In the past, Big Brother contestants have complained that the editing has put a spin on events that simply did not seem to be an issue, if seen in context, when they were in the house itself.
With Celebrity Big Brother dying on its arse just a few days ago, the latest "racism" incidents, seem all to convenient to have suddenly arisen and become such a feature of the show's editing. Fortunately for Endemol, produers of Big Brother, the furore about this whole issue has seen a massive jump in the viewing figures, ensuring more phone votes and more money in their coffers. Fortunate ?
Personally, I have not watched the program other than occasional five minute "bites". But the coverage I have seen does, to be, seem to show some really unpleasant bullying going on of the Bollywood star "Shilpa", but is that any different from usual in Big Brother ? In the last series we saw bullying at variosu times of Nicky, Shabaz, Richard and others. It is like "The Lord of the Flies" in the Big Brother house. It always is, and anyone entering the house ought to be aware of how the producers manipulate the contestants to get them to "grate" on each other as much as possible.
As for is it racism, as Lynne Featherstone asks in her blog, my view has always been if someone believes that it is racist, then it is. Racism is always in the ear of the beholder. If comments are being made about her race and she is being singles out in that way, then it is racist and offenseive and I hope the perpetrators are made aware of just what people think of them.
6 comments:
I've only seen clips here in Italy but it does seem like racism to me. But what else can you expect from a load of exhibitionists?
Nich,
I haven't been watching BB, but from the clips I've seen I don't think its racism. If it was, don't you think Jermaine Jackson might be on the receiving end of some of it aswell?
I just think that she isn't liked. There is, however, a big issue over her class, culture and status but I'm not sure that it is enough to be classed as racism, and I think she is as much to blame, especially in the way she expects to be treated, (in some of the clips I've seen at least) as anyone else.
Just another disliked housemate in my opinion.
You are right Starls. Personally, I think they are an ignorant bunch of people letting their frustrations out in the crudest and most pathetic way. The problem is that several thousands people all complaining cant be wrong. The definition we are given at school is simply that it is "racist", if the person hearing it feels that it is. I know that covers a lot, but it shows that it is incumbent on everyone to recognise that you can call someone an idiot, a fool, dumb, etc, but not to do so by making reference to the one thing she cannot change, that being her race.
However, as I know your circusmtances and some of the race issues you have had to deal with, I bow to you on this one.
The good news from all this is that it almost certainly kills off Jade Goodey's career !
It's not at all suspicious that the people up for election are.... Jade and Shilpa.
Oh - "The problem is that several thousands people all complaining cant be wrong" They can - it's fairly easy to generate large numbers of complainants by email. I'm not saying that there isn't some merit to the complaints but the volume of them can be an indicator of organisation not correctness
I wouldn't be at all surprised at Endemol editing to highlight any racism.
The problem here seems to be whether, if you are an obnoxious idiot to someone of a different race, whether this is because you are a racist or whether it is just because you are an obnoxious idiot.
To complicate matters, the format and selection encourage obnoxious idiocy.
King Artur,
I agree that laws need to be applied evenly, I have made this point myself this week in a posting I did called "a tale from middle England", whilst i also highlighted it two weeks ago when I wrote about Norfolk police not taking action against someone because Norfolk police said they were not British and didn't have much money, so if you read my blog further, you'll see that there is a large area of agreement.
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