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Carol Thatcher and the G word.


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[quote user="Iceni"][quote user="J.Rs gone native"]

..did the black tennis player actually look like a gollywog?

[/quote]

Yes - but never let a fact get in the way of a news item.

John

[/quote]

Here he is! Actually, he is quite cute and reminds me of a young Mohammed Ali.

[IMG]http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c45/Furryknickers/tenniseurosportopenaustpy6.jpg[/IMG]

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[quote user="odile"]Could somebody kindly post a picture of a G. so we can compare and make an informed decision.

(not that it would make any difference to the basic principle)
[/quote]

So, what's your informed decision? What about Iceni? Can you tell me where you see the resemblance?

 

[IMG]http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c45/Furryknickers/_44299442_golly1203.jpg[/IMG]

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 But as has been said before, I would resent being called golliwog and Mrs Gupta has confirmed the same.

And there we have the crux of the problem, many of us were brought up when there was no connotation attached to the word gollywog, it was an endearing character, no more, no less, and not a racist statement by us or any jam maker. BUT... times change, and if a gollywog is not a remnant of a  non-racist childhood, as it is for many of us,  then I can see that without this historic context, that in today's world it is seen as a racist comment. In a modern day politically correct world, CT should have shut up and appologised, but she didn't which was stupid.

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Furry, I'm in love.[:D]

Christopher, this is the version I had read (or a similar one on a BBC blog from the office of the programme's producers) and the one I am inclined to believe.  OK, that is quite possibly because it doesn't surprise me that Denis and Margaret brought up their kids to believe this kind of language, in this context, was  perfectly fine.  You should have heard what my Dad used to call her mother (not printable and unacceptable to this forum's software, unlike the word  which is the subject of this thread - funny that!)  May I just thank you also, in passing, for having nipped this subject in the bud on CA - I'm not sure I could have kept this up in two places at once.

Baypond, when referring to the little chap on the Robinson's jars, or the doll some of you may have had when young, then yes of course you can use no other word but golliwog.  But CT was comparing one to a black guy.  There, I draw the line, and so - happily - did the BBC.

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Good Grief!!! The Mail has resorted to calling Redheads "Carrot-tops" Whatever next,shock .horror.

I do glance at the Times/Telegraph but find that too much depression and political lying is bad for my blood pressure.Big fuss about Carol and the G.word but not too many about "The one-eyed Scottish idiot",says something about the P.C. brigade.

Regards.

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[quote user="Furry Knickers"]

[quote user="odile"]Could somebody kindly post a picture of a G. so we can compare and make an informed decision.

(not that it would make any difference to the basic principle)

[/quote]

So, what's your informed decision? What about Iceni? Can you tell me where you see the resemblance?

 

[IMG]http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c45/Furryknickers/_44299442_golly1203.jpg[/IMG]

[/quote]

he can't breathe in there!

oh eck - it happened again.

there was meant to be a picture.

it all seems to be in code.

Big brother must be watching.

I was just worried about Mr. G all wrapped in a plastic bag.
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[quote user="Russethouse"]

How very odd, it is widely reported that CT was in conversation with Adrian Chiles and Jo Brand -

[/quote]

That is not disputed but there have been some who suggested that Chiles reported her to protect his job from CT, as if it was ever an issue!!  The conversation was overheard by the production team and therein lies the culprit, maybe he was black?  You may have also missed that CT would not have worked for the One Show any more anyway as her work for them was finished.

The only hypocracy I have read is from Mail readers who think its OK for the daughter of their idol to use a racist comment but not for Jonothan Ross to basically tell the truth.  After all Russell Brand had shagged Sach's grandaughter[:)]!![:D]

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 So if that was the case and  her work was done, why did they bother to make such an issue out of it. Either she is good enough to work for the BBC or not.

As for Mr Ross, I wonder how he would feel if someone phones him up and tells him just what they have been up to with his daughter, while on radio........it was tacky in the extreme, and gave all those people who thing Mr Ross is an overpaid ***** (fill in the blanks yourself [Www] ) a chance to have a rant......... 

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[quote user="Hoddy"]Just to get the facts straight. Carol Thatcher did apologise.

The BBC wanted her to make it more fulsome and public. This is what she refused to do.

Hoddy[/quote]

Some apology. Her agent sent a statement to the BBC, which has never been published and which sought to excuse Carol T's behaviour on the grounds that her remarks were jokes. She might have done better to apologise to Jo-Wilfried Tsong.
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To me, an apology should be unequivocal, and impossible to misinterpret, or it is not worth making.

Thus I apologise to anybody on here whom I called a racist.  I do not know what is in your hearts and would never presume to do so.  If anybody has been upset personally by anything I have said, then I am truly sorry.  I never set out to be cruel or hurtful to anybody, merely to defend my own position on offensive language.

Back to Carol and the Beeb.  The two items which I have read thoroughly on this subject, suggested to me that although Mr Chiles and Ms Brand may indeed have complained that they were not necessarily the only ones to do so.  I suspect, as somebody above has already hinted at, that it was somebody on the production team who had a more personal reason for doing so.  It was perhaps because of this - rather than some suspected conspiracy against Ms Thatcher by Mr Chiles - that she has been dropped from this particular show (a more valuable member of the team, perhaps, or at least one who could bring more embarassment to the Corporation if they took the matter further.)  But  we do not know.  We are only guessing and I don't think any of us has enough evidence one way or the other. 

As Christopher says, above, CT has not apologised.  She has only sought to defend her use of the word in this context, and to try to suggest that the comment was not racist.  Self-evidently, she has failed to convince the producers of the programme.  She has not convinced me.  What's upset me - more than I can describe on here - is the number of people who apparently agree with her.  It doesn't surprise me that there is so much hatred in the world, when insults like this are defended from every side.  It's a sad reflection on human nature in general, imo.

And for the record, I find expressions like "carrot top" and  insults directed at people (even Gordon Brown) with disabilites offensive also.  I just don't have the time or the energy to argue about what is, in effect, the same principal, on several threads at once.  Which I'm sure comes as a great relief to most of you.

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