News that the BBC has turned down two job applicants because they are white should send a shiver down everyone’s spine.
This is further proof, if it were needed, that the BBC now regards itself primarily as a social engineer rather than a broadcaster.
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Indeed, it should change its name to the British Brainwashing Corporation, for brainwashing the public is what it seeks to do.
The background to this story is that the BBC advertised for two junior script writers to join its 12-month trainee scheme.
However, white applicants were told by HR bosses that these posts were only open to those from “ethnic minority backgrounds”.
The BBC said this was to address an “under-representation of people from ethnic minority backgrounds in script editing roles”.
Although under the Equality Act it is illegal to discriminate on grounds of race unless crucial to a particular job, the BBC has got around employment legislation by using trainee contracts.
In essence, the BBC has really said: “To hell with ability. Let’s restrict these positions to non-whites only – even though it means we will never know if a white person could have done the job better.”
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This kind of deranged diversity target isn’t just stupid, it also dangerous.
It draws attention to racial differences instead of treating everyone equally. It is likely to encourage discrimination among whites – and bound to breed resentment and suspicion where previously there was none.
But this is only the latest example of the BBC taking it upon itself to promote a positive discrimination agenda to reflect a country which doesn’t (yet) exist.
Another recent affirmative action edict stated that one in six of all on-screen BBC roles must go to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender or disabled people by 2020.
The National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal) is considered a reliable source. It has taken place every 10 years since 1990.
Natsal’s third survey, from around 2010, asked Britons which “best describes how you think of yourself”: a) heterosexual/straight; b) gay/lesbian; c) bisexual, d) other?
Over an age-range from 16 to 74, 1% of women say they are lesbian and 1.5% of men consider themselves gay; and 1.4% of women and 1% of men think of themselves as bisexual.
So, roughly one in 80 Britons considers themselves to be gay, lesbian or bisexual. Transgender figures will be significantly lower.
Yet in a bid to fend off criticism from a vocal minority, the BBC has decided to discriminate against the straight population anyway, with no thought for talent.
In future, will some heterosexuals have to pretend to be homosexual in order to secure a BBC job?
Figures reported this year show that 13.1% of the BBC’s workforce is black, Asian or from another ethnic minority – above the 2011 census ratio of the UK population as a whole (12.9%).
But this isn’t good enough for the BBC’s diversity nuts. By 2017 the BBC wants 14.2% of its workers to be non-whites, even though this will be significantly above the national average.
The BBC, believing itself to be equipped with a divine right to tinker with the natural order of things, no longer hires exclusively on merit.
Instead, it judges people by the shade of their skin or their sexuality.
If that isn’t an irony, what is?