TV3 mins ago
Telling tales.
34 Answers
Regarding the Carol Thatcher incident.
In Nazi Germany, children were encouraged to inform on their parents, neighbours were encouraged to inform on their neighbours and work colleagues on colleagues and so on.
Do we really want to get into a situation where every remark in private can have huge consequences. The clue is in the word private. We are all entitled to free speech in this country and whilst people should avoid offending others to whom they are talking, It is another step to be offended on behalf of others. That is also extremely patronising.
If every 'offensive' term uttered during a private conversation resulted in dismissal there would be nobody left in my workplace. The same is probablty true of many other workplaces.
This is a very worrying development.
In Nazi Germany, children were encouraged to inform on their parents, neighbours were encouraged to inform on their neighbours and work colleagues on colleagues and so on.
Do we really want to get into a situation where every remark in private can have huge consequences. The clue is in the word private. We are all entitled to free speech in this country and whilst people should avoid offending others to whom they are talking, It is another step to be offended on behalf of others. That is also extremely patronising.
If every 'offensive' term uttered during a private conversation resulted in dismissal there would be nobody left in my workplace. The same is probablty true of many other workplaces.
This is a very worrying development.
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who she should have apologised to - to Jo Brand for offending her delicate ears?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWUV53Ngdr8
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWUV53Ngdr8
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Pause for thought!!!!!!!!!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-113601 8/Lest-forget-The-obscenities-BBC-stars-WERENT -sacked.html
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Now the Queen has aplogised, this has got to be a first, shouldn't she have apologised, for her atrocious Goverment first?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-113593 1/Race-doll-row-hits-royals-Queen-say-sorry-go lliwogs-sale-Sandringham.html
Made in China eh? this could cause an international crisis.
Spotted in one of the photographs, isn't that a grotesque stereotyping of what Morecambe & Wise looked like, on Jo Brand's T-shirt?
In the memory of those two fine comedians, I am deeply offended
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-113601 8/Lest-forget-The-obscenities-BBC-stars-WERENT -sacked.html
=========================================
Now the Queen has aplogised, this has got to be a first, shouldn't she have apologised, for her atrocious Goverment first?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-113593 1/Race-doll-row-hits-royals-Queen-say-sorry-go lliwogs-sale-Sandringham.html
Made in China eh? this could cause an international crisis.
Spotted in one of the photographs, isn't that a grotesque stereotyping of what Morecambe & Wise looked like, on Jo Brand's T-shirt?
In the memory of those two fine comedians, I am deeply offended
Carol Thatcher is her mother's daughter.
I doubt she would know how to keep her braying voice quiet enough not to be heard within a hundred yard radius.
Coupled with that, she feels that her Tory-speak 'jokey' attitude is perfectly OK, and anyone who takes offence is simply a horrid little oik.
The fact of the BBC's reaction revolves not around her remark, tactless and unpleasant as it was, but her refusal to adfmit that she c annot simply run off at the mouth with impunity and not expect consequences from others around her.
As i say, she is her mother's daughter.
I doubt she would know how to keep her braying voice quiet enough not to be heard within a hundred yard radius.
Coupled with that, she feels that her Tory-speak 'jokey' attitude is perfectly OK, and anyone who takes offence is simply a horrid little oik.
The fact of the BBC's reaction revolves not around her remark, tactless and unpleasant as it was, but her refusal to adfmit that she c annot simply run off at the mouth with impunity and not expect consequences from others around her.
As i say, she is her mother's daughter.
AOG
You have to be kidding!
Do you really think that Ms Thatcher would've dared say that in front of a black person?
No, it's because she knows it would be considered offensive.
Surely you can see that she thought she could get away with it because she was amongst 'like-minded people'.
How stupid can you be???
What kind of person in 2009 still refer to black people as g******gs?
AOG. Do you know anyone who does?
I don't.
Does any one else?
What about c00ns? Would that be acceptable?
The more I think about it, the weirder it seems.
You have to be kidding!
Do you really think that Ms Thatcher would've dared say that in front of a black person?
No, it's because she knows it would be considered offensive.
Surely you can see that she thought she could get away with it because she was amongst 'like-minded people'.
How stupid can you be???
What kind of person in 2009 still refer to black people as g******gs?
AOG. Do you know anyone who does?
I don't.
Does any one else?
What about c00ns? Would that be acceptable?
The more I think about it, the weirder it seems.
AOG
If you were having drinks with a group of people and someone said, "Good luck to Nadal, at least he knocked the g*******g out of the finals", what would go through your head.
I'm genuinely interested.
And why do you think it was some 'lefty' who complained? Are you trying to say that conservatives are 'like-minded'?
I think that's a pretty broad brush with which to paint millions of middle-of-the-road, Liberal and Conservative voters.
If you were having drinks with a group of people and someone said, "Good luck to Nadal, at least he knocked the g*******g out of the finals", what would go through your head.
I'm genuinely interested.
And why do you think it was some 'lefty' who complained? Are you trying to say that conservatives are 'like-minded'?
I think that's a pretty broad brush with which to paint millions of middle-of-the-road, Liberal and Conservative voters.
To answer you sp, She did not refer to black people as g******gs?
She just made a comparison between a certain black tennis player and a golly.
Having seen his photograph I have to agree there is a likeness.
How many times in your life have you not made similar comparisons?
