Big Brother Racism
Normally I wouldn't comment on any issues that I view as inflammatory, and as regular readers will know I've only broken this self-imposed rule a couple of times in the past. I'm worried, though, about the recent turn of events in the Celebrity Big Brother house, where one of the contestants (in case you missed it, or aren't living in the UK or India) was accused of racially abusing another, the Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty.
My reaction to the number of complaints, and the way that some of the comments have been singled out, swings between two extremes, and can settle on neither because I don't think that I have a full understanding of the accused's character. On the one hand, I think the complaints are fully justified. The massive street protests in India (including the od favourite of effigy burning) are another thing, but then that's simply because we wouldn't be doing it that way here, so it's unusual to me - we're just too damn polite to actually stand up for ourselves most of the time. But on the whole, when I hear the comments and see the way Shilpa has been treated, I'm pretty disgusted (though not wholly surprised, a view which has developed over my years in the wider world - more on this below).
The other extreme is concern. That sounds a little mild-mannered to be an 'extreme', but it is. I'm worried that this is going to become another bandwagon, that the issue will be hijacked by those wishing to make a point not central to the issue. The discussion of racism and the underlying current of this social problem is all good and well, and if this situation brings the issue to the forefront and forces us to confront the ignorance and bigotry in this country, then all the better. The problem comes when this issue is used as a stick with which to beat the UK, for other perceived crimes (and real ones). The crime, of course, is the nature of our foreign policy, which is imperialistic and out of line with the general wishes of the public. We have had a chance to fix this, but because it was more comfortable to do so, the majority left Labour in power. Ever since we invaded Afghanistan, and then went after Iraq in the name of freedom (a pen-name for the otherwise anonymous 'Mr Oil Greed'), the UK has been a target of hatred. Believe me the hatred existed before Tony Blair gave extremists an excuse to vent it (and a direction, by aligning ourselves with the beligerently stupid American George W), but since it has become normal to hate the UK and America, and the reasons have become more and more mudied by politics, any excuse to have a go at the British is seized upon.
I don't mean to sound like we should be feeling sorry for ourselves. We have no-one to blame but our own voting public. But I am concerned that this stance seems to have risen to the level of international politics, with India seeking to question the UK about the Shilpa issue. Racism happens every day, in practically every country (with the possible exception of Iceland), and governments don't get involved. India's excuse this time is that the racism is being given an airing, and that the goverment has a responsibility to step in and halt it. This is, in the case of, say, holocaust denial, perfectly reasonable - not every viewpoint deserves a view, because not every viewpoint is based on an intellectual decision. The idea that a citizen of the UK automatically deserves the right to spread hatred under the banner of freedom of speech demeans the very basis of the concept, which is nothing like 'freedom of hatred'. However, in this case, I rather think the comments need to be aired so that the likes of middle England, peaceful in its ignorance of these issues, can be made aware that they exist, and can be disgusted enough to try to make things better. My point here is elucidated by the case of a Shipwrecked (another Channel 4 program) contestant, who was heard to utter racist remarks in the first few days of the show. Channel 4 claims it wants to continue airing the series on the basis that later on this contestant's views change. I agree, therefore, with their decision, because it's worthwhile showing that the ignorant can be educated, that those who hold these views are not entirely beyond hope, and not entirely acting out of malice.
Before I went to university, I never really encountered racism. To me, a comfortably-off, white, middle-class male, it was a historic thing. The N-word was banned quite publicly from the playground when I was a kid, and although the war wasn't quite done, we all knew at some level that the fight had gone out of the fascists. It was a false view of the world, but it was comfortable. I attended a private all-boys school for my secondary level education, and it was a fairly well-mixed place culturally (even including kids from across the financial spectrum due to a thorough scholarship scheme). I wouldn't say it was a perfect mix, because we didn't have stupid people there, but the racial mix was pretty healthy. I left this environment firmly believing that racism was dead as a concept, because there really wasn't any at school. Yes, there were cultural divides, but that's just tribality - skin colour didn't matter. But when I left that little bubble and experienced the outside world for the first time, I was shocked to discover that it's full of bigotry and racism. It still disturbs me now.
I'm not entirely sure what my point is here. I think I wanted to say that I'm still unsure whether the way in which this issue has been dealt with really is right. Jade is ignorant, as is this girl on Shipwrecked, and they're not alone. Social education is the only cure, and ignoring the issue by shutting down Big Brother isn't going to help.
Having said that, I still can't stand that bloody program...