Feed The Monkey

[Gromit]

Nasa decided they’d finally send a man up in a capsule after sending only monkeys in the earlier missions.

So the next flught they fire a man and a monkey into space. The intercom crackles, 'Monkey, fire the retros’. A little later, 'Monkey, check the solid fuel supply’. Later still, 'Monkey, check the life support systems for the man’.

The astronaut, feeling peeved, radios Nasa, 'When do I get to do something?’
Nasa replies, 'You're just there to feed the monkey’.”

__________

Fifty years later, the old NASA joke has come back to haunt Roy Hodgeson, the England Football Manager. When asked during half time on Tuesday by the defender Chris Smalling, what his job was, apparently, Hodgeson replied "Feed the Space Monkey" , referring to Andros Townsend, a black player.

Was that:
a) A good joke?
b) Racist?

[aelmpvw]

roy hodgson picks a team with at least four black players in it, how on earth can he be considered to be a racist?

[ludwig]

It's obviously not racist once you understand where the phrase comes from.

I believe Hodgson's apologised for saying it, but he shouldn't have had to really.

[Peter Pedant]

.

I had to sort out a spat where an Asian had said to an Anglo (rugby player):
" why dont you go and swing in a tree ? you great white monkey - isnt it "

[FredPuli43]

It would have been a good image whether the players were black or white; the reference is to one man's job being only to feed the one who does the important job. Of course, it is not racist. Reginald D Hunter, a black comedian, has often observed that there is such a paranoia among 'white folks' about appearing racist that he gets white people coming up to him and asking "If I say/do this, is it racist?" . He began to wonder if he was racist,by their confused standards, since bumping into another black man in the dark of a cinema he said "I didn't see you!"

[woofgang]

We have talked before about the need to learn and know history and this is a case in point. Those of us who know about the space program and the joke understand that the intent was not racist, those who don't, don't!

[bazwillrun]

great song Media URL: http://youtu.be/sY8LWPyOMpU?t=19s
Description:

[jim360]

Even if we take the awful definition from the MacPherson Enquiry (?) of a racist comment being any comment perceived as racist by whoever it was aimed at, this wasn't racist. A shame that Hodgson has felt obliged to apologise for what was a light-hearted comment apparently taken as such.

[Wharton]

Did England win? I didn't notice anything in the news.

[bazwillrun]

"Kick It Out call for an investigation into Hodgson's comments - "

shows how little this bunch of self-serving petty bureuacratic nobodys has got to do .

so...Monkey, another word thats hijacked by the loonie left to be missused and distorted...theres just no stopping these people

[Zeuhl]

NEWSFLASH
for the easily offended from a Mr Charles Darwin of Kent

All human beings are monkeys
It's not in itself a bad thing

[Hypognosis]

NEWSFLASH (for Zuehl)

Monkeys have tails

Apes have no tail

Darwin knew this. His critics didn't see the distinction and insited on misquoting him and repeatedly used the word 'monkey'.

[Zeuhl]

Indeed Hypno

You are absolutely correct

Although 'monkey' is a term commonly (if incorrectly) applied to apes particularly in the USA

For instance,the NASA 'monkey' in the joke is almost certainly not a monkey but a chimpanzee, which were sent into space by the Americans

The point is that monkeys, apes and hominids are all primate groups within the suborder of anthropoids.

So we are all closely related. And if any objective, off-planet observer were to compare us they would probably find the similarities and distinctions between species so prominent that any notion that one race of the hominids was closer to monkeys than another laughable.

[Hypognosis]

If I remember rightly, we all still contain the genetic material which codes for a tail but they are 'switched off' by suppressor proteins. Any apocryphal tales you may encounter of humans who have a tail involve a malfunction in the supressor genes not a miraculous re-evolution of a tail.

[Zeuhl]

^
/apocryphal tales/ lol Hypno

didn't they just die out in Victorian times?

hence the fashion for Tail Coats

[jno]

wasn't a fan under investigation for making monkey noises at a Man U player last year? There's still a football-racist use of monkey as well as Darwin's (notional) use of it; and as long as that's the case, incidents like this need investigation. I've no doubt the right conclusion was reached, but I have no problems with Kick It Out raising the issue.

[Hypognosis]

Nah, I was thinking of photoshopped X-Files type things which you might find floating around the interwebs. You can guarantee people will click on it if there's any hint of it being to do with 'duelling banjos' country because that feeds right into peoples' prejudices. ;-)

[Zeuhl]

I hope Roy Hodgson was careful when he handed out bananas at half time..


Seriously, you're probably right jno
Better to quickly confirm that it was harmless - and be aware that sometimes it might not be

[jno]

it was all done and dusted quickly, Zeuhl, and I think that's all as it should be.