The racism allegations surrounding a popular reality television show in the UK - Big Brother appears to occupy a lot of real estate in the blogosphere. Big Brother airs on Channel4, which is a public-service television station, broadcast in the United Kingdom Well, regardless of whether the remarks made in the Big Brother house were racist or not, they've got the Indian and the UK blogospheres talking about racism in all its contexts and people discussing their own experiences as Indians or Brits. The person seen as the victim is Shilpa Shetty, an Indian actor. A thriving discussion at Sepia Mutiny with all kinds of opinions being voiced about “Bigot Brother”. A very active discussion is on at Pickled Politics. From one of the comments
Fact is: there has been racism on television. The Asian community (for once) united to condemn it.
Give me hysteria over apathy any day.
Bloggers are discussing if it's racism or just plain bullying. While many bloggers had in half-seriousness asked why this actor was choosing to appear on this show in the first place, the discussions now are mostly about Channel 4's take on the issue, and the behaviour of the housemates towards Shilpa Shetty.
On the allegations of racism.While they’re definitely being ignorant, stupid and mean, the fact that the person on the receiving end of all this is brown adds a racial undertone to the entire thing. As someone on the news said today ‘If they were making fun of a French girl’s accent they wouldn’t call that racist would they?’
Bollywood Press on the amount of press Shilpa Shetty is getting. Classically Liberal remarks that the Indian Government appears to have no other important issues to take care of. Broadcastallense has some views on the show which has sparked protests from people who have never seen it.
At the end of the day, it's unlikely Channel Four will do much about the whole thing other than make a few cliched 'statements'. They've got exactly what they wanted.
Bock the Robber has a take on the supposed class clash at the Big Brother house. Some others approach with a certain caution and even a little cynicism.
Being a victim of racism is turning out to be a win-win situation for Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty. No publicity is bad publicity. Who would have thought that a story on UK's Celebrity Big Brother would hog headlines even in international media.
Guy Fawkes' Blog on Gordon Brown's response. Theadagetimes remarks on how Gordon Brown's visit to India has been shadowed by the controversy and how Channel4 seems to have benefited from the increased viewership.
In large sections of the media, Brown’s comments on Shetty were given more prominence than his speech on globalisation and economic issues in Bangalore on Wednesday.
Diretribe reminds us that one can only expect so much from reality television. Paperghost.com remarks how people assume that racism can be excused as ignorance or stupidity.
People are trying to excuse these comments on the grounds that they display stupidity and a lack of education, rather than some form of actual racism. Oh well, that's alright then. Let's tolerate racist remarks on the basis that they're coming from idiots as opposed intelligent racists!
And while Channel4 definitely seems to have increased viewership, some bloggers are urging others not to encourage the show by switching the telly off.
I am no longer going to watch Celebrity Big Brother, or its spin-offs, or Channel 4, or its subsidiaries. I urge you not to watch the shows and not to vote for contestants of Celebrity Big Brother, because if you do you’re supporting a policy of tolerance for stupidity, bullying, and, at the least, inadvertent racism.
L'Amour et le crâne wonders why racism is being excused under the garb of silly-girl-bitching. Rationally Speaking on racism and violent anti-racism as witnessed by the protests in India.
A whopping 19,300 viewers have filed complains with the broadcaster, which means that way too many people have too much time on their hands, or simply have their priorities a bit off, considering everything else that is happening in the world (including in India itself, of course).
World of India! comments on how Indians are racist themselves. Sonia Faleiro does a piece on the celebs at the Big Brother.
And Thought Experiments sums it up thus
The Big Brother Racism story reveals another terrible truth about our world - it can no longer be satirised. The simple facts of the case are so wildly implausible, so deliriously stupid, that satirists can only stand back in awe and admiration. Some very coarse individuals on a TV game show that involves being imprisoned inside a house express, in terms of laughable ignorance, a degree of racial prejudice against another inmate. Professionally outraged people become professional outraged and Gordon Brown's visit to India is turned into a ludicrous pantomime in which people burn effigies of somebody or other connected with Big Brother, newspaper headlines crow about the racism of the British and Brown himself has to keep grinding out the platitudes about what a terrible thing racism is - yadda-yadda-yadda.
Desicritics.org remarks that while the intent maybe to bully, its form takes a racist colour.
