Tory leader Kemi Badenoch reveals she’s not seen Adolescence and policy shouldn’t be ‘created off the back of fiction’
https://www.lbc.co.uk/politics/uk-politics/adolesence-kemi-badenoch-not-watched-netflix/
by tylerthe-theatre
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch reveals she’s not seen Adolescence and policy shouldn’t be ‘created off the back of fiction’
https://www.lbc.co.uk/politics/uk-politics/adolesence-kemi-badenoch-not-watched-netflix/
by tylerthe-theatre
43 comments
I mean she’s not wrong. The show is highly sensationalised and a bit out of date when it comes to where it points fingers.
That’s a a bit rich since most of their policies came from Daily Mail articles
Reality is often worse than fiction… Like I don’t think any writer could even imagine the streak of terrible leaders for the Tory party
Edit: sorry if this is not fully relevant… but again, she is not relevant…
Does anyone actually care what Kemi Badenoch says?
Let’s face it, anyone still voting Tory at this point has either got battered wife syndrome, or is economically illiterate – or both.
Wonder what she thought about the whole Post Office scandal then? Drama is not driving policy. Drama simply brings on the conversations and focusing politicians’ and public attention to specific topics.
And yet no one has created policy off the back of it. So what’s she on about
Oh well they didn’t have much issue with it when they plastered buses in “£350m for NHS” posters lol
When fiction is based on very real social issues, it actually is a very good indicator and shouldn’t be dismissed with a handwave.
it’s hardly a new phenomenon.
”Cathy come home” brought changes in policy in the 1960’s. People are seeing something about which they were unaware and are wanting politicians to respond. They are aware that it is a Drama but it is linked to changes in the world.
Badenoch again swings and misses.
“Tori Leader Kemi Badenoch saw a Reddit thread yesterday which appeared to have replies that show some posters aligned with her worldview so she’s decided to go with it”
Tory policy has been based almost exclusively on fiction for decades
I’ve already seen this here, the conservatives (small ’C’) are all coming out on the side of incels not being a thing, don’t be unfair to boys, also have you seen what the immigrants have been doing etc. Cuts a bit too close to home for them I guess.
For sure. Adults make a fictional drama with intent of entertainment, it isn’t meant to be insightful, it is meant to entice viewers…
Public events are being cancelled due to a lack of anti car ramming emplacements. But this scrawny white kid is the threat.
It’s on my list to watch, but she’s got a point, no?
If she’d watched Atlas Shrugged and thought that was a good story to base policy on, what would you say?
These film and TV things that appear from time to time are good to start a debate, but that doesn’t mean you have to have watched the piece to be part of the debate.
Call me crazy, but maybe the leader of the opposition should watch something relevant to society that has clearly struck a chord with the public. Nobody is forcing her to make policy off it, but clearly it resonates.
I’ll just leave Cathy Come Home and Mr Bates Vs Post office here.
Badenoch js so irrelevant.
Can we have a Netflix show about water privatisation please. Properly something Kemi and Keir won’t watch
On one hand, I don’t think the show touched on the how/why enough for kids in school to really appreciate it as a class study. Parents & teachers, sure they’ll get it, and it’ll open some of their eyes. But not kids who probably need to know/understand how/why they’re being unknowingly radicalised.
But on the other hand, I really hate Kemi Badenoch and want to disagree with her on principle…
If the Government actually cared about protecting people, it wouldn’t let 1,000s of undocumented young men into the country every month and leave them to freely wonder around.
it was a bbc drama, shot like an action movie, that was it
I mean she’s right, she just doesn’t actually follow her own advice
On this she’s actually not wrong. (Please don’t make me defend her)
I saw it. It’s alright not really ground breaking, good cinematography some good acting. Don’t quite know why guardian readers are skeeting themselves about it.
it’s insights on the subject matter are already out of date and alot of it’s narrative is abit hyperbolic. More worryingly I’ve seen young men acting more like domestic abusers than slashers in response to manosphere indoctrination. With the mindset of “Everyone is gonna mistreat you better mistreat them harder”
Following from this the laws Keir starmer wants to pass are similarly hyperbolic and out of touch. I’m not opposed to insightful fiction about real phenomena informing our moral ethos (what else are fairytales?) but you do have to be careful with the message you take away.
“Ban smartphones and social media for under 16s”
Because over 16s have shown themselves so resistant to indoctrination… And our print media is SOO much more reliable. /Sarcasm
She’s right. The collective leftist wank over this show is solely driven by the left doing its level best to ignore the reality that the overwhelming majority of knife crime comes from black youths. It has absolutely fuck all to do with online influencers.
It’s just propaganda. Nothing more. The usual “don’t look here, look over there” nonsense.
She isn’t wrong. Yknow you’ve messed up when even Badenoch is talking sense.
Too much highschool culture influences government. Needs to end now
Heartbreaking: the worst person you know just made a good point.
Of all the things there are to criticise this evil, incompetent, deeply corrupt person over, is that they haven’t watched some crappy Netflix show really one of them?
1) Rwandan man walks into dance class and murders 3 little girls.
2) Pakistani man tries to blow up hospital.
3) Made up fictional story about young white british boy being a loser and committing a crime.
Guess which one of these is inspiring new laws from our government.
I have to agree with Kemi here. The show was entertaining but I don’t think it particularly did a very good job of pointing out what the issues were, or what issues should be solved other than generally there are some men who have a hatred of women. Which should not really be news to anyone. It would have been better if the show had explored *why*, which it didn’t.
Kier starmer won’t adjust policy when thousands of people protest about wanting an inquiry into grooming gangs, but he will change policy because of a TV show?
Why is policy just downriver from netflix?
