Thatcher's golliwog comment...

[spacechimp]

Why is everyone condemning her as racist, when nobody knows which player she was talking about and therefore whether the player does in fact bear resemblance to a golliwog?

[Gormless]

No it isn't. I can't stand people living in the Britain and the West constantly trying to stab it in the back.

[Gormless]

Unless of course you are black and gay, which gives you special privileges. And rightfully!

[sp1814]

Could you define 'stab it in the back'. Do you mean 'disagree with the concensus', or 'have a different opinion'.

What you refer to as treason sounds very close to something Senator John McCarthy would call treason.

[Supernick]

Every time something like this comes up I just feel so deeply frustrated with the world. Why on earth is it so hard to just never use racist terminology that will offend anyone? Your rights are NOT being eroded, you're just being asked to have common decency for you fellow man and not say things that are going to make them upset, offended or angry.

[welshanswer]

I'd say the player is probably Gael Monfils from France...

Just google image him, whe he has spikey hair there is a rough resemblance...

[spacechimp]

Rights patently are being eroded. If she in all honesty thought that this player looked like a golliwog, then I see no reason why she shouldn't be able to make that observation? She didn't say that he looked like a n*gger. She didn't say "black people bear an uncanny resemblance to golliwogs."

If this tennis player looks like a golliwog, why should he spend his whole life deprived of knowing it, just because people have become so hysterical about racism that they are incapable of distinguishing between an honest, good-natured observation and some heinous, racist insult, worthy of such a backlash?

[spacechimp]

*-?

[Supernick]

Spacechimp - Have you really got that little idea about how to speak to people with a basic amount of respect? Lets take the race angle out of this for a second. If I see a very fat person on the street, should I point and shout fatty at them? I'm only commenting on what's true? No, I'd be a tactless tw*t.
Golliwog is known to any person with even the most basic levels of empathy and education to be offensive, and if anyone said it to me (I'm white), I'd be horrified and in no uncertain terms tell them.
What are you gaining from fighting to be able to say it?

[welshanswer]

I think the issue is what the term Golliwog has come to represent - it has a racial connotation attached to it and, as such, it is better avoided when being used to describe someone. While in the individual instance it might not be meant as a racist comment, its a pretty daft term to use to describe a black man.

[Gormless]

I would guess that somebody is trying to think of a way to make loads of money out of this.

[CJ242]

Could she have meant jo wilfried tsonga? (Only caus I know he lost on Wednesday)

[spacechimp]

She wasn't speaking to him though, was she? She mentioned in a private conversation that he looked like a golliwog. (I don't know if he does, because I don't know who he is).

Perhaps it was a rude thing to say, but it's hardly worthy of this response. You think that every time a public figure makes a potentially insulting joke about somebody, they should be threatened with losing their jobs? I'd be horrified if anyone compared me to Stalin, but nobody batted an eyelid when Lord Turnbull was comparing Gordon Brown to him. Of course, the difference between what Carol Thatcher said, and what Lord Turnbull said, was that Turnbull said it in a quite public manner, with obvious malicious intent.

[Gormless]

I think it is amazingly interesting when unknown people get called golliwogs. Notwithstanding, I still think that huge financial damages should be paid to black people, just in case of course.

[Supernick]

It doesn't sound like it was too private. The BBC is reporting that people in the green room were upset by her comments and complained. The appearence at this stage is that she said it at work, in public.

[sp1814]

Why Gormless?

[spacechimp]

All right, Supernick, she said it privately in front of 2 people at her workplace. She hardly ran across the street to him shouting "golly! golly! golly!" as you suggested.

[craft1948]

well here's Jo-Wilfried

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo-Wilfried_Tsong a

[Richard1966]

Go Supernick.

The fact that she said this at all indicates a deep lack of understanding.

The fact that superchimp refuses to see this indicates a deep lack of understanding.

The fact that some posters think its treason to hold an opinion against the conservative government of the 1980 is just sad.

[sp1814]

You know the odd thing about this - why don't black celebs get caught out using dodgy language about whites???

I mean, there was Prince Charles and 'Sootygate', his son with the whole 'p@ki' thing, Ron Atkinson calling a player a lazy n!gger...and now Ms Thatcher.

I'm sure this isn't what white people are like generally, so why do celebs keep getting caught?

Can anyone think of a Brit black celeb who has been caught out in 'a private conversation'?

[Supernick]

Sounds reasonable to me. If I made a golliwog joke at work in front of people and they were offended by it, I'd expect to be disciplined. If I was more of a guest presenter like her, then I would expect to be asked not to come back.