About a year ago I posted a blog about Celebrity Big Brother. I remember quite enjoying it at the time, but this time around there’s something missing, it’s losing the appeal that made it so popular, and the format has started to tire. It’s not the people involved who are at fault, it’s just that you can only milk something for so long before it starts to become tedious. The incessant screaming and shouting, all of which were a revelation to television a few years ago, has ended up making Big Brother a parody of itself.
And new we’ve ended up with the scenario that has been lurking round the corner for a long time, racism. It had to happen sooner or later, it was only a matter of time before a clique of white people ganged up on someone else from a different culture. And now we have the PC police in offices throughout the country, fuming with indignation and knowing nods over the simple idea of the R word.
I haven’t watched much of the show, but I can tell from the screaming reaction in the press that this is the sensational story of the week. The little filler that arrived just in time to plug the news gap after Ruth Kelly, and before we move back to the safety of hating immigrants and Tony Blair.
So are the Jade Goody gang a bunch of racists? That tempts a discussion that is well beyond this blog, but no, I don’t think they are. They’re not stupid either, or half witted, or thick. Just a bit ignorant, which of course doesn’t condone anything that might have been said, or justify racism in any shape or form. The word ignorant just gives us an idea of what’s going on here.
Consider also that Jade Goody has spent years being humiliated in the press, and just as long being the easy joke on irreverent Channel 4 late night quiz shows. The knowing conversations of criticism, ranging from her contribution to society, to her weight and accent, waft around coffee shops on a daily basis. Somewhat ironic then, that it is those very same people who berated her for being thick, who are now quite happily getting their knickers in a twist about the inevitable? It’s all okay when the figure of fun is providing the scruffy classes with their fix of self congratulatory humiliation. But when the behaviour starts to offend their self righteousness, all of a sudden the line that they assume is theirs for the drawing, has been crossed.
What did they expect? Honestly.
So now we have Tony Blair, The Metro and The Daily Express lecturing us about racism, something that they themselves use to flog their own dubious agenda on a daily basis. The bare faced cheek of it all is actually quite amusing.
This is all bollocks, don’t spill your latte over The Guardian Guide, just turn the television off.