IT HAS been suggested frequently in recent days that ‘racism’ lies at the heart of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s decision to step back from full-time royal duties. This is a cheap shot, utterly baseless, and it can’t be allowed to stick.
Since Meghan Markle entered British public life in 2016, some deeply unpleasant things have been written on digital platforms such as Twitter about the fact that she is mixed-race. Regrettably, this cesspit of a parallel universe attracts a lot of deeply unpleasant pond life where plenty of public figures are criticised for all sorts of perceived wrongs. It goes with the territory. It’s part of life now. I condemn it, but it is impossible to stamp out. Yet this is not representative of Britain in any shape or form.
Racism in the mainstream UK media? Forget it. No sensible and honest person would ever suggest that a British newspaper or TV channel was guilty of any such thing. Regulations and compliance would not allow it, apart from anything else.
Despite this reality, a considerable amount of space on the BBC, LBC and in newspapers has been given to commentators making the racism claim.
Of course it has!
These commentators have built their careers around seeing racism where it doesn’t exist. Some of them have written books about it, and made good money out of it. So it was entirely predictable that they were going to run the racist allegation up the flagpole when it came to Meghan. Their media identities positively depend on this sort of nonsense. It’s all they know.
As for why the BBC, LBC and Channel 4 News have indulged them, the answer is simple: the media outlets don’t want to be accused (probably on Twitter) of excluding these anti-racist lobbyists from mainstream shows. Therefore, producers and editors overcompensate by ensuring these ‘woke’ personalities are as visible as possible and are on more frequently than they should be.
If the Markle debacle has proved anything interesting, it is that our media is now so terrified of putting a foot wrong – so worried about accusations of being racist itself – that it has effectively become paralysed. It is compelled to serve at the altar of the anti-racism lobby even though it knows it doesn’t really need to do so.
The fact is that of all the possible problems which have infected the Harry/Meghan marriage, widespread racism among British taxpayers is not one of them.
