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The point at which I disagree

The BBC defended its decision, saying the inclusion of the racial slur was made with the approval of the victim and his family, who wanted to show the severity of the attack. It said the decision to broadcast the word followed discussions involving “senior editorial figures” and was preceded by a warning to viewers.

The use of the word prompted more than 18,000 complaints to the BBC.

On Saturday, the Radio 1Xtra presenter Sideman quit his job, saying he could not work with the BBC allowing “the N-word being said on national television by a white person”.

Using the N word, sure, impolite at very best. Not what we would encourage from our national broadcaster. In explanation – no, not mitigation – it was said in a news report, to show what the attacker was shouting as he attacked. With the active support of the victim to the word being used in said description.

Maybe the right decision, maybe not.

But this idea that there is this word that a white person may not use while a black person may – that being the implication of what is being said there – is flat out racism. At which point you can fuck off matey.

26 thoughts on “The point at which I disagree”

  1. ’ The BBC had previously refused to apologise..’

    You can always find someone willing to abandon any principles and trample on the work of colleagues to curry favour with identity groups these days. I just expect it takes less time in public sector organisations.

  2. But this idea that there is this word that a white person may not use while a black person may – that being the implication of what is being said there – is flat out racism. At which point you can fuck off matey.

    This is hardly a one off, there are clothes white people may not wear, hairstyles they may not have and foods they cannot eat. The notion of cultural appropriation, however, is strictly a one way street, persons of colour can appropriate to their hearts content. Anti-White racism is not only acceptable, it is positively encouraged. Although it is clearly racism, it’s okay because it is not backed up by White privilege and, therefore, is not real racism.

    All non-woke White people can do is circle the wagons.

  3. So Much For Subtlety

    It is a dominance move. If you get stuck in a prison cell with Bubba and he says that the only chair is his and you can’t sit in it, well, either you have to sit in it or you are going to be having a fun time during the night.

    The insistence that there are two sets of rules – as there now are in British law – and Whites do not get the same rights as everyone else is about power and who takes it up the arse. Nothing else.

    Either we all say it or no one should. Or better yet we have our own country where we set the rules that we like.

  4. Imagine working in what is already the most right-on, PC media organisation, undoubtedly on far more than he’d get on commercial radio, and quitting over this?

  5. The N-word can be usefully deployed against some of the more aggressive, in-your-face, tinted community. Gets right in amongst ’em. Leaves them vulnerable to being decked before they do any damage.
    Of course some of the verbals come back the other way, aren’t exactly polite. But you need to be familiar with Jamaican patois to understand how badly you’ve been insulted.

  6. BoM4 – yes odd. Perhaps after a month or two a rethink will produce a constructive dismissal claim.

  7. Speaking on LBC radio on Sunday, David Lammy MP said the N-word was “probably the most offensive word in English”

    Even more offensive than cuntybollocks?

  8. Someone needs to ask this stupid twat if Obama can use the N-word, having a white mother. What about one black grandparent?

    What degree of blackness qualifies you to use the N-word?

    If black people can use the N-word, can a black person find it offensive and if so object to being called one by another black person?

  9. I’d say David Lammy is one of the most offensive things in the English language. Imagine being likened to him……..thick as mince and a bona fide racist to boot.

  10. Speaking on LBC radio on Sunday, David Lammy MP

    That’ll be the same David Lammy who thought that King Henry VII followed King Henry VIII, that Marie Antoinette won the Nobel for her research into radiation, and who happily confused the “Fortress of Versailles” for the “Bastille Palace”…..

    cuntybollocks

    Well indeed, Davy’s lingua franca.

  11. Using the N word, sure, impolite at very best.

    No, you’ve fallen into the trap. At “very best” use of the word is entirely academic, and the only problem with a national broadcaster using it in that context is that there is a national broadcaster. The very worst usage is mere offensive spittle from an unpleasant racist – not something that should involve the state in any way.

    But this idea that there is this word that a white person may not use while a black person may – that being the implication of what is being said there – is flat out racism. At which point you can fuck off matey.

    It’s not an idea, it’s a fact on the ground. White people cannot say “nigger” publically, except anonymously, in any context without severe consequences. And it’s not matey fucking off, it’s you.

  12. “most offensive word in English”

    Doesn’t bother me a bit.

    As SMFS says, it’s just a power play. Other people telling us what we can say. Whites are so stupid they play along.

  13. So the “senior editorial figures” were let down by a flabby-faced coward higher up.

    Just like the universities really: don’t do the right thing because those set above you will always let you down.

  14. “It’s not an idea, it’s a fact on the ground. White people cannot say “nigger” publically , except anonymously, in any context without severe consequences. ”

    I think you might be surprised what people say, publicly, in quite extensive circles. Although the N-word normally gets an adjectival qualifier. Not saying it’s as popular as it once was. There’s several more recent expressions, crept into the language. There is, you might say, a slight degree of antipathy, amongst people who find themselves required to live alongside certain cultural groups. And they’re not particularly hesitant about expressing their opinions on the matter.

  15. It does seem important to me to use the word ‘nigger’ rather than the common euphemism ‘n-word’ when discussing the issue.

    Being forced into policing our own speech is an early stage in the progress of Orwellian thought control.

  16. I think you might be surprised what people say, publicly, in quite extensive circles.

    Nope, not surprised; I hear it. But these are effectively large private gatherings of like minded people. The public sphere is a horse of a different colour. Parliament, the BBC, universities, blog posts (rather than anonymous comments on such).

  17. @DocBud
    +1 We should start attacking blacks for using electricity – huge cultural appropriation

    @dearieme
    “don’t do the right thing because those set above you will always let you down”

    MET Police too

    @rhoda klapp
    +1 Eeny, meany, miny….

  18. media today…..screw the facts and even the ‘science’ when it doesn’t agree, it’s all about race and how racist society is…….

    “Black and indigenous people are dramatically over represented in drug charges an analysis of new data shows. The police say, and some experts agree, that these findings are not evidence of racial bias in the police department, but instead reflect inequalities and failings in broader society. Others say those wider problems don’t absolve the police of a need to confront racism”
    Vancouver Sum

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