Friday, January 19, 2007
Real racism and real power in reality TV
Just as we thought Big Brother’s days of generating headlines was over, a row over racist remarks made in Celebrity Big Brother has got the British Nation in its grip.
The Big Brother veteran Jade Goody, S-club Seven wash-up Jo O’Meara and footballer’s girlfriend Danielle Lloyd has been bullying the Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty inside the house, oblivious to the controversy raging over their behaviour in the outside world. The controversy has now escalated to the point where Indians are burning Channel 4 banners in the streets, and the complaints over racism will be raised in parliament.
The controversy reveals two interesting things about British society:
1) Established Britain is predominantly middleclass white people, who are unaware of racism in the working class.
Everybody is acting surprised, and arguing that the show has uncovered a hidden and secret problem with racism. However, to anyone who’s not white and has lived in England for more than 2 seconds, the problem is certainly not hidden.
2) The media has a frighteningly big influence on politicians and the public.
A rubbish TV show put the issue of racism on the political agenda faster than a thousand campaigners, parties or interest groups could ever have done.
And who benefits the most from all this controversy? Channel 4, whose ratings have gone through the roof, and who’s expecting a record number of calls for tonight’s eviction, which has cleverly been painted as the ultimate duel between tolerance and racism:
If you want to show that Britain is not racist, call to evict Jade -– and pay the 50p call charge.
If you’re a racist (although we of course don’t believe we have any racist viewers) then call to evict Shilpa – and pay the 50p call charge.
Well, here’s an alternative: If you are fed up with the media manipulating the political debate in order to make money, then don’t call at all.
The media has already made it clear that they disapprove of Jade’s racist comments, and will rip her to shreds when she comes out.
The best thing the viewing public can do is to spend their goodwill fighting racism in real life, and showing channel 4 that it cannot abuse a sensitive issue to make money.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6275363.stm
The Big Brother veteran Jade Goody, S-club Seven wash-up Jo O’Meara and footballer’s girlfriend Danielle Lloyd has been bullying the Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty inside the house, oblivious to the controversy raging over their behaviour in the outside world. The controversy has now escalated to the point where Indians are burning Channel 4 banners in the streets, and the complaints over racism will be raised in parliament.
The controversy reveals two interesting things about British society:
1) Established Britain is predominantly middleclass white people, who are unaware of racism in the working class.
Everybody is acting surprised, and arguing that the show has uncovered a hidden and secret problem with racism. However, to anyone who’s not white and has lived in England for more than 2 seconds, the problem is certainly not hidden.
2) The media has a frighteningly big influence on politicians and the public.
A rubbish TV show put the issue of racism on the political agenda faster than a thousand campaigners, parties or interest groups could ever have done.
And who benefits the most from all this controversy? Channel 4, whose ratings have gone through the roof, and who’s expecting a record number of calls for tonight’s eviction, which has cleverly been painted as the ultimate duel between tolerance and racism:
If you want to show that Britain is not racist, call to evict Jade -– and pay the 50p call charge.
If you’re a racist (although we of course don’t believe we have any racist viewers) then call to evict Shilpa – and pay the 50p call charge.
Well, here’s an alternative: If you are fed up with the media manipulating the political debate in order to make money, then don’t call at all.
The media has already made it clear that they disapprove of Jade’s racist comments, and will rip her to shreds when she comes out.
The best thing the viewing public can do is to spend their goodwill fighting racism in real life, and showing channel 4 that it cannot abuse a sensitive issue to make money.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6275363.stm
# posted by Unknown : 9:16 AM