How many times have you seen a blonde white woman and remarked, she looks like a 'Barbie' doll? That fat guy over there looks like 'Oliver Hardy'? that guy is rat faced? I have no need to go on, I am sure you can add even more examples.
We cannot help what colour skin we are born with, but black, white, pink or blue, we have got to go through life expecting similar comparisons by others because of the colour of our skin, the way we dress, the way we walk or any other characteristics we may hold.
She just made a comparison between a certain black tennis player and a golly.
Having seen his photograph I have to agree there is a likeness.
How many times in your life have you not made similar comparisons?
How many times have you seen a blonde white woman and remarked, she looks like a 'Barbie' doll? That fat guy over there looks like 'Oliver Hardy'? that guy is rat faced? I have no need to go on, I am sure you can add even more examples.
We cannot help what colour skin we are born with, but black, white, pink or blue, we have got to go through life expecting similar comparisons by others because of the colour of our skin, the way we dress, the way we walk or any other characteristics we may hold.
AOG
According to the Daily Mail, she said, "At lead <Nadal> knocked the g*******g out".
The name being bandied about yesterday, and mentioned in the Mail was Jo-Wilfried Tsonga:
http://blogs.abc.net.au/photos/tennis_australi an_open/tsonga.jpg
I would say more Mohammed Ali than g*******g.
However, it's besides the point. You have to be thunderously naive to think that you can compare a black person to a g*******g and have no-one say anything. It's no better than the football fans who used to throw bananas on the pitch and make monkey noises.
How many times have you seen a blonde white woman and remarked, she looks like a 'Barbie' doll?
ANSWER: Never
That fat guy over there looks like 'Oliver Hardy'?
Never
That guy is rat faced?
Once - when referring to an auditioner on The X Factor.
However, surely you can see the cultural associations that g*******gs have???
I mean say if I were to refer to a colleague thus, "Oh have you seen what that Barbie on the fourth floor is wearing today" and she got to hear of it, she would be perfectly in her rights to feel offended.
Therefore, I self-censor. I self-censor in the same way that I don't use the same language in front of my mother that I do down the pub with my mates.
Everyone self-censors. It's those who choose not to who earn the criticism of others.
According to the Daily Mail, she said, "At lead <Nadal> knocked the g*******g out".
The name being bandied about yesterday, and mentioned in the Mail was Jo-Wilfried Tsonga:
http://blogs.abc.net.au/photos/tennis_australi an_open/tsonga.jpg
I would say more Mohammed Ali than g*******g.
However, it's besides the point. You have to be thunderously naive to think that you can compare a black person to a g*******g and have no-one say anything. It's no better than the football fans who used to throw bananas on the pitch and make monkey noises.
How many times have you seen a blonde white woman and remarked, she looks like a 'Barbie' doll?
ANSWER: Never
That fat guy over there looks like 'Oliver Hardy'?
Never
That guy is rat faced?
Once - when referring to an auditioner on The X Factor.
However, surely you can see the cultural associations that g*******gs have???
I mean say if I were to refer to a colleague thus, "Oh have you seen what that Barbie on the fourth floor is wearing today" and she got to hear of it, she would be perfectly in her rights to feel offended.
Therefore, I self-censor. I self-censor in the same way that I don't use the same language in front of my mother that I do down the pub with my mates.
Everyone self-censors. It's those who choose not to who earn the criticism of others.
The more I think about it, the odder her comment sounds.
You know, I don't even think of it as racist. It's like she's stepped out of a time machine from the late 1850s.
Who on earth would refer to someone as a g*******g?
If she were reporting on poverty in the inner cities, would she refer to poor kids as 'mudlarks' and 'jackanapes'???
Bizarre.
You know, I don't even think of it as racist. It's like she's stepped out of a time machine from the late 1850s.
Who on earth would refer to someone as a g*******g?
If she were reporting on poverty in the inner cities, would she refer to poor kids as 'mudlarks' and 'jackanapes'???
Bizarre.
sp1814
To be honest, I have heard people say a particular woman looks like a Barbie doll, and that a fat man looks like Oliver Hardy (this was a while ago when people knew who Oliver Hardy was). That never seemed really offensive to me. So initially I thought this was all overreaction and that it was legitimate, though tasteless, to say someone looked like a golly.
But apparently the reports were wrong and that wasn't what happened. She specifically called him a g*, as a couple of people here have quoted (though as the sentence comes from the Mail, I'd like to see some corroboration of it). And that's different. It's a clearly offensive term, not an attempt at physical description, and I think the BBC have done the right thing.
There are still points that nobody has made clear, such as how private this conversation was, and who the player was (I did hear another name suggested alongisde Tsongas, but I can't remember who it was.)
To be honest, I have heard people say a particular woman looks like a Barbie doll, and that a fat man looks like Oliver Hardy (this was a while ago when people knew who Oliver Hardy was). That never seemed really offensive to me. So initially I thought this was all overreaction and that it was legitimate, though tasteless, to say someone looked like a golly.
But apparently the reports were wrong and that wasn't what happened. She specifically called him a g*, as a couple of people here have quoted (though as the sentence comes from the Mail, I'd like to see some corroboration of it). And that's different. It's a clearly offensive term, not an attempt at physical description, and I think the BBC have done the right thing.
There are still points that nobody has made clear, such as how private this conversation was, and who the player was (I did hear another name suggested alongisde Tsongas, but I can't remember who it was.)
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