education, community involvement, and active  participation in the political process."_

Well, that's nice.  I'm trying to think of any group that doesn't want that.  But what does it mean?

Then I went to Tea Party Patriots (are they the 'real' Tea Party or not?) and they say they're for:



> Fiscal Responsibility
> Constitutionally Limited Government
> Free Markets



That sounds pretty good too.

But in Temecula, CA, the media has reported that a Tea Party rally was held to protest the building of a mosque.

What has that to do with fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, or free markets?  I'm a little unclear on that one.  Somebody explain that one to me?

Montana's Tea Party is apparently going through some perturbations because one of their leaders was 'dismissed' for making what some considered to be anti-gay remarks about Matthew Shepard on his Facebook page.  This is fiscal, constitutional, and free market how again?

In Arizona, the Tea Party protests illegal immigration.  Again, a little unclear on how this relates to limited government, low taxes, and free enterprise.

I think the Tea Party is a general term for populist anger against whatever the outrage-du-jour happens to be.

So I'm not terribly surprised that people aren't describing it especially well.  Let us know what it is, and then perhaps we can get an accurate description together.


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## yak sao (Sep 8, 2010)

geezer said:


> Don't sweat it Don. The Brits didn't understand the first "Tea Party" either. Not till too late anyway.


 

Crap, I was going to say that!


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## Tez3 (Sep 8, 2010)

geezer said:


> Don't sweat it Don. The Brits didn't understand the first "Tea Party" either. Not till too late anyway.


 

What did you expect of public school boys?


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## yorkshirelad (Sep 8, 2010)

FieldDiscipline said:


> I wouldn't let the BBC worry you. Their impartiality was gone a long time ago. All for the left - that's them IMO.


I've said this so many times before and each time various members of this forum have tried to dispute it. I speak to people in the UK all the time and they are convinced that anything remotley considered conservative in the US is the devil incarnate. Most of these people get their information from the BBC. As you have said the BBC's impartiality died long ago. Journalism has been replaced by commentary.


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## Tez3 (Sep 9, 2010)

yorkshirelad said:


> I've said this so many times before and each time various members of this forum have tried to dispute it. I speak to people in the UK all the time and they are convinced that anything remotley considered conservative in the US is the devil incarnate. Most of these people get their information from the BBC. As you have said the BBC's impartiality died long ago. Journalism has been replaced by commentary.


 

However it could also be true that the BBC simply doesn't understand the Tea party thing, I for sure don't. I don't think the BBC is so much left leaning as perhaps it appears, I think it's more out of touch and thinks it has to dumb down everything for people. It talks down to viewers and gone are the intelligent programmes to be replaced by soundbites. It's interesting to note that both sides, left and right, complain of its bias towards the other though.


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## Sukerkin (Sep 9, 2010)

Just goes to show the truth of the old aphorism about opinions .

I happen to think that the BBC is more Right Wing than anything else, with a leavening of social conscience written in that those accusing it of Left Wing bias seize upon.

Apart from a couple of stand-out journalists, like Paxman for example, the BBC has come to be a mouth-piece for whatever spin the politicians in power want to propogandise us with.

That is with regard to home news of course. When it comes to international news I think that it is much less 'biased' than any other news source I can think of, primarily because it does not have to be 'commercially successful'.

My views on the Tea Party? It's so right wing it can only turn in one direction when it flies - inherently a flawed design, just like a mirror image of the CCCP.


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## yorkshirelad (Sep 9, 2010)

Sukerkin said:


> My views on the Tea Party? It's so right wing it can only turn in one direction when it flies - inherently a flawed design, just like a mirror image of the CCCP.


And how did you form that opinion?


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## girlbug2 (Sep 9, 2010)

We like tea. So do the Brits. What's to understand?


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## seasoned (Sep 9, 2010)

Freedom of speech, nothing else to understand.


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## Touch Of Death (Sep 9, 2010)

girlbug2 said:


> We like tea. So do the Brits. What's to understand?


The price of tea in China, of course.
Sean


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## Touch Of Death (Sep 9, 2010)

seasoned said:


> Freedom of speech, nothing else to understand.


How is that related to the Tea party movement?
sean


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## Sukerkin (Sep 10, 2010)

yorkshirelad said:


> And how did you form that opinion?


 
Mostly by listening to you fellows here I must admit .


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## Bill Mattocks (Sep 10, 2010)

IMHO, the Tea Party doesn't know what it is, so it's a bit naff to expect anyone else to.


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## crushing (Sep 10, 2010)

Sukerkin said:


> Mostly by listening to you fellows here I must admit .


 
By "you fellows" do you mean 2 or 3 specific people?


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## Steve (Sep 10, 2010)

If the tea party were about fiscal responsibility and government accountability, I'd join.  That's not been my impression, though.  I also don't like the implied association to the GOP.


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## Empty Hands (Sep 10, 2010)

stevebjj said:


> If the tea party were about fiscal responsibility and government accountability, I'd join.



Oh, it's about fiscal responsibility and government accountability...for things the particular member does not like.  For things they do like?  Well...


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## Sukerkin (Sep 10, 2010)

crushing said:


> By "you fellows" do you mean 2 or 3 specific people?



As an Englishman, am I allowed to take the Fifth? :lol:

What I meant was the regular and vocal contributors here and a couple of other quieter voices .


