How did normal get so weird?

Beyond Today

BBC

News

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 1 February 2019

⏱️ 21 minutes

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Summary

In the past few years what we think of as normal has changed completely. Ideas and personalities once considered fringe have become mainstream and extreme attitudes seem more acceptable. So who defines the new normal and what will the consequences be? We speak to Peter Pomerantsev from the London School of Economics, who has made a documentary for Radio 4 on the subject. He’s also the author of "Nothing is True and Everything is Possible". He tells us why politicians and the media need to change and why Russia was ahead of the game. Producer: Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:05.8	Hello, I'm Tina Dehealey.
0:07.2	You're listening to Beyond Today on BBC Radio 4,
0:10.3	where we ask one big question about one big story every day.
0:14.0	Today, how did normal?
0:22.0	Today, how did normal get so weird?
0:27.0	Nothing really seems normal.
0:32.0	Nothing really seems normal anymore does it. Nobody seems to know if or when Brexit's
0:39.4	going to happen. Political parties are being pulled apart or pushed to the fringes and extreme and
0:44.0	extreme attitudes seem more acceptable.
0:48.0	Take Donald Trump, who was written off as a candidate
0:51.0	because of his conspiracy theories and his offensive remarks about
0:55.0	women, Mexicans, immigrants, the list goes on. Well, not anymore. Plus there's Jeremy Corbyn,
1:00.9	once considered a fringe figure because he rebelled against his own
1:04.3	party so often but now he's the leader of the opposition. How did all this weirdness become
1:10.5	so normal? The best person to speak to about this, Peter Pomeranseth, who is an
1:16.2	author and visiting fellow at the London School of Economics. A program he made for Radio
1:21.9	4 this week had us all talking in the Beyond Today office.
1:25.0	So we decided to get him in for a fascinating chat this morning and he fully stretched my brain,
1:31.0	so much so that I can't stop thinking about what he told me.
1:34.6	I feel a little bit lost. I don't know about your listeners but when I turn on the
1:39.2	telly I see sort of stories about you know-wing movements which I thought were completely abnormal
	...

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