An Epic Green Weenie for “Speciesism”

Hat tip to Claire Berlinski over on Ricochet, who brings our attention to an incredible story out of Britain about how a radio show about gardening is filled with . . . racism.  From the Daily Mail:

Gardeners’ Question Time? It’s so racist: Sociologist rails at references to ‘non-native’ plants

With its amiable discussions on greenfly and compost, it may seem as innocuous as a radio show could be.

So regular listeners to Gardeners’ Question Time will be surprised to find it caught up in a race row.

For an academic claims that Radio 4’s long-running programme is spreading covert racist stereotypes disguised as horticultural advice. . .

Dr. Ben Pitcher, a senior lecturer in sociology at the University of Westminster, says the panel show is ‘saturated’ with racial language.

From debates about native and non-native plant species to advice about the purity of different soil types, the programme’s resident green-fingered experts are secretly feeding nationalist and fascist fantasies, he claims.

Speaking on another Radio 4 programme, Thinking Allowed, he said: ‘Gardeners’ Question Time is not the most controversial show on Radio 4, and yet it is layered with, saturated with, racial meanings. . .”

Dr. Pitcher said there is a ‘crisis in white identity in multicultural Britain’ caused by the fact that ‘white culture’ is historically associated with racism and far-Right views.

White people are therefore forced to find other ways of talking about white identity – such as through gardening – so they do not appear to be racist.

Now this may all sound like it ought to be an Onion parody, but let’s think about this for a moment: one of the great causes of the environmentalists these days is “invasive species,” or “non-native species” that disrupt native ecosystems.  (And don’t forget that animal rights activists think that anyone who believes humans are qualitatively different from the rest of the animal world is guilty of “speciesism”—the complete equivalent of racism.)  Why this makes environmentalists no different than the nativists who say the same thing about illegal immigration, doesn’t it?  I think the good Dr. Pitcher is on to something here, and I wonder how he’ll be received at La Raza.

Green Weenie Wonka copyAnyway, give Dr. Pitcher a Green Weenie Award for his dissing of green thumbs everywhere.

 

Meanwhile, here’s the Daily Mail’s helpful chart for avoiding garden bed racism, which may indeed be their subtle hat tip to The Onion:

DM3 copy

NB: for a good short overview of the sense and nonsense of invasive species, please see this piece from Power Line’s favorite science writer, Ron Bailey.

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