Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Black knighting and the BBC

Let reason be silent when experience gainsays its conclusions. This tragic report of a belated apology demonstrates that black knighting is a legitimate and viable tactic even in the organizations that most firmly support the female imperative:
The BBC has been forced to apologise 'unreservedly' today after an investigation found it failed to support a journalist claiming he was being harassed at work, who then later killed himself. BBC Coventry and Warwickshire reporter Russell Joslin, 50, suffocated himself last October despite being on suicide watch at a psychiatric hospital. His family claimed he was driven to his death by the Corporation as they failed to take seriously allegations that he was being bullied by a female colleague...

BBC West Midlands insiders had claimed the conclusions of a previous internal BBC inquiry last year, headed by an independent person, into 'bullying' complaints were never made public, and little was done.

A long BBC statement in response to the report today states: 'The BBC extends our deepest sympathies to Russell's family, friends and colleagues.

'Russell was a respected and much loved member of the team at Radio Coventry and Warwickshire and he is greatly missed. We would also like to thank the Joslin family for their participation in this investigation at a very difficult time.

'The BBC acknowledges that aspects of the handling of Russell Joslin's case were not good enough. We have apologised unreservedly to the Joslin family.

'It is clear from the report that a number of factors, including workplace culture, made it more difficult for Russell to raise concerns.

'Disappointingly, the report also refers to behaviour which falls below the high standards we expect of all those who work for the BBC.

'We would like to take this opportunity to re-iterate that the BBC will not tolerate any form of bullying and/or harassment and is committed to providing a workplace in which the dignity of individuals is respected.

'Employees raising a bullying and harassment grievance should be able to do so without fear of victimisation.
Now, one might erroneously point to the fact that nothing was done in response to Mr. Joslin's complaints, but that was because Mr. Joslin was obviously a psychologically frail individual who was entirely incapable of standing on his rights as an employee and was totally unsuitable for the position in which he found himself as an inadvertant black knight.  The significant fact was that Mr. Joslin was not retaliated against by anyone but his harasser, and that the organization was forced to retreat from its do-nothing posture due to the intrinsic appearance of unfairness of enforcing the rules when women are victims and not enforcing them when men are.

This shows that going to the media is a valid tactic for a black knight; whereas HR will be inclined to sweep bad female behavior under the table, the marketing department and the executives know they can't afford to be caught doing it in public.

11 comments:

Jack Amok said...

The Cloward-Pivens are coming home to roost?

Anonymous said...

I don't see any mention of the woman being fired, or even named, so the apology is just words. If a man harassed a woman to suicide he'd probably be in jail or legislators would introduce a law named after the victim to imprison 1000s of various men to prevent any possibility of a woman being unsafe at work

Jeigh Di said...

Also no word of any compensation to the family.

Will Best said...

Well presumably the impending lawsuit and 6-7 figure settlement will be apology enough.

In a sane world it would bankrupt the female employee & HR employees who stood idly by rather than punish the shareholders. Same when govt employees do it too. The individuals learn they get a slap on a wrist while passing the costs onto the shareholders/taxpayers and they have no real incentive to stop. You destroy the lives of a few sociopaths and the rest will start falling in line.

Wald said...

This might be one of the few occasions where you'd want to write out the British Broadcasting Company in full.

Or not. Heh.

. said...

He killed himself because a girl bullied him?

What a pussy!

little dynamo said...

see? you are so right and so superintelligent! i TOLD you that Vox Day Blacknighting (tm) would win the games and save westen civilization, yet you lacked faith

really, the complaint and grievance systems around the anglosphere are set up to encourage and protect male complainants... it's just that the millions of other (non-superintelligent) guys are too cowardly, weak, and whiny to ramrod-thru their harrassment complaints in the male-supportinve EEOC etc

again, you were right: indeed, here is all the evidence one could want, doubtless a major trend in western cultures

well done. again.

Daniel said...

Jim'll Fix It!

Desert Cat said...

Anonymous seems to have a helluva case of Tourette's there...

Vidad said...

@Desert Cat

10-1 odds "Anonymous" is actually the Time Cube guy.

Doom said...

You know, I have been thinking about your black knight thing. The truth is, I do believe alphas natively use crowd and individual control through this method. If a guy has a woman giving him a problem, at work, on the streets, in his favorite haunts, he doesn't turn to other men. In an office setting though? Maybe, maybe not, but it does offer an option due to legal concerns and for those weak in the mojo. The thing is, if he is prized by women, just hinting that one of the hens is a problem, or offering slight digs against her for real or manufactured reasons, leads to... terrible scenes. If it is just one or two women turned, not so much, but when they mob, it gets vicious. Loverly. Wash hands, rinse, and repeat. It does work.

You might have a point. It's turning typical office men into black-knight artists that is probably the trick. Well, and there are limits due to quotas. But once a guy has a pack of hens at his back, lots of problems just go away. If a few might be created, but that's another story.

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