(Insane) Thought for the Day

Story time, every body. My parents like to listen to Radio 4. Well, correction, my mum likes to listen to Radio 4. My dad prefers Classic FM, but my mum can’t take the advertising. Anyway, off topic. Point is, every day before school I would hear Thought for the Day while I was eating my breakfast. It always bugged me that, whether it was saying something I could agree with or not (and don’t get me wrong, there are occasionally some good points made), it was always from a religion or faith based perspective. 

I bitched about it a little, and my mum said that she had heard humanists on it before. I doubted this (my mum’s not a liar but she has the leakiest of all memories) but left it alone. Well, it turns out I was right. 

The BBC Trust has rejected complaints about a ban on non-religious contributors to the Thought For The Day slot on Radio 4’s Today programme.

Allowing only religious content did not breach BBC guidelines on impartiality or its duty to reflect religious and other beliefs, its governing body said.

Well then, the BBC needs new guidelines, because those are a heap of shit.

I have a whole fuckton of respect for the BBC most of the time, because they have rules about impartiality. I mean, it’s infuriating sometimes when they’re reporting on something I think is disgusting (pro-lifers, for example) and acting like there’s two sides to it. But I take comfort in the fact that somewhere out there a fundie fucktard is fuming as the BBC reports on my rights with the same relaxed, fact based impartiality. 

But how? How is it goddamn* impartial to ignore the opinions and beliefs of an entire section of your audience? The title of the program is not “Religious Indoctrination for the Day”, nor is it “Entirely Unfounded Belief for the Day”. It is “Thought for the Day”. And goodness knows, thinking is something that Atheists, Skeptics and Humanists are good at. 

The BBC are very good at ignoring complaints, but I have made complaints that caused changes before and it’s worth a shot. The complaints form can be found here. 

*I hope my fellow atheists will forgive, but I like blasphemous slang. Not because it pisses of Christians, although that is a plus, but because all through my childhood I wasn’t allowed to use it and I hate censorship.

Edited to add my complaint to the BBC, because I got all wordy ‘n shit. The way I do. You get two posts in one!

My name is Cleo Rose. I am usually a fan of the BBC for their impartiality, but occasionally you guys slip up. Let me tell you how it is for me – I am an Atheist. I have been an Atheist since I was twelve years old.

But this isn’t just lack of belief, oh no. It is about taking sides. I had an abortion this year, and have been openly bisexual since I was fourteen (and closeted but self-aware for many years before). Do you start to get the idea now? Maybe? I’ll throw a little more ‘me’ at you – slut, individualist, plastic surgery enthusiast. I’m not the type of girl you take home to meet the Xtian parents.

Religion is, in my view, a poison. It is actively harmful, it is a social disease. I am shocked and disgusted when I see how accepted it has become in society. There are things I would want to change, so called rights that religious people hold that I would want to take away.

The right to free speech is not one of them. That, I would protect at any cost. The right to believe what they want, and openly express it, is a right that I firmly believe no one should be able to take away. Maybe you see what I’m getting at.

I would like to see Thought for the Day be open to people of all belief systems, and of none. Not just people who are decisively Atheist, Skeptic, Humanist, or any other labeled group (although obviously, that should be the first step). I would like to see people who align themselves to no particular group giving their thoughts. A lot of people have ideas worth sharing, and Thought for the Day would certainly promote more thought if there was true diversity of opinion.

Lets get some of the great minds of Atheism on there! That I’d tune in to listen to, you can bet on that. Or if you want a cheap option, I’ll do it for ya. I’d shake up the C of E granny crowd, if you want some controversy to raise the ratings. Stop being so goddamn middle of the road and lets make the few minutes you dedicate to thinking actually stretch people’s minds, not feed them easily palatable mush to ease them into day after day of thoughtless bliss.