Can someone explain to me why Carol Thatcher gets sacked by the BBC for calling someone a golliwog and yet Anton Du Beke is still on Strictly Come Dancing despite using the P-word?There is a contradiction there.I find it hard to believe that he hasn't been suspended or sacked. Why?
The P-word is just as offensive as the N-word. Yes,I know that rap stars use it, and some black people use it when speaking with each other BUT that still does not blunt the nasty racist history that the N-word has.This is the word used during slavery, after slavery was abolished and is used today by racists, all over the world. Ron Atkinson lost his job as a football pundit because he failed to recognise that using the word nigger is a no-no. I suspect that this was how Big Ron spoke in private.His reputation has never quite recovered.
My feeling is that the BBC do not regard the P-word as having the same power as the N-word. In other words, one is regarded as very offensive, while one is seen as unpleasant. If Anton du Beke had done a Big Ron, I think he would have been thrown out the door so fast, his feet would not touch the ground.
We need to start talking about race a lot more in this country. I cannot recall a single speech by Gordon Brown about race.He is keen to suck up to Barack Obama, but when has he ever spoken about racism?In the United States, they talk about race to the point of obsession, over here we hardly discuss it.I have yet to hear David Cameron give a speech about race.
The world is changing,no one can used the Paki and claim that they are joking. Words have power and can cause offense. Someone should tell Anton du Beke. He clearly hasn't got a clue.
I expect that Gordon Brown hasn't spoken about racism because there are more pressing govermental issues that have needed doing since he came to power. Also, what more can he do? Everyone and anyone knows that racism is illegal in Britian and just wrong in general, but there isn't much a person can do to stop the way that other people think/feel.