Friday 8 June 2007

Who you calling a Nigger?


The subject tag of this blog is taken from the Channel 4 website from the 'black and Asian history' map.... an article by writer Maurice McCleod that in its own words: ''. presents a worrying picture of inter-racial relations in today's Britain. He is referring to a documentary aired by the channel in 2004 of the same title.

If Channel 4 is so offended by this word and not just sucking off the advertisers, should they not have the sordid word seared off like an unwanted tattoo from every far-flung remote corner of its company, even dusky holes in its cyber-cupboards? On that same page there is another article by Satinder Chohan (a Skikh writer) entitled: 'Whitey Blightey'... which if read over sensitively by a susceptible white person could be taken up the wrong way to imply that white people are a blight on modern day Britain. Now of course, that's quite petty as 'Blightey' is slang for England, but as a thick honky bitch, I may not have known that...you can see how easy it is to get carried away with language.

When I lived in Britain for 7 years in the late 1980s to mid 1990s... I was several times called an "Irish bastard" (once by my boss in an insurance company for getting a task wrong but from others usually following IRA bombs and so on. The inference being that even though I was 18 and left Ireland because there was fuck all jobs, I was personally responsible for any acts of terrorism my countrymen lauded on English soil). There were all the usual jokes about Irish people being "thick" and I was lovingly called a leprechaun occasionally too, because I'm 5ft nothing. The British stereo-type of what it meant to be Irish had lingered around for so long like bad farts, that it never even occurred to me that it could be offensive.

Elsewhere on the Channel 4 website, an article by Mandy Richards entitled: Why Nigger will never be the new Black! states that 'the flagrant use of the N-word in public by both black and white people is a growing trend led mostly by young Black entertainers, Black comics use the term extensively, and references to 'nigga' and 'niggaz' permeate many rap songs.' She is responding to said same aired documentary about the controversy surrounding the 'N word', citing examples like Shazia Mirza, a British Muslim stand up artist, who uses the word 'Paki' in her act, in an attempt to strip the word of its pejorative power. Owning words by falling under their umbrella, in other words, in the same way as lesbians have patented the word 'dyke' and gay men have sabotaged 'queer'. So herein lays the golden rule. If you're not in the sub-category, you ain't got permission to use the word, and the entire concept of freedom of speech is resigned to the gully of pre-PC times.

Another good example of this is when Ali G comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's Channel 4 show, 'Borat's Television Programme', was investigated by TV watchdogs following complaints about a sketch featuring an anti-Semitic song titled 'Throw the Jew down the well'... Channel 4 quite comfortably responded by saying: "Sacha Baron Cohen's humour is ironic and actually highlights bigotry and ignorance. The irony being that Baron is himself a Jew." So be warned, if you don't fall under the umbrella, you'll get very very wet. You could find yourself up against a Big Brother-type management team that will intervene and take appropriate action if you behave in a way that it considers is unacceptable. Unacceptable behaviour includes: behaving in a way that could cause serious offence, which could mean just about anything if you want to take offence... It's all very controversial and confusing, isn't it?

The thing that I loved about living in Britain back then was that so much of the 'race stuff' was under the radar, it wasn't debated to death, and thereby triggering a type of electrified self consciousness. Despite various problems (and there were always problems) multi-cultural Britain worked because it had no choice but to, and after a while even a honky blow-in like me didn't think about 'different races' anymore. But all this PC segregation and leftie rules leaves me in a bit of a pickle. What do I do next-time a bearded fundamentalist refers to me and all my ilk as 'Kafir', a derogatory word originally used very like the origin of 'nigger' to describe those enslaved and sold by their [Muslim] captors.... its modern day meaning is 'infidel' which is basically attributed to non-believers, i.e., anyone who isn't Muslim... all other religions, the West, etc.. What are my chances making a complaint to the Commission for Racial Equality and hoping for a mutually satisfying outcome?

I am full of all kinds of inventive ideas now that could be scooped out of the TV world and used to my benefit. I may even write to Channel 4 and say that I find Father Ted extremely offensive as it depicts my race as being nut job alcoholics with zero intelligence and I am getting increasingly upset at all these 'Oirish' conjectures.

Posh Emily Parr fucked up by using the devisive 'N' word as it's now known. However, she was in no way in the same category as the monstrous Jade Goody that we used to know and no longer love... when she bullied the life out of Shilpa on celebrity BB a few months ago. She did blurt it out in a bizarre manner, I have to admit, but Charley milked the opportunity, citing immediately in her media-savvy way what it would mean to the outside world, while admitting that she wasn't taking offence from it. She then proceeded to clandestinely discuss it with the entire house and the Chinese whispers started racing. And by the way, Charley also used the word 'Nigger' in the house, so why wasn't she booted out if the word is stand-alone-offensive as Channel 4 claims? I would argue that Channel 4 whisking Emiliy out of the house, without warning, in the middle of the night, was more traumatic than brazen chain-smoker Charley taking the N-word on the chin. The Galloway-clad debate that followed was also obnoxious with lots of sociology-type people ranting about slavery, etc. The station was obviously too afraid of being told off again by Endemol & Offcom and whoever.. beacuse at the end of the day that could result in loss of revenue, the biggest most dirtiest sin of all.

If we want to blame any subdued forces, why not put it at rap's door. Emily is a big fan and maintains that her and her black mates use the N-word in a musical context all the time. Channel 4 itself showcased plenty of said-same rappers on its "cool" late-nite music shows. Likewise, they've aired many films (Pulp Fiction, To Kill a Mocking Bird, etc.) that use the word extensively. So don't forget to ring up and complain. In fact, the only person on the planet who can say absolutely anything unhindered is Michael Jackson, ex-black man but currently-white and for a decade or two, a colour in-between; if he was in the Big Brother House right now, he could've called Charley a 'nigger' and Nicki a 'Paki' and Laura a 'honky' and no-one would've been able to say or do jack-shit. Now, where did I put my umbrella or did Chancer Charley steal it on me when I wasn't looking?

No comments: