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Open letter accuses BBC board member of having a conflict of interest on Gaza

theguardian.com

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Re: Open letter accuses BBC board member of having a conflict of interest on Gaza

#271

Post by swoorup »

hliyan wrote: post #28

I'm starting to realize, very belatedly in life, that we suffer from an end-of-history illusion in politics and political economy. I used to think we live in a golden age because a hundred years ago, democracy broadly replaced monarchies, market economies replaced feudalism and other coercive systems, and with it went many of the old, indirect mechanisms of subjugating large populations (e.g. moral imperatives throug…

Same, and it's quite obvious. You will get the same government regardless of who you vote for, its controlled opposition design to cushion some of your grievances but policies are set in stone.

Re: Open letter accuses BBC board member of having a conflict of interest on Gaza

#273

Post by parineum »

jhanschoo wrote: post #264
ithkuil wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess it's hard to define words. Surely terrorism has this vague meaning of doing very evil and violent things. But a picked up a random dictionary and it says: "the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims". I struggle to understand what political aim Israel is pursuing when using unlawful violence and intimidation. If you believe that Israel is perf…

Based on that definition alone, the occupation of the West Bank and the discrimination against its original people breaks international law, is enforced by violence and intimidation against civilians, and from the unlawful settlement in it, seems to be in service of the political Zionist aim of settling the region, let alone Gaza.

Traffic laws are enforced by violence and intimidation.

Re: Open letter accuses BBC board member of having a conflict of interest on Gaza

#275

Post by dgellow »

rich_sasha wrote: post #260

Offending or over-accusing sides of this conflict is a very asymmetric risk. Misrepresent Palestinians negatively and you may eventually get an angry, vague letter - with a quarter of signatories doing so anonymously. Misrepresent Israelis negatively and you get very powerful and well-organised protests. BBC is sadly doing the rational thing of staying clear of suggesting Israel may be doing some bad things. It is a…

> So why are we surprised the BBC doesn't want to stick its head above the parapet?

Whenever a group publicly criticizes a behavior, you see the rhetorical question “Why are you surprised?”, and that feels dismissive and disingenuous.

Yes, BBC has some reasons to behave the way they do, sure. It’s really not relevant to the points being brought.

Every actor has reasons to behave. People are critical of the behavior, whatever the actor’s incentives are. Because a behavior feels more logical or rational it shouldn’t be discussed? If you would answer negatively then what’s the point of asking your question? Is it just to express your cynicism of that whole situation?

Re: Open letter accuses BBC board member of having a conflict of interest on Gaza

#276

Post by parineum »

somename9 wrote: post #253
cantor_S_drug wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is you can't even point a finger or single out people responsible for the current state of things. Unless we collectively accept there is a problem, the solution will not get implemented.

This is why monarchies are better than democracies. There is no accountability or ownership. A king wants to pass down something better to his progeny. A politician wants to make money and generally doesn’t care what state he leaves things in.

Why don't politicians care about their kids and why do monarchs not care about money?

Re: Open letter accuses BBC board member of having a conflict of interest on Gaza

#277

Post by defrost »

ThrowawayTestr wrote: post #272
somename9 wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

[flagged]

You're not the only one ...

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly3zr8p46eo

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-15/nsw-antisemitism-crim...

Fake terror plots became criminal currency for a while in Australia.

Re: Open letter accuses BBC board member of having a conflict of interest on Gaza

#278

Post by mrzool »

rich_sasha wrote: post #260

Offending or over-accusing sides of this conflict is a very asymmetric risk. Misrepresent Palestinians negatively and you may eventually get an angry, vague letter - with a quarter of signatories doing so anonymously. Misrepresent Israelis negatively and you get very powerful and well-organised protests. BBC is sadly doing the rational thing of staying clear of suggesting Israel may be doing some bad things. It is a…

I doubt anyone’s surprised in here. I’m certainly not. Angry? Absolutely. Sick to my stomach? Yep. But surprised? Not even a little.

Re: Open letter accuses BBC board member of having a conflict of interest on Gaza

#279

Post by bawolff »

molteanu wrote: post #93
engine_y wrote: post #25

I read the article but not sure which pro Israeli editorials the BBC has published. My experience is quite the opposite with BBC having a clear anti war stance.

It's about the careful wording, about who gets to be on the spotlight, about who gets to call the other side a tyrant, an evil state, about saying things like "regime change" and no-one batting an eye. Slowly, but surely, you form an opinion as to who the bad actor is as you've seen or read about its bad behaviour (but not of the behavior of the other party) Most interestingly, it's about who holds the microphone and…

Call me crazy, but neutral journalists should not be calling either side "evil". They should be reporting what each side does and let the reader draw their own moral conclusions.

Re: Open letter accuses BBC board member of having a conflict of interest on Gaza

#280

Post by bawolff »

darkoob12 wrote: post #248
engine_y wrote: post #25

I read the article but not sure which pro Israeli editorials the BBC has published. My experience is quite the opposite with BBC having a clear anti war stance.

It's mostly anout how Israel army controls the way journalists report the war or regime in west bank that walks, quacks, and swims like an apartheid but apparently they can't call it that. Sadly no one will be able to document the carnage in gaza. They plan to create an internment camp in the south and move civilians into at after making sure they are not linked to Hamas. Then they are going to basically follow Trump…

As much as there are barriers to reporters here, it seems less than most other conflicts. Its not like journalists have unrestricted access to the Ukraine/Russia front line. Access to other conflicts like Sudan or Myanmar are also very restricted in practise.
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