Once again the BBC send an vapid ignoramus to investigate quite complex sociopolitical issues. Its easy to dig up the worst in any society as in this documentary, but you can find far right movements in Britain, and Nigeria or Jamaica, which are just as bad, or far worse. There are nine states in the USA which have very similar anti-gay laws as Russia.
This smacks of jumping on the bandwagon of Russophobia, rather than actually looking into Russian politics, much better to feed the small minded with predictable neo-cold war tropes. The whole thing was completely devalued when he described the small group of homophobic extremists as 'average Russians'.
I think the Yates is a monumental hypocrite, having made a career based on his willingness to appear on any and every reality show in Britain, and coming from a culture which is just as homophobic, he should investigate Jamaica before pointing his ill educated finger at others.
He went to the rally & the knife training meeting and it took him ages to clock on to what was actually going on. The group he was with seemed dangerous but also seemed like a parody of themselves, watching their leader give a demonstration was cringe worthy and it would be interesting to know how relevant they actually are in Russia, since he came across as a sort of racist David Brent.
I think it highlighted the dangers of nationalism anywhere, including this country, if you start creating division within society it doesn't end well.
The spotlight is just on Russia right now because of their role in Ukraine. I don't see documentaries of someone examining the inherent racism/classism in Chinese society, or the damaging effects of the caste system in India, or the resurgence of Neo-Nazi groups in some Eastern European countries. Those would all be easy targets as well, so why don't we talk about them? Because those guys aren't on our radar right now like Russia is.
Just remember that as well when you think about this. It all fits into a much bigger narrative, there is context there and that can give clarity.
