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Rule Britannia and the BBC Being Woke

Apparently the BBC has decided Rule Britannia is colonialist and its lyrics are not be be sung at the last night of the proms.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...tannia-bbc-proms-would-erase-history-culture/
The BBC has defied the Government by announcing that Rule, Britannia! and Land of Hope and Glory will not be sung at this year’s Last Night of the Proms. Oliver Dowden, the Culture Secretary, had warned the BBC not to “erase history” by dropping the songs amid a row over colonialism, while Boris Johnson had told the corporation it was a mistake to target the “symbols” rather than the “substance” of such issues. But the BBC ignored them, effectively censoring the traditional anthems by choosing to play orchestral versions only, with no soloist singing the lyrics. With no audience because of coronavirus restrictions, there will be no-one to sing along to them either.

The BBC seems ever more divorced from real people.

The is apparently an on-line petition protesting the Beeb's decision, but I can't currently find it on the government's petitions website.

What a bunch of *******....

Wordsmith

ETA - this is the petition:

 
Already being mentioned on the BBC thread but I'm good with a new one.

The point is, again, that a political agenda - a very narrow on - is being unilaterally imposed.

People know what the Proms is. If they don't like it, don't tune in. But to deny that audience is a form of censorship.

All that said, the BBC's stance is pony.
 
Apparently the BBC has decided Rule Britannia is colonialist and its lyrics are not be be sung at the last night of the proms.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...tannia-bbc-proms-would-erase-history-culture/


The BBC seems ever more divorced from real people.

The is apparently an on-line petition protesting the Beeb's decision, but I can't currently find it on the government's petitions website.

What a bunch of *******....

Wordsmith

ETA - this is the petition:

Then we should all be grateful for Elaine Paige blasting it out on her BBC R2 show, on Sunday last :thumleft:

Did she get early warning of this, d'you reckon?​
 
Re-stating something I wrote earlier, but this is a very bad move from the BBC, even if the issue of the Proms is set to one side: the BBC's actions will create the impression among some people that these mainstream pieces of music are somehow now equated with those who follow Britain First. Land of Hope and Glory, and Rule, Britannia, are traditional pieces of music. If these are suddenly unacceptable then the next target will be the National Anthem [the Telegraph quoted the BBC as saying 'We are patriotic - we're having the National Anthem sung' - that is the bare minimum we'd expect of the Proms - it is not a special act of patriotism].
 
Re-stating something I wrote earlier, but this is a very bad move from the BBC, even if the issue of the Proms is set to one side: the BBC's actions will create the impression among some people that these mainstream pieces of music are somehow now equated with those who follow Britain First.

That's the intention. Any expression of British or, even worse, English identity is counter-revolutionary, Comrade.
 
Re-stating something I wrote earlier, but this is a very bad move from the BBC, even if the issue of the Proms is set to one side: the BBC's actions will create the impression among some people that these mainstream pieces of music are somehow now equated with those who follow Britain First. Land of Hope and Glory, and Rule, Britannia, are traditional pieces of music. If these are suddenly unacceptable then the next target will be the National Anthem [the Telegraph quoted the BBC as saying 'We are patriotic - we're having the National Anthem sung' - that is the bare minimum we'd expect of the Proms - it is not a special act of patriotism].
Bloody good point.
 
What I find desperately sad is many of us have predicted as such a long time ago and have been vilified and howled down as scaremongers, moon howlers, tin foil hat wearing loons at best, as racists, white supremacists, hard right nationalists at worst - simply for noting and expressing exactly how it going.

I think the greatest irony is the parody and pisstaking of the left is now seen as the edgier, underground and more risque avenue for comedy and satire - a complete 360 of the 80's & 90's.

That alone tells you everything you need to know.
 
The thin end of the wedge went in a while back, and its steadily getting broader.

Any form of protest will inevitably and immediately be called racist, white supremacist, facist, pro slavery, and at the very least, completely politically incorrect.
 
Just been flicking through the comments on one of The Daily Mash's "spoof" articles on this (most of what they post is meant to be satire but it's clearly written by rabid lefties) and it's just full of British people who clearly despise their own country including all tradition and any signs of patriotism. At what point did the British start to loath themselves? I've travelled around Europe a lot and everyone you meet is proud of their own country, its traditions and their national identity despite being in the EU, even the Germans aside from the 1933 - 1945 period! I'm not really bothered about the proms myself as I never watch it but this seems to be part of a bigger picture where the left pour scorn and mockery on anything British and treat those who are proud to be British with contempt.
 
I think it is a very good move by the bbc.
Most people are hacked off with it, this will be yet another nail in the tv license fee coffin.
It is also typical woke.
I don't like rap so I don't listen to it.
Woke don't like something so they want it banned.
 
Just been flicking through the comments on one of The Daily Mash's "spoof" articles on this (most of what they post is meant to be satire but it's clearly written by rabid lefties) and it's just full of British people who clearly despise their own country including all tradition and any signs of patriotism. At what point did the British start to loath themselves? I've travelled around Europe a lot and everyone you meet is proud of their own country, its traditions and their national identity despite being in the EU, even the Germans aside from the 1933 - 1945 period! I'm not really bothered about the proms myself as I never watch it but this seems to be part of a bigger picture where the left pour scorn and mockery on anything British and treat those who are proud to be British with contempt.
Always remember, it's self-loathing.
 
All they needed to do was:

1. Note that the communal singing isn't going to work this year in an audience-free Royal Albert Hall
2. Announce that Rule Britannia/Land of Hope & Glory/Jerusalem would therefore be performed in instrumental form (noting that this would be in keeping with how Sir Henry Wood first included it in 1905, with only a brief burst of one verse from the audience)
3. Subtitles for those who wished to sing along at home would be provided via the red button.

The lack of an audience means that they're going to have to think about some of the other traditions - the hornpipe being unaccompanied by stamping feet, airhorns and a race between the orchestra and the promenaders isn't going to work well; the conductor's speech involves interplay with the audience - perhaps they can do that via Zoom... - and so on and so on.

In the face of a calm announcement that to make the experience a bit more tailored to the circumstance - or should that be Pomp & Circumstance? - and which would draw on some of the historic approaches to the presentation of the last night, they'd have faced relatively little criticism. But given the choice of that or creating a media firestorm...

Criticism of 'lost opportunity to remove colonialist song' and so on from those who'd secretly like the Proms to be consigned to history could've been had without the BBC getting into a mess, leaving Trevor Philips and others to wearily explain that campaigners had got it wrong again. The problem, of course, is that it's known that previous BBC producers/directors have been uneasy about the Malcolm Sargent version of Last Night (it differs from that of Sir Henry Wood) for years and years, and have sought to change it, only to be sent into headlong retreat by howls of protest from the Promenaders.
 
Just been flicking through the comments on one of The Daily Mash's "spoof" articles on this (most of what they post is meant to be satire but it's clearly written by rabid lefties) and it's just full of British people who clearly despise their own country including all tradition and any signs of patriotism. At what point did the British start to loath themselves? I've travelled around Europe a lot and everyone you meet is proud of their own country, its traditions and their national identity despite being in the EU, even the Germans aside from the 1933 - 1945 period! I'm not really bothered about the proms myself as I never watch it but this seems to be part of a bigger picture where the left pour scorn and mockery on anything British and treat those who are proud to be British with contempt.
If you watch some of these accounts commenting on other matters they almost invariably hail from Oirland.
 
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