Such anger over the antics of idiots
BBC NEWS: Politicians enter Big Brother row
I don’t know why I was surprised by the spectacle of protests in India, complete with effigy burnings, against the racist bullying of Shilpa Shetty, the Bollywood actress, on the notorious Channel 4 programme Big Brother, two nights ago. I did not see the actual episode as (until last night) I didn’t watch this wretched, trashy, clapped-out programme. However, I did hear the discussion of the episode on yesterday morning’s Vanessa Feltz show, and most of it was not sympathetic to the three women responsible.
Clearly the protests in India are by people who are as ignorant of British culture as the three stupid women on Big Brother are of Indian culture, or anything for that matter. Early on in yesterday’s Feltz show, the founder and sole spokeswoman for Action Against Bullying, the charity with which Jade Goody has been associated, was interviewed about the charity’s decision to remove Goody’s pictures from its website, and agreed with Feltz that Shilpa Shetty is a “fine example of womanhood” or something like that. She explained that being ladylike is a common excuse for female bullies to pick on someone because they are jealous of them. (If Shilpa Shetty is such a lady, what is she doing on that vile programme?) Others accused her of having airs and graces; one caller said she would not eat a chicken which had been cooked for only 45 minutes, no matter who by. Germaine Greer, in today’s Guardian, thinks that Shetty is milking it:
Everything about her is infuriating: her haughty way of stalking about, her indomitable self-confidence, her chandelier earrings, her leaping eyebrows, her mirthless smile, her putty nose and her eternal bray, “Why does everyone hate me?” Not to mention the crying jags. What no one seems to have quite understood is that Shilpa is a very good actress. Everyone hates her because she wants them to. She also knows that if she infuriates people enough, their innate racism will spew forth.
The footage of the protests (particularly the burnings) were uncomfortably reminiscent of those which followed the infamous Danish cartoons. I’m not going to say that the latter were for a worthier cause, because they were senseless and ugly. It is, of course, perfectly possible that there are Muslims among the protesters in India, but any Muslim living in Gujarat or in and around Ayodhya or Bombay knows that it’s not just Muslims who are capable of a destructive riot. But if anyone out there is angry about what happened to Shilpa Shetty, I have two things to say to them.
First, the reaction to it in this country was very much supportive of Shilpa Shetty and hostile to the three dumb racists. One woman, for example, called the Feltz show and called Ms Shetty a lady and the other three white trash (as Jermaine Jackson, also a contestant, had earlier called them), and said that Jade Goody filled her body with alcohol and looks like a dog. Another of the three, Danielle O’Meara, is married to someone in the football business (I’m not sure if he’s a player or something else), and someone said that her partner should realise what sort of person is inside that body of hers that he fancies. There have also been around 20,000 complaints to the media standards body (Ofcom) regarding the incident, although how much is from British Indians or is orchestrated I don’t know.
Second, racism is a fact of life everywhere, and is a common feature of bullying in schools and the workplace, the victims being Asian, black, anyone who is different. Why has it taken a bit of nasty treatment for a wealthy Bollywood actress to bring you out on the streets, when children have suffered this and far worse for decades? I’m sure racism is rife in India too, much of it disguised under the caste system. I wonder if you will be out burning effigies next time someone is murdered for some infraction of caste etiquette?
