The nasty politically correct cunts at the BBC.
A veteran BBC local radio DJ has lost his job after playing a song on his golden oldies show containing a racist word.
BBC Radio Devon DJ David Lowe, 68, said he was unaware that a 1932 version of The Sun Has Got His Hat On included the n-word.
Mr Lowe, who had spent 32 years at the BBC, said he made an honest mistake.
He said BBC bosses declined his idea of an on-air apology, and his offer to “fall on his sword” was accepted.
Fuck me, but that is an over reaction. So bloody what? Did anyone die? The record dated back tot eh thirties. The world was a different place back then. Language was different, attitudes were different. It’s the same mentality that is trying to airbrush smoking from historical photographs. So damned what if the song contained the word nigger? Sure, it has unpleasant connotations and sure, no one would readily use it in modern day language to describe black people – at least, I would hope not. I have used it here for a purpose – that of making a point about free speech. I’ll not do as the beeb has done and censor it out or use childish euphemisms. That is the word, so lets call a spade a spade…. Ahem…
Anyway, realising that they had got it very, very wrong, Auntie decides to offer this man his job back – after, that is, subjecting him to the humiliation of sacking him for making an innocent mistake.
But the DJ said the row had exacerbated a stress-related condition and he would not be returning to the corporation.
Mr Lowe said he had been “compelled to pay the ultimate price” for falling foul of “today’s unforgiving obsession with political correctness”.
I’d take a similar stance. And likewise I am scathing about this modern political correctness.
They didn’t sack him, they just applied enough pressure to force him to resign and accepted his resignation. They only backpeddled when it threatened to become public but left behind a stressed out guy no longer able to work.
You’re right in that we should not judge the past by the so called morals and ethics of today, though god alone knows why we play rap music with the nigger word yelled out all over it…
Or is it cos they’s black?
You’re right. Although in practice, the difference is moot.
Oliver’s Army? Sure, Elvis Costello doesn’t quite get the airtime he once did, but it’s still an ace song!
Interestingly, Stewart Lee used the N-bomb in his last series and nobody batted an eyelid. Perhaps Jeremy Clarkson just needs to be funnier? 🙂
(Stewart Lee is fucking ace though, let’s be honest.)
What I found truly surprising was that, according to BBC Devon’s own article on this affair, it only took *one* complaint for this to happen.
Is the BBC really operating an entire local radio station for the benefit of just one listener?
Yes, I understand that is all it took. These days, when someone complains, instead of telling them firmly to grow a thicker skin, the powers that be bend over backwards to accommodate them.
Who the f*ck is Stewart Lee?
When I was at school in the 1970s we used to have music lessons which involved communal singing. One of the songs that I vaguely remember contained the line “A big buck nigger with his sea boots on”. We couldn’t have used the word as an insult as we didn’t have a single black kid in our school.
Also I’m in agreement with Antipholus Papps, what about Oliver’s Army? Are we to take it that “One more widow, one less white nigger” is OK because the ‘N’ in question was a white one?
I suspect the “white” is important as to why Costello’s song is seen as more acceptable, combined with the fact that the song is very clearly against the viewpoint that would describe the unlucky new recruit using such terminology. Would be interesting, though, to see how a song like “The Classical” by the Fall would be received nowadays. Not that it is likely to be played on Radio Devon though…
LR:- “…no one would readily use it in modern day language to describe black people – at least, I would hope not…”
If you venture south to sunny Birmingham (I commute through New Street station daily) you’ll frequently hear black youths using the word to refer to themselves and their companions.
“I suspect the “white” is important as to why Costello’s song is seen as more acceptable, combined with the fact that the song is very clearly against the viewpoint that would describe the unlucky new recruit using such terminology.”
As far as I know the term ‘white nigger’ refers to a white person who is forced into, or voluntarily agrees to, working conditions that are indistinguishable from those of slavery. If this is the case then Costello is referring to the lot of soldiers whether they are volunteers or conscripts.
Peter Hearty had this to say on his blog:
“Don’t laugh, but up until a couple of years ago, I honestly didn’t realise that referring to someone as “coloured” is now regarded as the most vile form of racism.
This latest episode made me do a quick google and I soon found that I wasn’t the only old fuddy duddy who hadn’t realised that fashionable language had changed. Apparently “person of colour” is now acceptable but “coloured person” will get you sent on a re-education course. It also seems to be different in different countries. The correct words are different in the UK, USA and South Africa.
Many people, on a selection of forums, seemed incredulous that there were fossils like me still alive.”
To which I replied:
The sad fact is that some people are going to be racists. Playing Orwellian style semantics with our language is not going to change that one bit. It is right that a word that at one time was only ever used as an insult is no longer considered acceptable, but saying that someone is coloured rather than a person of colour is now unacceptable as well? Really? What about pinky-light brownish people like me? Presumably I’m a person of no colour whatsoever.
How can we stop the madness?