The Hate Debate

First of all a note of caution: this article contains some issues and language that some readers may find offensive. If you think you might be offended by this you can read other posts from my archive here.

At the start of this week I read an article in The Telegraph online about a radio documentary focusing on prejudices. The show was part of the series BBC Radio 1’s Stories and was to be aired on Monday night on BBC Radio 1. The show was hosted by Paris Lees who subsequently became Radio 1’s first transgender female presenter.

The article, written by Lees, was an open and honest discussion about the experience of being Radio 1’s first trans presenter, as well as many of the issues that were to be covered in the show titled The Hate Debate.

I once heard radio described as the great equaliser. On radio you can’t tell if someone is gay/straight, black/white, rich/poor, old/young. In fact the only thing you can tell about a person by their voice alone is probably if they’re male or female. And likewise, radio can appeal to a massive and diverse range of listeners. So with this in mind and after finding the article both thought-provoking and insightful I decided to listen to the show on Monday night.

The show made for a very thought-filled listen. Lees was as honest about her life and her opinions on the show as she had been in her article. But what was most poignant and actually refreshing about this programme was that it was not a simple ‘prejudice-is-wrong-and-here’s-why’ format, but rather one that openly examined the fact that we all have prejudices. The show pointed out that even if we know some of our opinions are wrong we still can’t help but occasionally think them.

Lees herself admitted to having one particular prejudice; when she sees a woman wearing a burka or niqab she automatically thinks that the woman is repressed. Lees underlined that she knew this opinion was wrong and that as an equal rights campaigner she should know better. But more importantly she couldn’t help but wonder why she assumed these prejudices despite her better judgements.

With this in mind the show interviewed a number of groups of people from around the country to not only discuss their experiences of prejudice, but also what prejudices they were willing to admit to having.

When speaking to people from Liverpool one member of the group admitted that she was often uncomfortable around people speaking in another language. The participant explained that her prejudice came from a fear that the people might be talking about her and that because she couldn’t understand them she became wary of them. She knew she was wrong, but couldn’t help but having this preconception.

So why do these thoughts pop into our head in the first place? Throughout the show many reasons were offered in answer to this question: because of a contrast in values, because the opinions of one group can make us feel that our opinions are wrong or under jeopardy, or because something different to what we are used to can make us feel uncomfortable. But what became clear through many of Lees’ interviews is that prejudice, left unexamined, can cause serious emotional and physical harm to the person on the receiving end of it.

Lees spoke to many victims of prejudice, whose stories were extremely moving. One young man re-told his experience of how his classmates reacted when he came out as a bisexual. He was bullied at school and harassed over the internet, even to the extent of one tormenter telling him that they hoped he ‘died alone of AIDS’. This was heart rendering stuff, and put into perspective a topic Lees opened the show with. In one of the groups they discussed the issue of using derogatory terms such as ‘faggot’ or ‘gay’ as slang. Many of the people Lees spoke to had experience of knowing people who used these terms on a daily basis in public, without quite realising the effect their words had. This was certainly a thinking point, and made me question if I had ever used a term in such a way without realising the harm it could cause.

This is something we are probably all guilty of, and as such the focus of the show as a way of getting people to admit to their prejudices or behaviours and question them became all the more pertinent. It certainly was a show that involved its listeners, not by taking calls or messages from them, but by making them think about their own actions. Lees herself decided to explore her own prejudice by going to meet a woman who had started wearing a veil in her 20s. I don’t want to give away the ending of the show, so I won’t tell you what happened in the meeting. But one thing I do want to highlight is the woman’s opinion of the importance of becoming aware of your prejudices and being willing to question them.

Through the course of writing this entry I’m led to reflect on a description of the radio industry that I opened with: the great equaliser. The show made it evident that there are negative effects of both acting on your prejudices as well as ignoring them. I can’t help but wonder then even in this industry that gives so many people the chance for equality, what is not being said? What opinions are being hid under the surface? I think it has become clear from listening to The Hate Debate that it is only by continually questioning our opinions that we can continue to develop and accept people from every walk of life.

You can listen back to The Hate Debate on Radio 1 here.