Tuesday, January 16, 2007
the dishevelled danielle
CBB5 Day Twelve
OK, let's just do this bit: Shilpa could probably be a little irritating, if you are easily irritated; she is a tiny bit self absorbed, and has a mildly annoying laugh.
That's it.
Now then, is the behaviour and language directed towards Shilpa to be considered racism? Is it bullying?
Yes. It is.
However, although it doesn't excuse the behaviour, I suspect it is born from ignorance and a desire to 'showboat' in front of equally uninformed, ill-educated and offensive bores, of a world that exists beneath the acceptable veneer of modern society.
I feel ashamed today. That may say more about me, than the repellent behaviour of Danielle and her clumsy S Club cohort, but as a white, 'middle class' male, I feel shame to be part of a culture that has led to this.
Of course, we can say it is just a daft reality TV show, and we would be right. But that doesn't make Danielle and Jo's shallow and crude, cretinous values any more acceptable.
As Danielle is coming out with 'hilarious' one-liners ("Do they eat with their fingers? I don't know where her fingers have been.") CH4 is currently finding it more appropriate to lead its website coverage with a badly written summary of H from Steps getting highlights in his hair.
Meanwhile MPs are asking questions hither and thither; OFCOM are receiving sackfuls of complaints; and BB related websites are chock full of adverse comments, and genuine bewilderment and concern.
Of course, when CBB is over, this imbroglio will be yesterday's news and tomorrow's fish 'n' chip paper, but I cannot escape a feeling of sadness that this (clearly underlying) bigotry and narrow-mindedness is still prevalent in Britain in 2007. I genuinely thought that we had long moved on from believing it is fair game to pick on someone because their skin colour is a little different to our own; their accent is not like ours; and they may have alternative beliefs. It is with cheerlessness that I write that I was wrong to believe that.
"Mentally dishevelled" is Cleo's wonderful description of Danielle. Let's add - uncultured, uneducated and unenlightened while we're about it.
“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than a sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
Martin Luther King.
remotevision@gmail.com
# posted by Terence : 7:48 PM
