Racism On Celebrity Big Brother?

I'm not convinced that it is racism although it definitely bullying. I think the problem is that the perpetrators are bitchy, jealous and basically thick

I thought it was interesting that the number of complaints received went from 200 yesterday morning, to 10,500 by last night. Could it be someone is getting behind it ?

I have not seen the programme, & have no real idea who is involved.
At present, I am in India, where the issue is dominating a lot of their tv. I do find this fairly hypocritical, as the Indian caste system, which is still prevalent in their cultural heirarchy system today is surely just another form of racism. I stand to be corrected if someone can clarify this for me.
matt.

if you ask me its a ploy by the television companies to hike up the viewing figures. lets face it the shows crap anyway!
scotty

If hidden cameras and microphones were placed in any living room in the world, would things be any better?

I've watched several TV news reports and not seen any appropriate clip. Can someone summarise who said or did what to whom?

depends on how the subject of the comments views said comments....

It's a programme that feeds off the least intelligent members of our society in both subject matter and audience, so this type of display isn't entirely unexpected. The real shame is that the producers of this shite are lapping up the increased interest and will benefit from it, such is the nature of tabloid TV. I hope the 3 girls guilty of this abuse will see their "careers" return to the supermarket checkout, but I fear trashy womens gossip magazines will be fighting over their stories, and the mum's in Iceland will be lining up to buy it.
There is debate if this is racist, or just bullying, but if you have to define it in any way at all, it's gender related. The public that watch reality TV, buy gossip magazines that create "celebrities" from nothing, and are the centre of this charade, are women.
Okay, that's a sexist comment, but it's the facts as I see them. Women have taken the opportunity to take equality and equal opportunity, and have done nothing but use that power to shrug off responsibility and immerse themselves in their freedom with trivia. I think this is the real tragedy, and it is a tragedy. It could have been so different. Those that welcomed empowerment of women, myself included, are so disappointed. This matter being identified as racism is a red-herring. I still don't understand why a large percentage of women are not interested in serious issues, but want to read about Jade Goody, FFS!
I don't actually know many blokes that watch TV anymore, so work it out.
I know I'll get shit for this, but that's what I see.

No, I'm with you Rasher. I don't know about the gender mix audience % split, but pretty much all the people I know whi do watch BB & similar, they are mainly female, along with a few of my gay work colleagues. Also, most age wise are teenagers or twenty-somethings.
I think its fair to say that celebrity & gossip mags are marketed at the female population.
As far as TV in general is concerned, it does seem to be getting more & more polarised. Its the guys interested in sport, the discovery channel, documentaries, Whilst the girls are more into the reality,talent shows, etc. Yes it is a generalisation,& un-pc. Maybe it reflects on the people I know, & the rest of the population is different.
matt

I don't think pointing out that the audience for this show is mostly female counts as sexist, it's a matter of (probable) fact. As we all know, men watch other TV as moronic as this, and a large percentage of UK males are (is?) intrinsically racist.

Anyway, can no-one summarise the actual offences so that I don't have to buy the bl*y tabloids? Thanks.

I don't know what the problem is as I haven't seen BB or any of these "realility" shows, I don't watch soaps either so my ability to interact at parties is v limited as no one else seems to listen to music unless it's on tv FFS.I don't buy a"news"paper either.I manage to get by with Waking the Dead,CSIs, ER, West Wing, 6 Feet Under etc. Not exactly entertainment "wallpaper".

Howard

These are the comments taken from the BBC News website:
On Monday night's episode, former S Club 7 star O'Meara reportedly suggested that Indians were thin because they were always ill as a result of undercooking their food.

The trio also complained that Shetty had touched other housemates' food with her hands.

Former beauty queen Lloyd said: "You don't know where those hands have been."


Stupid and un-educated comments, IMHO....

quote:

former S Club 7 star O'Meara reportedly suggested that Indians were thin because they were always ill as a result of undercooking their food.

None of us have actually seen this stuff then. Are you sure it isn't a wind-up?

I proudly admit that I have not seen CBB!
It does, however, seem rather over-inflated. It even got a thread started on the forum for pity's sake

Must admit to not having seen it myself but heard some of the comments replayed on the radio. Struck me more as thickism than racism.

Bedlam anyone?

Regards,

Willy.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Willy:
Must admit to not having seen it myself but heard some of the comments replayed on the radio. Struck me more as thickism than racism.

Bedlam anyone?

Regards,


I agree Willy and it was reported in one bulletin that Big Brother apparently beep out or cut a lot of footage. If that is the case then it may be that they are manipulating their audience to increase their viewing figures. As surely to god they wouldn't have allowed themselves to be open to procescution. They have a legal team ( along with a broadcast time delay) who must advise them as what is going to leave themselves open for litigation.

