The charge of racism raises its ugly head again. And, again, there is no racism.
Coronation Street bosses have issued an apology after nearly 300 viewers complained about the Bank Holiday Monday episode of the show, claiming that a character “joked about slavery”.
During a visit to a hair salon, Eva Price (Catherine Tyldesley) said: “I have more roots than Kunta Kinte.”
Sigh…it’s a play on words (as is the title of this post). A pun on the word “roots“. It has bugger all to do with race or slavery other than the book was about slavery in the USA. It was not, nor is it even close to being a racist joke – although it is more amusing than what passes for hysterically funny in Edinburgh these days. No, it is simply a pun on “roots“. Nothing more, nothing less. Still, it got the moronic Twatterati into the usual fit of the vapours. Not that it takes much for those facile, easily offended arseholes to start spitting feathers and sure enough, they have to emote in 140 characters about just how awful it all is, how racist (no, it isn’t) and how offensive it is (only if you have a skin so thin you can see through it). And, as usual, we get the predictable apology, therefore enabling the behaviour. The correct response should be; “Oh, grow up and get over yourselves”.
Middle aged white people commenting "not racist" RE coronation street, are you really that privileged that you cant recognise blatant racism
— . (@_niaxmh) August 31, 2016
Actually, I can recognise blatant racism when I see it – and this isn’t it; it’s a pun on the word “roots” (but I repeat myself for the hard-of-thinking). The race and background of the book’s protagonist is irrelevant to the pun. And anyone who bleats about “privilege” forfeits any right to be taken seriously, frankly.
I wonder sometimes what happened to the nation that stood alone against the assembled Nazi hordes, the nation that saw off the Kaiser and tweaked the beard of the King of Spain. When, exactly, did we become a nation of simpering, pathetic, vacuous, brain-dead offence takers? This was a one-liner; not especially funny, but mildly amusing to those old enough to get the reference. Get over it.
Update:
Encouragingly, even the Guardianista are treating this latest bit of offence-mongering with contempt. The comments below this risible article are pretty much universally negative. There is hope yet.
Hell, if people want to continue to moan and complain and make false accusations, then at some point, maybe it is time for people to start saying some real racism and let them know what real racism really sounds like. Seriously, people who complain like that when there is no reason to deserve to get a taste of the real thing one day – then they will begin to understand the difference.
If she had said ‘more roots than Alex Haley’ would that have been alright? I joke of course but I doubt if that is allowed in the SJW world of hatred.
I read that Alex Haley has Scots roots in his DNA by the way.
Isn’t Alex Haley missing an opportunity to write a book about his Scottish ancestry titled “Hoots”?
(OK, he’s dead, which could be why he never did it.)
There’s a moose loose aboot this hoose.
Isn’t the joke an offence against decent scriptwriting and realism? Is it a joke that ‘Eva Price’ is likely to make? I don’t watch Corrie and I apologise to fans if Eva’s studying part-time for her doctorate in African Studies whilst working in the Rovers.:)
Do these idiots not realise that by trying to call a pun on Coronausea Street “racism” they give away the fact that they actually watch that drivel?
Good point. I don’t watch it, so only have the news sites to inform me who this character is.
Err, isn’t trying to have a pop at white people for no reason at all other than becuase you can actually very real rascism?
Yes.
The irony is that there’s a great deal of fiction in Haley’s supposed story. So demanding it be treated with respect is…well, bonkers!
Very true Julia. Haley was sued for plagiarism, and lost, over Roots. It is supposed to be the story of his family, but he fictionalised most of it. About as authentic as Lobsang Rampa, AKA Cyril Henry Hoskin, a plumber from Devon. But let’s not let facts get in the way of a good story eh?
I sort of half remember watching Roots way back (I’d been thinking of reading the book until I saw the TV show) It was about as believable as a storyline from Game of Thrones (but less entertaining).
But much of the ‘African slave trade’ narrative is fiction too.
Bill Whittle has put out a vid on it this week and gets to the heart of what this thing is all about. It’s an agenda.
Identity politics divides society into groups defined by race, sex, etc. and orders them into a strict hierarchy of oppression. It encourages people to interpret everything they experience in terms of this heirarchy, so that every word, every image and every action becomes an exercise of power by one group over another. Therefore it promotes a paranoid view of the world in which anyone who belongs to one of the “oppressed” groups must feel that he or she is surrounded by enemies and constantly bombarded with hostile messages.
But to live in that state of mind must be immensely stressful. Paranoid fear makes people tense, angry and ready to lash out at the slightest provocation, whether real or imagined. Indeed, they probably need to lash out every so often just to relieve the pressure. They attack people with such unhinged fury because in their own minds they are fighting back against the evil oppressors who make their lives a misery. Identity politics quite literally drives people crazy.