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John Carlin provides a helpful perspective on the behaviour of a group of Spanish F1 fans. They had put on curly wigs, put on black boot polish on their faces and put on tee shirts saying “Hamilton Family”. The behaviour caused the British press to be up in arms about this ‘racist’ behaviour.
The writer points out that black migration is a relatively new phenomenon in Spain; also that in their culture, there is a greater tolerance of profanity. Bearing in mind that context is always the key in deciding whether behaviour is offensive, these bits of information are very relevant.
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Submitted by karamat on Sat, 2008-03-01 09:44.
I read about a pre-view of Mad Men soon to be broadcast on BBC 4. Apparently it provides useful reminder of what the workplace was like before we had laws against sexism, racism, homophobia etc
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Submitted by karamat on Sun, 2008-02-17 18:28.
Martin Kettle sheds light on how age is also the focus of these elections whereas previously it was just race and gender. This is to do with the success of John McCain who is in his 70s. He offers an analysis of how people have voted for the main candidates influenced by their membership of a particular social group
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Submitted by karamat on Tue, 2008-02-12 14:06.
A rather indirect and covert attempt at playing race politics is going on in the UK. This one involves a white politician (Livingston) with his black adviser on race (Jasper), having a go at a black head of equalities for the country (Phillips) being brought out into the open with the help of their ex-adviser on Asian affairs (Singh) who objected to his bosses approach on Muslims.
If you missed the Channel 4 documentary, read about it in these articles by Jamie Doward and Nick Cohen
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Submitted by karamat on Sat, 2008-02-09 11:20.
Andrew Sullivan provides an excellent comment on the elections. A few quotes sum up the article:
“But she (Clinton) also included blatant appeals to gender…When Obama and Edwards both criticised her in her first bad debate performance, her surrogates put out word that they were ‘boys’ ‘piling on’ a female candidate”;
“Their (Clinton’s side) calculation was that simply by forcing Obama to become the ‘black candidate’ they would neutralise his post-racial appeal”;
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Submitted by karamat on Sun, 2008-01-27 20:11.
Came across this Dos and Don’ts for employers concerning people who start off being one gender and change to another. It includes basics such as changing the person’s name on the organisation’s records and not asking the person to use the disabled toilet while s/he is going through the transition as well as more fundamental things such as providing the right environment and taking the person out of the public facing role while s/he is getting used to their new life.
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Submitted by karamat on Sun, 2008-01-27 20:08.
Jonathan Freedland offers a perspective on the elections and how much better things are over there as opposed to over here in the UK. At least they are rowing about race; he reckons over here politicians don’t care. I wonder whether it is more a question of lack of sophistication in politicians’ (people’s) engagement with race.
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Submitted by karamat on Wed, 2008-01-23 21:01.
By now, most people are familiar with the quote from Alistair Campbell, the then Prime Minister Tony Blair’s director of communications. Intervening in an interview to prevent the Prime Minister from answering a question about his Christianity, Mr Campbell interrupted: "We don't do God,” It has since also emerged that on other occasions Mr Blair had been prevented from using the phrase, "God bless you."
Of course, all the detail is now in the open. Not only did Mr Blair ‘do God’ but we have learnt that it was central to his job as Prime Minister. In a recent TV interview he is quoted as saying: “I don’t actually think there’s anything wrong in having religious conviction – on the contrary, I think it is a strength for people . . . You can’t have a religious faith and it be an insignificant aspect because it’s profound about you and about you as a human being . . . If I am honest about it, yes, of course, it was hugely important.”
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Submitted by karamat on Tue, 2008-01-15 20:51.
This week Hillary Clinton was dumped on for being too feminine and then not feminine enough. This was when she got emotional and cried. In sympathy Hill’s Angels came out to support here. This was a reference to Anita Hill who had accused Judge Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment. (She was black and so was he; both had different supporters with their own agendas. That’s for another time).
India Knight pointed out that “Hillary has had to put on male armour in order to get to where she wanted to be. The reason crying worked for her was like watching a man cry” especially as she is not a ‘crying woman’.
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Submitted by karamat on Sun, 2008-01-13 23:04.
During my early ‘equality’ days I used to teach students that telling a racist joke was racist behaviour along a continuum which had at the extreme end racist murder. This was almost implying as if someone telling such a joke might one day actually go out a murder someone.
Simon Fanshawe in his article says that telling a joke is not behaviour. “Teasing is not violence; words are not fists. We should police actions in society, not words” implying that words are behaviour. Interesting! It certainly made me think.
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Submitted by karamat on Tue, 2008-01-01 14:40.