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## crushing (Sep 10, 2010)

Empty Hands said:


> Oh, it's about fiscal responsibility and government accountability...for things the particular member does not like. For things they do like? Well...


 
Member of what?  Is he crashing the tea party too?  You never know anymore.


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## Touch Of Death (Sep 10, 2010)

Empty Hands said:


> Oh, it's about fiscal responsibility and government accountability...for things the particular member does not like. For things they do like? Well...


Exactly... Keep the government out of my government program.
Sean


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## Steve (Sep 10, 2010)

crushing said:


> Member of what?  Is he crashing the tea party too?  You never know anymore.


What are you talking about?


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## crushing (Sep 10, 2010)

stevebjj said:


> What are you talking about?


 
I didn't automatically assume that the cherry picked picture is of a tea party member.  Some people will.


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## CoryKS (Sep 10, 2010)

crushing said:


> I didn't automatically assume that the cherry picked picture is of a tea party member. Some people will.


 
Why, crushing!  Are you suggesting that people who are antagonistic to the tea party might stage photos which reflect their convictions about the tea party members?  Unpossible!


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## Empty Hands (Sep 10, 2010)

I just couldn't help it.





More seriously, how is one to decide who is a "real" member of a movement that is supposed to have no leaders and no structure?  Is everyone who shows up at an TP event with a sign you don't like an obvious liberal plant?  It's pretty clear from interviews done with people that claim to be members and show up at rallies that some have a very selective view of proper government action.  That doesn't mean everyone does.

BTW, the whole "keep government out of my medicare!" thing did not start with the Tea Party, it started with the Summer of Loud Townhall Meetings in 2009.  President Obama even referenced a letter written to him that expressed the same sentiment.  The whole country is not made out of liberal plants.


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## Touch Of Death (Sep 10, 2010)

Empty Hands said:


> I just couldn't help it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You can lick but do not touch.
sean


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## crushing (Sep 10, 2010)

Empty Hands said:


> More seriously, how is one to decide who is a "real" member of a movement that is supposed to have no leaders and no structure? Is everyone who shows up at an TP event with a sign you don't like an obvious liberal plant?


 
The first question is a good one.  The second question...seriously?



Empty Hands said:


> BTW, the whole "keep government out of my medicare!" thing did not start with the Tea Party, it started with the Summer of Loud Townhall Meetings in 2009. President Obama even referenced a letter written to him that expressed the same sentiment. The whole country is not made out of liberal plants.


 
Actually, the quote that someone reportedly said was, "Keep your government hands off my Medicare."

So this person apparently liked medicare the way it was and didn't want some government beaurocrats and politicians making changes and somehow messing up what that person considered a good thing.

Yes, changing the quote to "keep government out of my medicare!" does make it funny and easier to use against the group that you think that person represents.

Yes, the whole country is made out of liberal plants.


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## Touch Of Death (Sep 10, 2010)

crushing said:


> The first question is a good one. The second question...seriously?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Its still a milk cow he want for himself; damn the consequences.
Sean


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## Empty Hands (Sep 10, 2010)

crushing said:


> The second question...seriously?



It was a rhetorical question.  A question with an obvious answer used to illustrate the argument.


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## crushing (Sep 11, 2010)

Empty Hands said:


> It was a rhetorical question.  A question with an obvious answer used to illustrate the argument.



So was my question.


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## Steve (Sep 11, 2010)

crushing said:


> Yes, changing the quote to "keep government out of my medicare!" does make it funny and easier to use against the group that you think that person represents.
> :


Not sure how the change in the quote makes any difference.  The irony of a person, in an ongoing, heated debate about the potential of a viable government option and "socialist," government run health care (right or wrong), of a person suggesting that the government keep its hands off or our out of or away from a government run health care program is pretty funny.  

Just one small part of why we ended up with a crap bill instead of any kind of meaningful reform.


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## crushing (Sep 11, 2010)

stevebjj said:


> Not sure how the change in the quote makes any difference.  The irony of a person, in an ongoing, heated debate about the potential of a viable government option and "socialist," government run health care (right or wrong), of a person suggesting that the government keep its hands off or our out of or away from a government run health care program is pretty funny.
> 
> Just one small part of why we ended up with a crap bill instead of any kind of meaningful reform.



Changing what was said makes a big difference.  If it didn't, then it wouldn't have been altered.  The misquote says that the government shouldn't be involved in the government program at all.  Which, obviously, is a ridiculous position to take, and likely the reason the misquote was created.  What was actually said suggests that the government shouldn't be making changes to the current system.  Which, may also be considered a ridiculous position to take but for other reasons.


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## Steve (Sep 12, 2010)

crushing said:


> *Changing what was said makes a big difference.  If it didn't, then it wouldn't have been altered.  *The misquote says that the government shouldn't be involved in the government program at all.  Which, obviously, is a ridiculous position to take, and likely the reason the misquote was created.  What was actually said suggests that the government shouldn't be making changes to the current system.  Which, may also be considered a ridiculous position to take but for other reasons.


That's a perfect example of circular logic.  Changing it makes a big difference, because if it didn't, it wouldn't have been changed.

FWIW, I could see what you were getting at.  My point is that, either way, it's still funny and a good example of irony for the kids.


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