Big Bother
Everyone else is talking about the 'racism' in Big Brother so I thought I'd be boring and join in.
I would like to say a big well done to Channel 4 for sinking to all new lows in television by creating this storm in a teacup in the first place.
If you stick a bunch of people in a house filled with cameras and microphones and record everything they say 24/7 then you can portray any kind of story you like in a 30 minute edit.
A few years back there was a contestant called Adele that they made out to be two-faced because she said nasty things about people behind their backs. But she always maintained that she said nice things just as often.
The ingredients here are the same - bitchy young women in a competitive environment. Of the comments I've heard, nothing suggests racism. Just bitchiness and stupidity. Yes especially stupidity.
At around about the same time that this is all going on Herschelle Gibbs is given a two match ban for shouting out racial abuse to Pakistan fans.
Is it racial abuse rather than just plain abuse because:
a) He's a white South African
b) They're from Pakistan
c) There is a hidden meaning behind the 'go back to the zoo' comment.
His comments should be taken at face value. He called them a bunch of animals and told them to go back to the zoo. That's where animals live, the zoo. The conduct of the Pakistan crowd at the time was appropriate for the comment:
There was an incident where Makhaya [Ntini] was hit on the head by a Pakistan
flag going up the stairs.
Ntini is black so surely that attack must be racist?
It is wrong to abuse the crowd regardless of what they've done but don't trump up the offense just because they happen to be from a different ethnic background.
Back to Big Brother, I had actually been watching a bit of it on Sunday as I was curious as to how Dirk Benedict would be like in 'real life' but now that this has happened I intend to boycott it. Simply because I see this as a ratings ploy and nothing more and I for one don't intend to fall for it.
As for those involved, the ones making the comments have effectively committed career suicide and Shilpa Shetty will hopefully manage to capitalise out of it all when she gets out. She almost certainly isn't even aware that this is going on.
Anyway, lets stop talking about shit TV and get onto important matters such as 300 years of the UK. I for one am a fan of devolution so when is England going to get it's own parliament? Put it in Birmingham.
posted by Phill @ 5:44 pm
4 comments
4 Comments:
Well I've got to agree with you there phill.
I hate Big brother and all the others progs where celebrities are involved.
However when I put the news on this morning bfore going to work, they were showing Jade and the other girls having a go at Shilpa Shetty.
You were right not one of them mentioned her colour, or anything to do with it.
Then there was a bloke in the studio condeming the girls for what they said. He was saying it was racist.
No it wasn't !
If you say something thats considered bad about an non white person it isn't always because of their colour. It is simply because you don't understand their ways. We all live differently.
Exactly.
I'm not saying they don't have some small minded views - the hand washing comment is possibly the most obvious example.
But unless we're now living in the era of the thought police, you should actually have to do something before you're classed as a racist.
Their attacks aren't racially motivated, they're motivated by the fact that they don't like her.
That doesn't mean she isn't being bullied though - from what I gather she is getting picked on by them.
She was getting picked on as I have to watch the bloody show because of the wife.
However I don't think it was racist.
The main thing that has irked me about the way the media has jumped on this is that no mention has been made of Jermaine Jacksons comments.
He was talking to Shilpa about Jade and her mum and he said they are "White Trash!"
Now I would agree with that comment in respect of Jade's mum. She is white and I think she is trash, being that she is a former prostitute and thief.
Is the comment racist?
If it had been directed towards Mr Jackson and he had been called "Black Trash" would that have been racist?
Food for thought. Top Blog.
Hands up who's started a conversation with someone they know very well, with the words:
"I'm not a racist but..." ?
My wife and I do it to each other all the time, we both know the other is not a racist but we say it anyway because we've become defensive in this ultra-pc society.
I agree with you about the "white trash" comments. In American films it seems perfectly acceptable for a black character to make derogatory remarks about a white character ('White Men Can't Jump' is a pretty good example). As you say, would it be acceptable if the reverse was done?
Just to topically round off the whole racism debacle can I for one extend my warmest congratulations to Ron Atkinson for getting a job back in football 3 years after his accidental outburst.
He said some very harsh (and racially offensive) words about Marcel Desailly but he isn't a racist.
He was a champion of black footballers in the 1980s when they were a minority in the game. But that didn't stop the PC brigade from sticking the knife in.
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