The issue isn't just that Shetty is being subjected to intimidation - that much is obvious. The issue at stake here is that for whatever reasons that might have caused the coven to develop a dislike for Shilpa, they are choosing to act on that by picking on things that are blatantly racist. To refuse to identify her by her name, to generalise about Indians as a whole on the basis of their interactions with her, to tell her to “f*****g go back home”, and to “go back to the slums” is nothing if not racist. The motivations behind making those statements may or may not be racist - that is not what I question at this point. However, the manner in which the feelings of the coven are verbalised is definitely racist, and as a consequence totally unacceptable.
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These girls are just bullies; big brother has always been this sort of show.
Last year was no different but it didn’t cause the same trouble because the people were all English.
The treatment of shilpa is disgusting however I feel it is a clash of personalities and class more than race. You must all remember jade goody is an ignorant low class person. She is the exact opposite of shilpa who can speak 5 languages, is classy, well mannered and beautiful.
Anyone this beautiful and talented would not get on with Jade. Jade is a joke in England and should not be allowed to sour our good relations with India.
This just totally disgusts me! I just cant believe when all the papparazzi get invovled, it makes breakin news and all parliament get involved and BB aint doin anything about this! Shilpa is such a beautiful woman, and this is jus totally racism! Jade is such a cow! She works part of an Anti-Bullying Scheme, and she is going to get kicked out of this when she gets evicted from the BB house. I just cant believe that Jade has to be so ignorant and call Shilpa names and swear and make horrible comments…! Danielle and Jo aint far gone… Everyone wll be so happy once all three have gone! I hope all three get evicted! This society aint good enough for them!!!
vanisa wrote: - “She works part of an Anti-Bullying Scheme, and she is going to get kicked out of this when she gets evicted from the BB house.”
I believe this rumour was begun by an English Tabloid Newspaper. The Mirror or the Sun. However, it is incorrect. The charity itself have spoken out and stated that she is not involved with their work; the newspaper misreported this. Jade made a donation to the charity, she has never been involved with it’s work.
The lie has obviously been reported by other newspapers and websites, and TV as they took their lead from the English newspaper. So she will not be kicked out of something she wasn’t involved with in the first place. I think that mispreporting of this nature comes under the heading Slander or Libel, I’m not sure which.
Of course Sun/Mirror have a responsibility in this. But calling back a lie we tell about someone is like going into a field and cutting a duck feather pillow open on a windy day. Then wait an hour, go back and try to collect each and every feather that was in the pillow. Not an easy job, lies are like bacteria, they multiply.
Here’s my take!
Totally disgruntled at the way the chosen British celebrities in Big Brother are treating Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty. Shilpa and her management have taken the high road as is their nature, but the nation is enraged at intolerance, blatant bullying and seemingly racist comments which seem to come from schoolyard behaviour, jealousy and immaturity! I doubt that Shilpa realises how ‘bitchy’ the house has become, even though she has seen the ‘divide’. It is tough to remain impartial in this type of scenario, with someone so ‘thick’ as Jade in the midst. I had never watched BB before, but this time, I am studying the case and feel that it is somewhat a social experiment - intolerance is a rife amidst multicultural Britain and it is horrifying!
Let’s separate the WHEAT from the CHAV!
Here is my comment to Ofcom, who have received around 15,000 such complaints! The nation is enraged - well, the ‘educated’ nation, anyway!
Disgusting racism and ignorance towards Shilpa Shetty needs to be curbed. It shows that the multicultural ‘London’ we believe in des not really exist, behind closed doors or in front of millions of viewers.
A lot of immaturity and intolerance is being projected for no apparent reason and someone as distinguished and famous in India as Shilpa will hopefully come through it without too much damage. She doesn’t really know what is being said behind her back, but if she is not hurt, think of how this show portrays a typical ‘Brit’ like Jade, who is a millionaire, to the world. It makes us Brits look like prejudiced people who don’t see beyond the 4 walls they live in.
With India having such a booming economy, I doubt that most Brits still see it as a place where people live in ’shacks’ and are unhygienic, as has been inferred by the housemates! May I also say that the housemates in this tirade against Shilpa are also the ones who are least educated and least travelled - this is not a good cross section of British Celebrity to put on such a media heavy show!
Class distinction is obvious. Shilpa squabbles with her housemates with dignity. Jade, who clearly comes from a less privileged class and with a narrower vocabulary expresses herself with less dignity reflecting her underclass status.
