Monday, August 30, 2004
Stuck in neutral. posted by Richard Seymour
Balance. Objectivity. Neutrality. It is axiomatic that the BBC is 'neutral' in political debate. It merely reports what the politicians say, and you may decide with the assistance of the lovely Andrew Marr. The fact that this apparent truism is coming under attack from Greg Philo and his band of academic subversives hasn't altered the general perception. But the limits of neutrality are conveyed to me, as if by a bat in the night, while reading Dave Renton's Fascism: Theory and Practise (1999). Discussing the historian's role, he says:What is the meaning of objectivity when writing about a political system that plunged the world into a war in which at least 40 million died? How can the historian provide a neutral account of a system of politics which turned the continent of Europe into one gigantic prison camp? One cannot be balanced when writing about fascism, there is nothing positive to be said of it. (Page 18).
Unspectacular prose, admittedly, but there is something profound in that. The very spectre of 'neutrality' only persists so far as nothing scarier emerges. That is, if the very coordinates of liberal democracy are challenged, then objectivity becomes a point of view. Imagine the BBC reporting on the World Trade Centre attacks by having an Al Qaeda "military expert" phone in to the studio. Now change the words "World Trade Centre attacks" and "Al Qaeda" to "Gulf War" and "British army". Its an obvious point, I suppose, but one worth remembering. Neutrality is for the dead.