This show turned a child into an incel. A child. Fuck adolescence.
I am incredibly loathe to say this but for once, I agree with her.
Many draconian policies are done in the name of protecting children, in truth it’s a load of rubbish and excuse for taking rights off ordinary citizens and Labour are all for that, it seems every day they dream up new rights they can take off people.
For example online safety law (which goes beyond social media), ids for buying knifes online, stopping people talking about topics such as religion/transgender in pubs.
I remember when James Bulger got murdered, apparently the killers was inspired by Childs Play – Back then you didn’t stop all horror movies, adult mags was on the top shelf of news agents (children could still see them), page 3 in newspapers etc.
I agree children should be better protected online due to social media, but this shouldn’t come at a cost to a person’s rights and privacy. Parents should be educated more, ISP’s should warn new customers about the dangers online in the same way cigarette packets have warnings of the dangers of smoking, more adverts on TV, better education in schools and make new customers take a survey before they even get online and blocks are already on 18+ content by default.
End of the day, if someone wants to do something horrible such as use a knife, id checks for knifes is not the way to go, everything can be used as a weapon, should there be online checks for buying a cricket or baseball bat? Do we stop children playing these sports? Even a pen is a deadly weapon.
She’s right. It’s a modern Reefer Madness, albeit quite well-made. We shouldn’t be basing policy on fiction. We should be very careful around any interventions put in place. There’s a real risk that a tone-deaf lecture given by someone teenage boys don’t relate to about how they are dangerous and bad, could actually have the opposite effect and be worse than doing nothing at all.
Aren’t young white men one of the groups most likely to commit suicide and be homeless? And I believe young black men are not far behind. I don’t think alienating them will have any positive outcome
I don’t like Kemi, but even I wouldn’t force her watch that shit
She has a point – the policy should instead be created off the back of the at least 2 real life incidents that inspired the creation of the work of fiction.
The answer shouldn’t be ‘don’t create’ policy… Rethinking Adolescent Safety: The Prime Minister met with the show’s creators, charities, and young people to discuss adolescent safety and how to prevent issues like misogyny and online radicalisation.
Educational Initiatives: The government is supporting the initiative to make the show available for free in secondary schools, helping students understand the importance of healthy relationships and the dangers of harmful online content.
Inclusive Policy Making: The increased focus on adolescents in policy discussions highlights the need for more inclusive approaches that give young people a voice in shaping policies that affect them.
Support and Resources: Policies can be developed to provide better support and resources for adolescents, ensuring they have the tools to navigate contemporary challenges and build healthy relationships.
Whereas ostrich woman thinks it’s best to bury her head in the sand over exploring the challenges and opportunities given
No it shouldn’t, but worse things happened irl sooo….
Though you can’t ban all knives (like you can’t ban cars, trucks etc) so have better education, schools less like jock prisons, try to stop youths from being bored, alienated and in miserable poverty stricken rough estates maybe…. More than houses and a shop, that ain’t community or culture it’s meanial existing
I haven’t seen it either, but why shouldn’t policy be created off the back of fiction, if that fictional story is based on real issues and dangers people face in society?
This shouldn’t be news, let alone policy but oh yeah, we have an incompetent buffoon at the helm.
The show is unhelpful at best and misleading at worst for a number of reasons.
First because it blends together two largely separate issues: youth knife crime, and misogynistic attitudes among young boys.
In relation to knife crime, there are a handful of really reliable predictors about a young boy’s propensity to become involved in it:
1. Family instability and especially absent, or otherwise neglectful or abusive, fathers;
2. Previous involvement in gangs;
3. Exclusion from school.
And here’s the problem:
1. Jamie has a stable family and a very present, caring, and supportive father
2. Has no previous involvement in gangs
3. Had never been excluded from school.
So on that level, we’re already not getting an accurate representation of the kind of factors at play in *actual* knife crime.
In relation to misogynistic attitudes among young boys, there’s another problem that the show diverts our attention from: in reality, the young men being radicalised into profound and often dangerous misogyny are overwhelmingly *not* white, they’re especially South Asian and Black boys.
We have at least two studies on this. One from [Hope Not Hate](https://hopenothate.org.uk/2024/07/24/plugged-in-tate-misogyny-2/) (July 2024):
>Support for Tate is proportionally higher in some minority ethnic communities. **41% of Asian or British Asian young people and 36% of Black or Black British young people like Tate, compared to an average of 26%.** Relatedly, support for Tate is higher in some religious communities: 51% of young Muslims and 44% of young Sikhs surveyed have a favourable opinion. However again, there is a clear gender divide skewing these results; **72% of young Muslim men like Tate, compared to just 25% of young Muslim women.**
A second was commissioned by the [Institute for Strategic Dialogue](https://www.isdglobal.org/isd-in-the-news/survey-one-in-five-young-people-in-the-uk-view-andrew-tate-in-a-positive-light/), published June 2023:
>Of the 1,214 people surveyed from ages 16 through 25, ethnic minorities were more likely to view him positively versus white young people: **41 percent of Black respondents, 31 percent of Asian respondents, 15 percent of white respondents.**
So while the show does genuinely hit upon issues that many people in Britain are really worried about, the problem is it’s creating a perception of what the problem is that doesn’t match reality.
And that latter bit shouldn’t be surprising. Those of South Asian backgrounds in particular usually come from Pakistan and Bangladesh, which are profoundly misogynistic, patriarchal, and tribalistic societies. The levels of physical and sexual violence against women in those countries is *astonishing* and horrifying.
If misogyny is increasing, it’s probably because we’ve imported millions of people from very misogynistic societies, and their kids are downstream of that.
Comments are closed.