I’ve often commented that whenever you ponder on some topic and hear about the stance being taken, you might be tempted to seriously consider it to be satire and not real because nobody could possibly be that stupid. Alas, no. Time after time the grasping of that thought often results in many people popping up to prove you to be ever so wrong, because some really do go out of they way to do something that is spectacularly stupid on an epic scale.
I have a beautiful example of this, a crowd who managed to take utter stupidity and ignorance to previously unchallenged and unexplored heights.
On the surface this posting is pure entertainment, and also deliciously funny, but under the covers, it carries a message saying “Don’t be this stupid”.
What is the story here?
It concerns an anti-vaccine protest. Ho-hum, par for the norm then, that happens.
Not in this case, this was truly special.
Last Monday, Aug 9th, 2021, a group with deep feelings on the topic of COVID decided to storm the BBC. They felt very strongly about targeting the BBC because their news team has been quite rightly promoting the use of COVID-19 vaccines.
Outside Television Centre in west London that were met by a wall of police offices who successfully held them back and prevented them from storming the building.
Piers Corbyn, the brother of the former Labour party leader also took part. He was recorded on one live stream as saying “we’ve got to take over these bastards”. Others in the protest labelled the media as “the virus” and launched into a rant against the BBC’s coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
The literally hundreds taking part chanted “shame on you”, and as one might anticipate, small fights broke out between the protesters and Metropolitan police officers.
To get a feel for how vocal and violent this all was, here it is …
Deeply Stupid people?
Yes indeed.
Am I saying that because they hold very strong vaccine concerns that have no evidence or scientific basis, and had simply dared to express that view in public?
Nope, that’s not the reason.
The Reveal
Here is why I’m labelling these people deeply stupid, it illustrates why “Doing your own Research” is an approach that comes with serious flaws that can lead to delusional beliefs.
The building they targeted, Television Centre in west London, is no longer occupied by the BBC, they moved out of there in 2013 almost a decade ago. It is now a block a flats.
If any of them had spent 30 seconds googling “Television Center” then they would have learned this. Wikipedia even has its very own page dedicated to the history of the building that explains all of this.
What perhaps fooled them is that there is still a small TV studio there. It is used by ITV (Hint for any Protesters reading this: A Broadcaster that has nothing to do with the BBC). This is where ITV now hosts shows such as Good Morning Britain and This Morning. At the time of the protest they were live on air with Loose Women.
“Not sure what protesters were hoping to achieve, but all they would’ve found was me, Jane, Nadia and Penny on Loose Women talking about the menopause,”
Loose Women co-host Charlene White
So yes, Deeply Stupid People
These are people who are quite sure that there is some nefarious vaccine plot afoot, and they want you to listen to them and believe them when they tell you this. Yet these very same people failed to successfully locate the BBC News Studies of the primary UK broadcaster.
The actual location is not a deeply held state secret, they are located in Broadcasting House on Portland Place. If you go to google and enter “where is BBC news located” you will find over 40 million results in less than a second telling you exactly where it is, but somehow these rocket scientists missed all that.
As a side observation, if you check out the video above, what also becomes clear is that many who claim to dislike needles don’t appear to have any problem with Tattoos.
But they got their message out
Can it indeed be argued that they garnered attention and so got their message out?
No, not really.
I do need to drop them a note and thank them for demonstrating to the entire nation that their data gathering skills are utterly crap.
Since they mistook a block of flats for the primary headquarters of the BBC, why should anybody ever consider the possibility that their grasp of mRNA biotechnology is correct and that all the subject matter experts and specialists right around the globe are wrong.