Victory for Nosey Parker SIR,—Mrs Whitehouse's revelations of the niggardly
financial support given by MRA to her 'clean-up' movements (SPECTATOR, October 7) surprised me very much. MRA, by all accounts, is not short of funds. Why, then, should it not give more sub- stantial aid to organisations which so echo its ideology? Perhaps Mr Williams's assertion that the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association is 'a front organisation for Moral Re-Armament' is a little dramatic, but Mrs Whitehouse has not ex- plained the points of difference—if any. And as she and her co-founder of the Clean Up TV Cam- paign are ardent MRA supporters—that strange, emotional language ('dirt, doubt and disbelief') of their manifesto. -and"their -rhosen -targets- -help to--
emphasise this—why should they so resent the sug- gestion that MRA is behind them? It certainly is spiritually, if not financially.
Intellectuals—and even the majority of ordinary people who do not lay claim to that title—not only -do not see the necessity for Mrs Whitehouse's pro- posed Viewers' and Listeners' Council, but they fear that the institution of such a quasi-official body with an undoubtedly authoritarian collective view- point would cause the BBC to 'play safe'—a policy which would be disastrous for the development of television.
Our concept of responsibility (as distinct from hers) is the right to exercise it for ourselves and our children, in watching TV as in other aspects of life, and we consider that the existing safeguards are more than adequate. Within this framework we will fight for the free expression of ideas and for the right of the artist in a free society to portray life as he sees it, in whatever medium he works.
Perhaps Mrs Whitehouse will consent to answer the following questions:
1. Is a majority verdict taken when there is dis- agreement within her ranks on a particular pro- gramme? (If there is never disagreement, they must surely operate on very simple, rule-of-thumb lines.) 2. How immune are her 'watchers' from being cor- rupted themselves by what they see and hear on TV? 3. Would Mrs Whitehouse agree that pro- grammes such as Take Your Pick are degrading in their banality, intrinsic worthlessness and appeal to human greed? If so, why does she not protest against them? 4. Why does she attack the BBC so con- stantly and ITV so infrequently?
Previous page
