Thursday 9 May 2019

Two birds with one stone

During Kay Burley’s day-long vigil  (waiting to see baby Sussex.) Someone asked, “Who will the baby look like?” (smirk smirk) A potential bear-trap, that. Well, might the baby have a bit of a funny tinge? No, no, didn’t mean that; but who could forget Waynetta Slob who wanted a ‘brahn baby” like everyone else. It’s humour, not proper racism. I bet that episode has been disappeared from YouTube. 



You see, that’s the worst thing about Twitter. One minute you Tweet an edgy image of a chimpanzee, next minute you’re toast. 
I have to say Adam Boulton looked suitably sheepish as he reported Danny Baker’s sacking just now. 
I hate Facebook, (I think I might have mentioned that a couple of times already,) because people you used to like will keep plastering their ill-informed lefty political views all over it, typically with the arrogant, presumptuous, righteous certainty that everyone agrees with them. (Okay, too many adjectives.)





With Twitter, it’s a different story. I don’t - partly because I’d get myself into hot water as soon as I dipped my toe in, trying to be too clever by half, like Adam Boulton. His own Twitter blooper became as conspicuous as a very large elephant as he feigned disinterest while reporting Danny Baker-gate on Sky News. 

Jewish News explains:

“Breakfast Show presenter Julia Hartley-Brewer immediately expressed her concern, writing: “What does that mean? 
“Are you saying that Jews visiting London shouldn’t expect to walk around in an area heavily populated by Muslims and not be spat at? I hope not.” 
In response, Boulton wrote: “No. @MrHarryCole asked what is happening to our country.  
“I was gently suggesting that the offending individuals may not be from here and that it is not a typical area.” 
To which, Hartley-Brewer replied: “Ah, ok. Fair enough. But while they may not have been born here, many of those people will live here.” 
Following further criticism, Boulton tweeted: “You enjoy your outrage and distortions of what I said. I’m interested in thinking about what is happening here.” 
Sky News declined to comment.”

Well, that just goes to show what a minefield is Twitter. So, whose side are you on? Did Boulton mean: the Jew was asking for it by venturing into a notoriously Muslim area?
Or did he mean: I’m highlighting the fact that there are actual no-go areas?

This Twitterstorm in a teacup brought to mind an Edgware Road-related piece I read in 2007  “So now I am a racist Ape.” by Carol Gould. I stumbled upon her website when I first realised the computer could be used for something other than emails. Writers like Ms Gould articulated stuff that had been at the back of my mind all my life. (The rest is history.)

“Recently I went into a well-known coffee chain in Edgware Road near Marble Arch. As I waited to be served I noticed the café was crowded but that I was the only female customer. Men in various permutations of Middle Eastern garb, including several in full head-to-toe keffiyah and robe, stared at me.  
When I sat down and opened my bottle of apple juice I noticed it was fizzing. I called the server over and told her that the juice had fermented. ‘No -- English’ she said, throwing her arms up in despair. Another server came over and asked me what the problem seemed to be. I told her the juice had fermented and that they needed to check their fridge. She looked at the other woman and they shrugged.  
I have to confess I have a short fuse about non-English people populating what seems to be 99 % of every job in London and the Home Counties. I am spoilt because in recent years I have been to the USA several times and marvel at the stupendous service provided by young college students and other Americans who possess perfect English and are obliging beyond anyone’s expectations.  
So, I became exasperated and said ‘Is there no-one working here who speaks English? This is Paddington - this is still a London neighbourhood.’ 

A well-dressed man came over and said ‘I speak English.’ I thought he was going to intervene on my behalf but instead came out with this astonishing observation:
‘You are a racist! You are a racist ape! Look at you-- you are an ape!’ 

Read it all. It’s an easy read.

Edgware Road should have a warning sign; suggest “Jew-free area” and silhouette of a you-know-who with a diagonal bar across.

Adam Boulton probably won’t be sacked, but he won’t have done himself a lot of good with both antisemites and Islamophobes. Two birds with one stone, so to speak,

18 comments:

  1. Monkey Brains9 May 2019 at 13:54

    So Adam Boulton's defence is that he agrees with President Trump that there are no go areas in major cities in Europe? Hmmm...whoddathunkit? The venom with which he references Trump makes me doubt the veracity of that explanation.

    Also, it carries with it that racist idea that some people from some parts of the world can't be expected to understand or obey our laws.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Boulton's comments have revealed what many social liberals and Metropolitan elite think about that behaviour. That includes the BBC who won’t report this episode.

      They will just give a shrug of their shoulders, saying it’s only a minority who do that and not typical. We should make allowances given their culture, cut them some slack and make them welcome. This is all part and parcel of the melting pot that enriches our country.

      They believe that in a couple of generations that sort of prejudice will have vanished up and down our country, replaced by more genteel British manners and attitudes.