Are Jade’s actions racially motivated? The tabloids would have us beleive this is a cultural and class indifference and not racial.
Or could it be simply that Jade dislikes Shilpa because of her personality?
The real question therefore is, would Jade have acted any differently towards Shilpa had she NOT been of Indian origin or of a darker skin colour?
I think the answer to this question is ‘NO’.
i am australian and quite frankly am glad i dont live in a country where such trash is allowed to air. By trash i am not referring to the show BB which i think is a wonderful social experiment but am referring to that repugnant miss piggy lookalike called Jade. Her half man-half bleached ape cohort Jo and the disgraced ex miss britain Danielle.
[...] Since everyone desi is gung ho about Big Brother in UK and frothing at the mouth at the alleged racism, I’ll be brave enough to go to the other extreme and admit my guilty pleasure of enjoying American Idol. I am not a rabid fan although I know of another prominent blogger who is [care to guess?] I missed the last season as I didn’t have access to a TV then. But the sixth season kicked off on Tuesday and I couldn’t help tuning in. [...]
is this a case of a little too much reality? hey, it’s not called reality tv for nothing! if you want sanitized tv, or tv that fits your own normative model of how a society should be then go play sims on your playstation 3…
on the one hand some claim the show is racist for tolerating such behavior, on the other hand the fact that other races are on the show at all could be seen as a move to diversity and positive…i think that the show is taking a chance by showing ‘a’ truth about society…
i haven’t seen the show…what puzzles me is that with all the sexism, homophobia, etc…shown on tv alreday, we are getting so excited over this show…?
but is this really racism or bullying?
Or is it Channel 4’s attempt at highlighting the “classes” from various cultural roots that try to “cope” with each others’ whims?
It just might be Channel 4 using BB as a means of carrying out a socio-cultural experiment in real time, live, on-air, which would otherwise cost them a fortune *winks*
i dont think jade was being racis,what puzzles me is that jermaine called jackie white trash and nothing is highlighted.which in terms is racis towards white people.
jade has always been loud mothed from the first big brother she was in,but i dont think she was being racis towards shilpa.maybe jade was a bit harsh and kept going on and on but shilpa keeps saying things then making out she said nothing.shilpas got more class but she contridicts herself quite alot.one minuite she feels its racisum then changes her mind the next.joe and danielle need to stop being jades sheep,christ what age are they! its like there back at school follow the leader kinda thing.
the show has definatley caught peoples eyes!
Actually this is a class issue.
Jade as we all know came to fame, such as it is, in the other version of BB, real people, not celebrities. And in that show, there was similar situation with a “posh” British girl, Sophie, whom Jade ridiculed with a vengance.
Jade is not in conflict with Shilpa because Shilpa is a famous movie star. In Britain she is unknown, until now. Jade’s conflictual problems stem from Jade’s perception of posh people as being fake. In other words she has issues with that. In that she is not unlike many people in the UK, for whom class is a big issue. And there is an added issue, race. The question is which comes firts.
History has repeated itself, unfortunately for Jade.
Bullying and gang warfare are wrong, whatever the reason - racism, jealosy, political gain, oil…There is no excuse for uncivilzed behaviour. Respect and courtesy have to become values that the British encourage and enforce in their daily lives if they are to recover any past glory. Shame that there is a whole generation that can empathise and utter the words, “Am I bovverrred?”. If you are not bothered, there is no redemption. And if you are, then speak up. Or is this cat to big to be belled?
Paul Tomasi wrote - “Class distinction is obvious. Shilpa squabbles with her housemates with dignity. Jade, who clearly comes from a less privileged class and with a narrower vocabulary expresses herself with less dignity reflecting her underclass status.”
Dignity, because she is a “better class”. Hmmm….. aren’t we forgetting that when the rows developed, Shilpa said some very nasty and personal things in response. Dignity, I’d imagine would not have been to respond in kind. Shilpa’s personal insults can then be excused because “she was provoked”. Yes the old passive aggressive argument. I don’t want to talk to you because you are so beneath me, but if you provoke me I will let loose a torrent that puts your invective in the shadow. That’s not dignified, that’s manipulative.
Dignity would have been not to respond in the manner in which one was attacked, I’d imagine. If it is dignity and class that win the argument then what happened to the truth of the matter.
To point out that someone is better than someone else because of background is just utter snobbery.