I think the large increase in complaints is down to a I will jump on a bandwagon mentality.

However I will say if there have been any racist comments on the show then they should jump on the person hard preferably with segs and steel toe caps on their soles.

I must admit that I subscribe to the 'cynical manipulation by Channel 4' theory. I cannot believe that they did not realise that putting together a successful Indian woman of superior intelligence and some very ignorant, intolerant British people, was not going to produce some controversial moments.

Their programme always tries to appeal to the baser senses and this will be music to their ears, as people had finally got wise to this nonsense and were voting with their channel buttons. This, unfortunately, may see the ratings improve as people watch out of curiosity or morbid interest.

From the clips I have seen there have not been any overtly racist comments, but there does seem to be an undercurrent present which is pretty unpleasant and is more 'suggestive' of a racist outlook. There has certainly been some bullying going on.

I wish I could say that this might be the end of this 'lowest common denominator' type of tv, but I fear there is lower to sink yet.

Mark

Originally posted by Chillkram:

I wish I could say that this might be the end of this 'lowest common denominator' type of tv, but I fear there is lower to sink yet.

If there's more to be scraped from the bottom of the barrel I'm confident programme makers out there have just the tools for the job! What next? 2008 Celebrity Big Brother live from Camp X-Ray...?! I wouldn't put anything past these programme makers -or the publicity hungry "celebrities" who agree to appear...

Only caught limited bits but Shilpa seems a decent, elegant (and frankly gorgeous) lady from an overseas culture and something is lost in translation with the thickie LCD's in the house.

Of course one can't possibly imagine why a TV station which has apparently seen a 60% fall in advertising revenue in the last 12 months could possibly want to introduce a nice salacious bit of nastiness into the equation which last night resulted in the 3rd highest vewing figures CBB has received.

I think ch4 will milk this for all its worth, their defence being - Shilpa has not made a com plaint regarding this verbal bullying/treatment.


So thats alright then?

'cynical manipulation by Channel 4' I agree.
Thickism and bullying more than intentional racism, however while they may be the reason may be ignorance and bitchiness, ignorance is no excuse in law, but if you follow up on that lwhy no outrage over Jermanes "White trash" comment.

It was probably only show because ratings droped so the caused a "sensation" to up them. Don't watch this rubbish and that will kill it of (as if this will happen).

I am so pleased that I do not keep a television! I also don't read the "boulevard press" as the German's so nicely put it.

I have heard mention of it on BBC Radio Four, and it seems that this may be a part of the general slippage of popular televisual culture, which turned me off the the idea of viusal broadcasting five years ago.

Lowest common denominator, anyone? Fredrik

What, exactly, was this young Indian woman hoping to achieve and what did she expect was likely to happen in this television programme?

She has an agent who is resident in Britain who was [or should have been] wise to the nature of this programme. No doubt she was influenced by the potential publicity and the enormous sum of money she will receive [particularly in terms of Rupee-buying-power]. Or was she a "plant" designed by the Indian Government to stir up racial hatered [I think not].

You put an attractive, sucessful, young woman from an emergiant third-world culture, into a bear-pit with three dumb blond white slags from Essex and expect a reasoned, calm, elegant discussion about the benefits of multi-culturisn in post colonial Britain and the how future wealth of India might modify global politics and economy for the better..........grow up!!

Apart from India getting upset, and a few people with business links or political careers to worry about, plus of course the usual racial commissions scoring a few pathetic points here and there, who else is bothered? Ms Shetty doesn't seem to think its a big deal (ok, a few tears about bullying.....) and her agent didn't think there was a problem (ok 10% of £350k is worth hanging onto....)...so what IS the problem ?

Cheers

Don

quote:

Originally posted by Don Atkinson:
What, exactly, was this young Indian woman hoping to achieve and what did she expect was likely to happen in this television programme?

Don

For god's sake, A month ago this actress was a virtual unknown, now she has been handed publicity that could not be bought at almost any price, and she is getting a six figure sum as start money. I'd wager both Ms Shetty and her agent knew exactly what they were getting into, and far from lodging complaints would be the first to say, bring it on, give us your best shot, and lets fill the coffers right up.

quote:

Originally posted by Diode100:
For god's sake, A month ago this actress was a virtual unknown ...

That comment is just as ignorant and unthinking as those on the program referred to above. But, just like those comments, not racist as such but more a reflection of some peoples narrow horizons and lack of worldliness. QED.

FYI she is massive in India.

Duncan