Also, see another word cloud and another. | I had the most dire misfortune to have sat through a television marvel on Wednesday – BBC One’s “That’s Britain”, which contained, in one short dumb-downed programme, enough propaganda about energy to warrant my total disdain.
I had never seen this televisual abomination before, and I was amused at the opportunities for cynicism in audience participation. It is possible to e-mail the producers of the show with the subject heading of those things that annoy you the most. |
| They call this activity “talking to the wall”, and they create a “word cloud” from the e-mail traffic several times during the course of the programme and discuss the results.
Standing adroitly in front of the “wall” to not quite conceal the phrases “The Wall” and “That’s Britain”, which indicated that not all viewers are fans of the programme, the presenters batted between them disparaging thoughts on wind turbines – since “wind turbines” were almost as unpopular as “dog poo”. One wind farm, apparently, had been issued with a Noise Abatement Order ! The solution to noisy wind turbines, they claimed with a snort, whinny and jeer, had been found – turn them off when it’s windy ! They allowed the cognitive dissonance of this statement to ring in peoples’ minds. You, the audience, are intelligent. You know that wind turbines are designed to work when the wind blows. So, turning off wind turbines when the wind is blowing makes them useless. And then, almost immediately, we were treated to an investigative report scripted at the level of a childrens’ TV broadcast, with Adrian Edmondson, “The Insider”. To a background of stirring orchestral music, a helicopter surveyed Didcot Power Station. Oh mighty coal ! How grateful are we to thee, our succour and our strength ! Do you know that the UK relies on coal to generate 49% (or somesuch number) of our electricity ? With unparalleled access, Ade gets to see the guts of the barely legal coal burning power plant, and then play at God in the beating heart of the National Grid, where demand is matched with supply. Those “godless” electricity consumers ! They all turn their kettles on at the same time ! During the hymns of the Royal Wedding ! It caused a spike in demand ! Nobody asks the question “Why are manufacturing companies still allowed to sell 3000 Watt kettles ?” One e-mail was read out, and the writer made to sound a bit of a killjoy, something along the lines of “It’s all very well complaining about wind turbines, but none of your viewers have suggested any means to produce sustainable energy.” Nobody questioned the source of the anti-wind power statements. Nobody questioned the truth and accuracy behind the scorn levelled at wind energy. Nobody questioned the deference to the major coal-fired power generation businesses. Nobody questioned whether the Reign of Old King Coal might be coming to an end. Nobody questioned whether supplies of fossil fuels might be challenged within a decade. Nobody questioned why wind power is such a successful, cost-efficient technology. Nobody questioned why the British energy-bill-paying public are going to be forced to pay extra for offshore wind power – turbines at sea – because of a small number of British landowners and false environmentalists that don’t want wind power on their land and their “precious landscapes”, but would rather have nuclear/coal/gas power plants – probably because they’ve got shares in fossil fuels and atomic energy construction companies. So, the BBC proves once again that it is biased and ill-informed. Worse still, the BBC is perfectly happy to propagandise its viewers. It’s no use complaining to the BBC itself, because their complaints system doesn’t work. And it’s no good complaining to the Press Complaints Commission because they’re toothless. All I can do is never watch this rubbish telly again. If you want my advice, I’d advise you to avoid it too. And if we all do the same, then, maybe, their lack of ratings might show them they’re treading water. | |
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2 replies on “Fossilised Minds : That’s Britain !”
Yeah …I can see wind farms being very noisy. However, wind turbines for the home – individual homes – are a totally different issue.
Talk about a jaundiced view! I saw the programme too and my recollection is that the suggestion was to turn the wind turbines off in HIGH winds. Also, are city dwellers so bombarded by urban noise that they fail to notice that the wind itself is noisy? Try living near trees or the sea when the wind gets up, either can get terribly noisy but no one suggests we rip up all the trees or concrete over the sea. For God’s sake wake up to reality and realise that eco-friendly doesn’t necessarily mean human-friendly, and that it’s the price we may have to pay. Finally, a 3000 watt kettle uses no more energy than a 2000 watt kettle to boil the same quantity of water at the same starting temperature, the 3kw will just do it quicker. The trick to saving energy is to boil no more water than you need ie DON’T fill the kettle to the max just to make two cups of tea!
Now, what was it you were saying about being ill-informed?