Whilst there have been comments from all of the four younger women on the show that could, if one wished to contort an argument, be described as racist. Racism has a pretty narrow and precise definition. It is when beliefs about a nation are applied to an individual and as a result that individual is not judged on his or her own merits.
I think we are seeing some sort of power struggle with sexist overtones, gender confusion and male emasculation on the show. The four younger women think they can act with impunity because of their gender.
The men on the show avoid the confrontations because they are seen by the women as an irrelevance and at the risk of sounding sexist they act in a manner many would find feminine and most would find feminine compared to the four younger women.
Jade and Shilpa are arguing for dominance. Jade has her two nasty sidekicks and Shilpa has her own cowardly supporters.
The effect this power struggle has had on all the housemates will be all the sadder because it is unlikely to reach a conclusion if we loose either Jade or Shilpa.
We will be left with an ugly taste of racism and we will not know if racism had a part to play in the power struggle.
I don’t know why this is racist, I didn’t hear any racist comments, and me being an American, the Shilpa contestant looks white to me…
You put a bunch of cats in a cage, you’re bound to get some claws out…
hahahaha i hope that all the aian african and latin american get a chance on a reality show like this…just to get awakened to the fact….there is racism in europe and it is also a big taboo u cant even bring up the topic…
an indian or aian can never win a case like this because they have been
enslaved and deserve this kind of treatment…shetty cant even hold on to her claims, imagine what a usual europian do if he or she were put in this indian girls place?
Shilpa says that the comments against her are not racial. But how many of those comments has Shilpa actually heard? Many of the comments were made behind her back and are yet unknown to her. Can her statement made to Channel 4 about not having suffered in racial attacks be sufficient for Channel 4 to shirk all responsibility?
Channel 4 is getting publicity out of the entire affair, but is that long term publicity or just a short term gimmick? The enire asian audience in UK is watching, but will they ever participate in this program again?
The racism in the program is just a reflection of the outside world in so-called cosmopolitan Britain. Until we take care of the larger problem, the Big Brothers and Channel 4s will continue to reflect the attitude that is prevalent everywhere in modern Britain.
Janic, thank you for a clear-headed analysis of events.
Whoa! There’s quite a conversation here. The way I look at it - whites, browns, Indians, South Asians, Brits - none of them are homogenous crowds anyway - which is why there seems to be such multiplicity of opinions within each community.
There obviously is the huge role of obvious class differences. But reflecting on my personal experience as a South Asian in London - there are a few ways I could rationalize my way through this noise in the media.
- I want the housemates to be racist to Shilpa Shetty - I want people around me to know about the racism that an average Asian puts up with in the UK. Much as I feel sorry for Shilpa Shetty, I feel that her victimization in the BB house will be proof for my own alienation.
- I don’t want people to think of it as racism. Because it’s humiliating for me to admit that as an Asian I am choosing to live in a country that discriminates against me. Thereby, validating what my friends back in India think about me - that I have somehow compromised on my dignity by choosing to be here.
And a million other stories really. There is no template response really. Some Asians find that the being-bullying experience finds resonance, and others don’t. Some of us want to believe that it is an exception, and the others that it is a hidden rule. But a lot of it has to do with our perception of Asians as a community in Britain.
I totally agree with Ms.Neha. This issue of racism has come into the limelight because it has happened with one of our celebreties. We as Asians have to undergo this kind of experience most of the time once we are in a different country. This ‘Big Brother’ programme seems to dig into the real personalities of people. It would be very helpful if people around us stop behaving the way they want. As intelligent beings, we need to understand each others feelings and try to be more respectful to one another. It is absolutely a normal tendency for a person to think ‘I am not you, so I do not care.’ This kind of attitude triggers embarrasing situations to the parties in question. Will this issue at least enlighten some of us and help to create a better world.
The point to be realised over here is not about racism but to be in ‘Someone else’s shoes and be more understanding’ and create a better world at least for our next generation. Why not think a bit more deep and come out of superficial tendencies?
most people in uk hold these views and show little inclination of the hurt they can cause. The uk will be hosting the 2012 olympics and this is a fitting global platform to raise this subject amongst the commonwealth nations. The issue is to expose the unpalatable reality which reality TV has exposed. See you soon.
sri well said there,but again i think racism is not related to education….or how smart you are… it is a pride that you have and believe it like your religion. but i believe the inner good in one and have faith on humanity and hope thins reality show helped some to look at the big picture in the future of humanity.
