ON MIC
In the British Legion Club, in the upstairs room, we are talking about what to wear for the demonstration.
And one man wonât shut up.
One man is saying, that the Pakistanis are cowards. They know the tide is turning, and it is now possible for a white to argue that they, the white, have been the victim of a racial attack. And this now protects white people because the Pakistanis, the Asians, are cowards, and for you and me, no matter how much they hate us, they are not prepared to do ten years in prison.
And the guy in charge says gently, wearily. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks John. Thanks. We know this. And everyone in the room understands, and they give the guy in charge the authority to do that, even though he doesnât, honestly, naturally possess it. There has to be at least an agreement on this though â that someone is in charge. If weâre all to believe that we are here for something.
Thanks John. Thanks.
Thanks.
We are very polite here. We do not use racial language. Because we are not racists.
Now whatâs the best thing to wear for the demonstration at the immigration building?
And John opens his mouth â
Thanks John. Thanks.
But John wants to be heard.
I always wear my badge on public transport. Iâm not ashamed of who I am.
I know, John, but I was thinking, warm clothes. Itâs going to be October. Keep your T-shirts under your clothes till you get there. If thereâs any trouble it will happen before we get there. If the leftists attack us they will do it when weâre isolated. So if youâre travelling alone, please take care not to identify yourself. And there is not a coach. Croydonâs not far enough to justify the expense of a coach so if you donât want to travel alone thereâll be a group of us going on the train from Victoria.
And if we all stand together, they will see us.
What we are looking for is hearts and minds. There is a silent majority. Yes John, they are silent. But we know theyâre out there. They will be speeding past in their cars. We only have that short time. For our dignity to make an impression.
OFF MIC
And John â John does wear his badge on public transport. I know this because later, we are going the same way, and I take the train home with him. And John says, several times, how unashamed he is to wear his badge on public transport. He says this in the middle of a lot of other things about the beneficial health effects of Irish dancing and how he loves debating politics with a lesbian barmaid he knows â not one of the evil lesbians that runs the BBC, but one of the rare ones who is tolerant of political views other than her own. And he says all this as the carriage heads west back into London and fills up with faces that the badge clearly says shouldnât be in this country. And I become genuinely worried. Embarrassed and worried. Because John is quite obviously not a well man. But I realise that the badge is small, and after all a lot of the people on this train will not be able to understand John because he talks so fast and his accent is so strong that I struggle. And I am sitting right next to him. And I have been listening to him all fucking afternoon. And to be honest a lot of the people on this train, their first language probably isnât English, and so Johnâs accent, and the smallness of the badge, and what I assume to be their lesser awareness of the aims of his organisation are maybe shields keeping him safe and us from any awkward confrontations.
I get off the train slightly before I have to, though, even though itâs more inconvenient. Even though it means an extra change of line. Because I just canât stand the embarrassment and the sheer fucking effort of being near John for much longer.
And thatâs when I decided that as research for this show, I needed to speak to someone one on one. Who, like me, didnât feel they needed to be a member of anything. So it really wasnât worth going to BNP meetings any more.
âŚâŚâŚâŚâŚâŚâŚ
Weâre going to do a little bit of science now.
Donât worry â itâs the only bit of science youâll be asked to do in this show. And itâs very simple.
If there are any scientists in the room, itâs actually psychology.
If there are any psychologists here, I firmly believe that psychology is a science, so. You know. Anyone who laughed at what I just said â you can take it up with them later.
But if you are familiar with this experiment, keep quiet. Donât blow it for everyone else.
Iâm gonna put three numbers down on the floor. You lot over there will have to imagine them the other way up. Thatâs fine. You look like you can handle that.
2.
4.
And 6.
There is a rule that governs this set of three numbers â that explains why these numbers are in the order they are. All I want you to do is, I want you to think of what that rule might be. In your head â because our heads are the only tool weâve got to work with.
Have you all got one?
Now I want you to come up with another set of three numbers that you could use to test that rule youâve just come up with.
Would anyone be willing to share their set of three numbers? Just the set of three numbers you would use to test your rule.
CHRIS takes three sets of numbers from three audience members â if a set of numbers also fits the rule CHRIS has in his head, he gives the audience member a sweet. The rule CHRIS is using would permit ANY set of three ascending numbers. (If an audience memberâs numbers donât fit the rule they donât get a sweet â âBecause it would devalue the sweets Iâve just given to the other one/two of youâ).
Fantastic. Congratulations! All your numbers fit my rule. (OR Your numbers fit my rule â and yours didnât â but hang on to them â it doesnât mean youâve failed a test or anything.)
My rule was really simple â just any set of ascending numbers. And you can see how your numbers would have fitted into that. But that is actually NOT the point of the experiment. The point of the experiment is much more interesting.
Just out of curiosity â May I ask what your rules were?
The audience members give their rules â generally they will have used numbers that fit the rules they have come up with. If one or more hasnât, they can be pointed out in the next section as a rarity â people who havenât acted according to their unconscious confirmation bias.
You three, and probably most of us in this room, your brains are working perfectly. What you have all done, is exactly what we have all evolved to do.
What you did â and what I did when I first came across this experiment â is choose numbers designed to confirm the rule that you came up with â the view you already hold. So if your rule was ascending even numbers, for example, then you put in three ascending even numbers.
This experimentâs been run since the 60s, itâs a classic psychology experiment â and only a tiny minority of people ever do something different â ever choose three numbers that are designed to challenge the rule theyâve come up with. Ever try to prove themselves wrong. Which, if you think about it, would be the more useful thing to do.
If someone HAS challenged their own rule with the numbers they chose â point out that they are part of that tiny minority.
We have evolved to be beings that see in the world evidence that supports the poi...