Medicus est in Tardis sedet

[shinytoaster]

Much approval of Who Four-point-Two earlier ... o'course it was no Blink but then I fear we shall not see that calibre of episode again, not while RTD draws breath.

I saw a comment earlier on another LJ about how there were loads of in-jokes that you will have got if you took the Cambridge Latin Course at any point. I did, and I got them and appreciated them.

But then I got thinking. There are a lot of Idiots out there these days, the sort of people who like their news spoon-fed to them by Alastair Stewart, the sort of people who are seriously thinking of voting for Boris Johnson in the mayoral elections because they think he's a jolly good laugh. These Idiots have a tendency to pop up in debate and make a big show of accusing the BBC's current affairs coverage of being too focused on London, too liberal, too out of touch with normal people...

Well, the BBC is liberal, it can't be denied, and hallelujah to that. Journalism and media attracts that type, happily, at least in Britain.

Now we know that - with some caveats - impartiality in current affairs broadcasting is not to be confused with a liberal agenda. Impartiality merely reflects reality; which is to say that an enlightened, rational, humanist outlook more often gets to the truth of the matter than an outright socialist one, or a rabid conservative one.

But the Idiots don't get that, they think that they're clever, think they've caught the BBC out.

They haven't.

In their rush to condemn its politics, they forgot that the BBCs news output is not the same as its light entertainment output. And this is where I see a disconnect; because by playing up to the Latin-learning middle classes the BBC effectively shoots itself in the foot and alienates a whole section of its viewing public. It's just proven the Idiots right.

And the really clever bit is because it's an in-joke the people who never studied Latin don't realise they're missing the joke!

Conclusion ... the BBC is very clearly slanted towards a liberal, middle class outlook, but not in the way that the Idiots think it is...

Dangerous.

Comments

[freya]

I used to want Boris to be king of the universe until he stood for mayor of London. They I decided that would be a far better idea. More Boris cock-ups in the news papers but most of the adverse effects centred on somewhere that I don't live. :D VOTE BORIS! FOR THE LULZ!

[titanic-days.livejournal.com]

Your provincialism is mildly offensive (and I mean that, there's no :p for you today - Boris is a c**t and his advocates are politically feeble fools). I sometimes think the south east should declare UDI. We'd keep the bulk of the country's economy, jobs, and lose all the whinging twits that our hard work carries along.

[freya]

I have no idea how to even start arguing about this, or where to start researching to argue this. Go on then, educate me about whhat you do down there that's so fabulous, apart from being really big, obviously.

(I am assuming that since there's no :p for me, you're willing to actually willing to put some effort into backing up your insults (offensive whinging twit) by at least showing me the facts behind them. It's not my area of expertise at all. I am genuinely interested.)

[freya]

You know, the more and more I think over this comment (and I do not receive enough ad hominem attacks to be able to brush them off), the more uncalled for I find it.

You have to admit that no matter whether the London mayoral election will affect me or not, the fact remains I can't vote in it. I am not campaigning for Boris Johnson. I have not donated to his campaign. I have merely stated myself to be amused by him.

It is intensely offensive to abdicate me holding in reverence an election because it might affect me, whilst I can't affect it. It smacks of "Well you had better be grateful that us big important Londoners are looking after your interests, because you damned well wouldn't do it!". At which if you feel that's true, I have to ask, since it was me you attacked in that comment, rather than the concept in general, what makes you a better person in this respect than me?

Living in London does not make you better than me. YOU do not carry ME along. You do precious little of the 'carrying along' that is to be done. You don't work in politics, you don't work in finance, you are not involved in any of the industries that makes London a valuable part of the UK. You are no more entitled to identify yourself with that group than I am. You complaints about 'whinging twits'' are as valid as the 'whinging twits''s complaints are about you. That is to say, both very much and not at all.

I am not a Boris supporter, though I will admit to being politically feeble. However, you cannot (well you can, but you shouldn't) take what you knew was a fond, familiar parody of a set of opinions, both that I once held and of those around me, to launch an attack on me personally and all of the country outside your little bubble. It's beyond offensive.

[titanic-days.livejournal.com]

On second thoughts, make him mayor of Cardiff and then we can talk... :)

[freya]

I concur! Let Jack Harkness take care of him!

[sophie10.livejournal.com]

I need to study Latin now :D

[wheeler.livejournal.com]

Are you kidding? I didn't study Latin. I don't feel stupider for missing the in-jokes. I don't feel alienated. I don't feel my enjoyment of the episode was impaired. Perhaps most importantly, I don't feel stupid because I don't know Latin, because I know that not knowing Latin (or not getting jokes told in Latin) says nothing whatsoever about my intelligence!

Some jokes are told for some of the audience rather than all of it. Sometimes the jokes are pop culture references that my mother wouldn't understand. Sometimes they're in Latin.

This is quite the weirdest post I've ever read from you.

[shezan.livejournal.com]

Unless I missed something, you couldn't call them jokes - more or less appropriate, well-worn quotes at most. (Morituri te salutant? Caveat emptor?) Surely even lots of people who haven't taken Latin know them?