I feel major concerns about responsibility in a TV company with public funding have been raised. Ethnic characteristics such as accent and colour (”she wants to be white”) were used as weapons of attack. This may not fulfil legal criteria as racism but in terms of social interaction it is clearly racist. The so-called coven packed together to isolate and victimise Shilpa with a continuous barrage of nastiness. Of course, Shilpa could leave and is well paid and publicised for her ordeal; my concern is for the many, many young women who endure this kind of treatment without such balancing benefits. The refusal of the prodeucers and executives of Channel 4 to intervene is worse than spineless: it condones this kind of bullying and betrays its victims. Letting Jade Goody be a lone scapegoat is reprehensible, her cohorts are equally to blame and allowing those two to continue having the privilege of access to national exposure greenlights tiny-minded wannabes to indulge in vicious behaviour in emulation of these “stars”.The producers and executives who had the power to stop the bullying and chose not to, must be held to account.
Thankyou angela for your insight.I have emailed channel 4 about their support for the programme and its content. Your totally right in that Ms Goody has unwitting aired her views in public and had them broadcast. There is footage on Utube of Jack calling Ms Shetty a “paki” which was spun as another rant. It seems that channel 4 had chosen to air the confrontion between jade and shilpa as it would have a great pull with viewers. This was a purely commercial decision and thay will be judged accordlingly. It is with much regret that people and moreover young children have seen shilpa as woman with a funny accent. Carphone warehouse have withdrawn their contract precisely because of the fallout that is yet to come. It is an unpalatable fact that most english/white people will see this as a storm in a tea cup and brush it aside. Already this is happening as the media pursues the story to maximise the bottom line. Unfortunately for some of the madia, presenters, producers, managers,support teams, executives, advertisers and companies that have become associated with this preceived minor infringement have not learnt lessons from the likes of Reebok,Barclays de Zote Webb and others. I will not purchase products or services from companies or individuals that associate themselves with Ms Goody/Endemol and Channel 4 group. I would also urge customers not to purchase anything having Ms Goody’s picture on it or endorsement as this can indirectly provide oxegen to legitimizing their views. The more pressure that can be brought to bare internationally the greater effect it will have. India will have an increasing influential role on the geo/policalial scene as will other “developing” nations. This was highlighted by Mr Brown’s recent visit. Ultimately the same pressure that was applied to the south african regime will result in concentrating the minds of channel 4 and company. One only need ask any white africaans the reception they received abroad. I recall a very english phase from my childhood that seems to fit quite aptly - “calling a spade a spade” aswell as “just splitting hairs”.
[...] 原文:The Blogospheres on Big Brother, Shilpa Shetty, Bullying and Racism作者:Neha Viswanathan翻译:abstract校对:Portnoy [...]
[...] Las Blogósferas sobre Big Brother, Shilpa Shetty, intimidación y racismo [...]
The very fact that this “tempest in a teapot” has invoked such a global response shows that something real is going on. I, for one feel that commercial motivations notwithstanding, Channel 4 has done a service in airing some of the views/biases/prejudices/”ignorance” that many whites have of non-whites (I’ve lived in the US for 40 years and can testify to this - in the land of the free!) and that the world may be a slightly better place as a result.
[...] The IndiCast (India) - also see Global Voices article “The Blogospheres on Big Brother, Shilpa Shetty, Bullying and Racism” Pambazuka News (Zimbabwe) Palabras Libres (Bolivia) - also see related Global Voices articles “Cochabamba in mourning - Bolivian bloggers react” and “Bolivia: A Conflict Online” Pambazuka News World Social Forum Special Arté Radio (Senegal) ChinesePod [...]
the indian people are paranoid. the indian press is very unethical, unprincipled and crappy anyway. they don’t even understand what “racism” is. people generally classify their opponents whereever they are.
i watched the whole series with shilpa. i don’t think that any of the things that were said were “racist”. the statements that the stupid indian press beleives or likes to market as “racist” were more of a demonstration of frustration in the minds of their respectice speakers. older white caucasians tend to be stupid and somewhat racist. but what the heck. they are stupid. not to forget the fact that they don’t realise how unfortunate they are themself being unable to go out in sun without getting skin cancer, and being from a culture/background where trust and respect in relationships rarely exists. look at the divorce and sexual cheating rate there. i think we should also make some “group/category” jokes for white-caucasians. not that i am racist, but “the american” and “the british” are generally stupid, undereducated and ignorant people. why not make fun of people who we can actually laugh at and have an actual reason to laugh at them.
for all we know, that girl’s mom was probably doing her boyfriend. not that its a bad thing (for the mom). hehe. the fat and stupid jade goody apparantly doesnt realise that fat content of all the crap she eats all the time. its a tendency of stupid people to cuss and say crap or get into fights instead of saying something that makes some sense and has some logic behind it.
hmmm.
Its all rather amusing this debate….I’m of Hindu Indian descent but born & brought up in NZ. I’ve lived in the US & Asia in addition to NZ & frequently travel the globe for work (Europe/Asia 3-4 times a year) meeting people of all cultures, creeds & religions.
Here’s my 2 cents worth
In every culture there is prejudice as well as tolerance & understanding. No one culture has a monopoly on either.
The very same upper/middle class Indians who are loudly bemoaning the comments directed at Shilpa Shetty on Big Brother practice an institutionalized form of racism (the Hindu caste system) that rivals that seen during the worst excesses of slavery in the United States. Lower caste Hindus are shunned and treated like animals for no other reason than their perceived birth status. A ‘fair’ skinned bride is coveted by prospective grooms, as can be witnessed in any one of the millions of matrimonial notices published in India on any one day. Someone of darker complexion is considered less attractive….you get the picture.
Similarly, there are many Asian cultures who discriminate against other Asian cultures in a manner far worse than anything we have seen on Big Brother. Ever asked a Korean immigrant how they get treated in Japan?
On the flipside, my experience is that the majority of those of European descent in Western countries are not blatantly racist. Sure, there is a small percentage who are the exception but, by & large, society is open-minded & prejudices are not ingrained. Rather, they arise from either negative personal experiences of other cultures or perceptions brought about by lack of knowledge - frequently exacerbated by the establishment of cultural islands by immigrant cultures that discourage mixing within society.
On some level at least, there is a willingness on the part of Western societies to accept immigrants from different cultures. Frequently these immigrants form their own cultural enclaves which then plant the seed of concern in their host society that their way of life will slowly erode. Who is to blame for the host society feeling suspicious of other cultures?
Prejudices can change over time with social engineering. Witness the change in the US from the end of segregation in the early 1960s to the present day where there is an African-American Secretary of State & an (seriously regarded) African American candidate for the Oval office in 2008. By contrast, progress in breaking own the caste system in India has moved at a glacial pace.
There are 2 sides to every coin.
Let me ask you; if someone has not been exposed the Indian culture & their impressions to date have been formed by a media that only portrays the disadvantaged sectors of Indian society, can you really blame them for being misinformed? Or is it the media’s fault for not reporting objectively? Or is it the individuals fault for not bothering to be more proactive? Or is it the immigrant cultures fault for not mixing in society better?
It’s no ones fault .its just the way it is…
What I have seen on Big Brother is not racism. Unsavory - sure. Rude & ignorant - undoubtedly. Racist – I’m not sure!
Rather, its 3 rather ineloquent, not very cosmopolitan women trying to gang together & use whatever they can to unseat another girl who they perceive as their biggest rival. That’s the nature of the game. You can bet that had Shilpa been voted off instead of Jane, these 3 would eventually have turned on one another as they vied to be the ‘last man standing’
The whole show has been engineered by the channel bosses to be a tinderbox for tension that can then be recorded in detail & edited to give whatever slant will garner the most ratings. It just so happens that the tensions have been exacerbated because contestants span a wide cross-section of class, education & ethnicity. Just because that person bearing the brunt of the tension happens to be Indian, this has become a race issue. Would there have been as much of a stir had Jane made fun of a French girl’s accent? Or criticized a German girl’s cooking? I don’t think so.
Humans are all tribal by nature & we all think that our tribe is better than the next lot. As the world globalizes very quickly, we come face to face with other tribes with the same notions of superiority that we have. Is it little wonder that we are seeing sparks when these notions collide?
The British & other Europeans colonized & terrorized non-Europeans. But there were also plenty of non-Europeans who colonized & terrorized other non-Europeans in far more brutal fashion – Genghis Khan for one. This was not institutionalized racism, it was unbridled greed – another quite human affliction
Humans will always try to focus on people’s differences rather than their similarities. We will never see a time when all cultures & creeds live together in absolute equality. What we can hope to achieve, however, is all cultures & creeds living together with an acknowledgment & respect of individual differences.
I think Shilpa is doing the right thing. By taking it on the chin & battling rather than returning cheap insults in kind, she’s shown that poise & dignity in the face of adversity is a far more attractive then petty bickering.
I think this is a class war. The way Jade has mouthed her words, tells lot about her upbringings. But even if this is a class war, the celebrities in the show are expected to maintain some decorum. The words like “dog”, “go back to slums”, “f***ing” etc. are totally cheap. Since the show is uncensored it is very important that celebrities are chosen with care. On a positive note, as an Indian I am also impressed by the voices aired by the Brits against these comments.
Life doesn’t always have a happy ending but Shilpa winning big brother is a very happy outcome for both Indians and the United Kingdom. I don’t watch TV but I’ve been following this story in the press from Bangkok where I live. I feel good about the result.
I find it laughable that Indians who have never heard of the show are somehow “outraged” at the idea of someone making anti-Indian remarks. Do they actually think the rest of the world considers them equal in social maturity?
The disturbing part is the overwelming numbers of non-indian apologists whos sole purpose is to ‘be one with the people’ who could care less if someone apologized on their behalf. And they have the right to vote in their respective countries….scary.
But about media…why has no-one mentione that Indias media it the biggest lier of all? They continually make false claims about the personal acheivement of Indian citizens–like the girl that skydived at the south pole…LIE…never happened. Ask any of the 200 people who are currently stationed there…they never saw her. There are hundreds of false stories like that from the private and government media outlets in India every year.
and they want to burn effigies in the streets….yea, way to go India…proving that maturity level every step of the way!!…
@Contractor: Are you stupid? Most people in India don’t care and some tabloids there are even accusing Shilpa and the others of being paid to create the controversy.
Well, it would be hard to classify Jade & Co as racists but they were definitely bullies. Its good that they didnt get away scotfree and are paying the price for it. Shilpa, throughout the incident, acted as dignified as she possibly could and she did project Indians in a very positive way. She was very vary of the people she was representing and acted accordingly. Cheers to her….
The above comments mostly display the lack of solidarity among Indians and why we would rather blame and quarrel among ourselves, while absolving the caucasians. Why do we run ourselves down and make films about widows in India that the caucasians make sure go to the Oscars? Do they have the same lack of pride in their culture to make films about racism in current times, and send those films to the Osacars so that the world gets familiar with what goes on?
Its time we stood up united and condemned racism because it does exist. And if you live in the west and in your servile existence haven’t noticed it, then you are not true to yourself. Shilpa was brave to expose it diplomatically.
LAFA2007@rediff.com KOLP_2007@rediff.com LAFA10yahoo.co.in
Raj:
The above comments mostly display the lack of solidarity among Indians and why we would rather blame and quarrel among ourselves, while absolving the caucasians. Why do we run ourselves down and make films about widows in India that the caucasians make sure go to the Oscars? Do they have the same lack of pride in their culture to make films about racism in current times, and send those films to the Osacars so that the world gets familiar with what goes on?
Its time we stood up united and condemned racism because it does exist. And if you live in the west and in your servile existence haven’t noticed it, then you are not true to yourself. Shilpa was brave to expose it diplomatically.
It’s a scandle they do with Big Brother they inhence the voice to make it sound like that’s what they said.
Just as Bullies do anywhere in the world by manipulation and they say things before it happens.
It’s a bit like how they did that with the World Trade Centre saying it’s fallen down before it has it’s like they wanted it to.
Bullies use others methods by strategic points of saying about you been blind and already in care and have plastic legs and then a dog thing gets cancelled still they end up bullying you into it.
They must be stopped from doing that before they course you to be blind put you in care and make you get plastic legs and attacked by a dog cause no one doesn’t shag dogs nor like been blind and plastic legs.
That manner comes from the Police Force and others who work on their behalf.
Look at how a Police Officer stole the two crucial CDs from under the Governments noise.
Proofs the Police are the criminals and want you to be disabled whether your inocent or not.
Yes I’ve been victimised before I did anything they wanted me to at my old School before they even tried to stop others what they was doing first since I was a Kid just like so many have been on Big Brother.
I’m just exposing the truth.