      They are completely deluded of course and we are sleepwalking into a new sort of hell.

      Delete
  2. I dread to think what Simon McCoy meant by describing Danny Baker’s Tweet as an insult to Meghan Markle’s “racial heritage”. I’m sure I heard him say that (?)

    It ‘never occurred to me’ that there were chimpanzees in the Markle family. Does this mean it’s not only us you-know-whos that are the descendants of apes and pigs?

    Watch out, Simon McCoy!

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  3. It has been a more exciting week than many. Boulton, Baddiel and Baker... media veterans all... and twitter ingenues too. Apparently.

    I am off now to think what is happening here. The week is not over yet. maybe Gavin Esler can claim to not have said things there is footage of him saying? That would be funny.

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    1. Gavin Esler must be miffed that it was Andrew Neil in the chair today. Coburn would have given him a much softer time by interrupting promptly if there was any mention of 'village idiots'. His exposure to life outside the cosy BBC brotherhood clearly had him rattled.

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    2. Yesterday I forgot Andrew Neil was on Politics Live so I missed some of the excitement. When I did tune in, there was Hissing Gavin Esler having a shouting match with the man sitting next to him - I don't know who he was, as the BBC doesn't believe in informing us - accusing him of lying. Andrew Neil let them run on. How he enjoyed it! Then he was duly questioned about Village Idiots and duly flapped and floundered. The man is not impressive. At one point he said he admired the BBC, adding that he'd worked for it for many years. It felt as if it could have been in another life long ago and far away. If you didn't know his career, you might come away thinking he was some sort of outside observer.

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  4. Someone kindly posted the Youtube.

    Considering his behaviour, throwing out terms like 'lie' and jabbing fingers, I would have expected the chair to be a bit more robust. Especially with the muttered confirmation that what he was screaming in denial he said... he said.

    He is no longer a BBC teflon staffer; he is a (another clearly idiotic) pol.

    This should kill his career as dead as Baker's.

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    Replies
    1. Esler comes across as a thoroughly unpleasant and nasty person.

      The scowl, the finger pointing and the aggressive tone all reveal a window into his true self.

      Without his auto cue and the BBC ‘behind the scenes’ support he is shown to be just another charmless village idiot.

      Delete
    2. Monkey Brains9 May 2019 at 20:50

      The village bully perhaps?

      Delete
    3. There is polite but robust debate and then there is discourteous ill-tempered haranguing.

      What a shame Gavin Esler did not display the former, it would have served him better.

      You can take the man out of the BBC but not the BBC out of the man.

      Delete
  5. Sorry I refuse to joint in shouting "witch"
    Strangely I agree with Esler, people are misrepresenting what he said.
    ..Welcome to politics.
    He didn't say that "people who voted for Brexit are VIs"
    He said that the kind of pro Brexit experts who appear in the media are VIs
    Esler is a fool, but he neither said
    nor does the DuffPost headline say that

    I then looked at Esler's tweet
    Esler's tweet broadens who he accusing of being a Village idiots
    but he still doesn't call the Brexit Voters village idiots

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    Replies
    1. That's true Stew. But he's not a practised politician. He gave a gift to his political enemies who only have to say "We don't believe that Brexit voters were village idiots. It's shameful you used that phrase." When Esler replies indignantly he didn't say that, you ask him "Do you deny you used the phrase village idiots"...he then has to admit he did etc. It's not pretty but it's politics.

      People have only be using the same methods that the BBC and PC Left parties use to misrepresent what people say. They've used these methods over the years against anyone they don't like whether it's Keith Joseph, Margaret Thatcher, Norman Tebbit, Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson or Jacob Rees-Mogg.

      You might be arguing that populists should work to a higher standard. Commendable. I'd be very happy to see reasoned debate but the PC Left won't allow it, so the media battle has to be fought with no mercy shown.

      Farage was good on Question Time tonight because he was aggressive and confrontational and wouldn't let the PC consensus form against him. He's clearly learned from Trump and added that to his formidable abilities as a speaker and explainer.

      And let's not forget Esler is defining as "experts" people who are Remainers and who predicted for instance that there would be an immediate recession after a Leave vote, whereas the economy continued to grow comfortably despite the best efforts of the BBC to talk it down.

      Delete
    2. What struck me was the look of indignation on Esler's face when he was challenged over his Village Idiot expression. He was rattled as his comments were wilfully misinterpreted and words put into his mouth. But this happens every day of the week when views are put forward which do not fit in the the BBC narrative. Esler received a dose of his own medicine.

      The indignant look was priceless. Esler, now a graduate of the BBC University takes his first steps into the real world and trips at the first hurdle - this wasn't meant to happen.

      Delete
    3. Indeed - a dose of his own medicine and a lesson in the ways of the world for him.

      Being a politician is not easy. We are very hypocritical about them. We expect them to do our dirty work for us (making all those difficult ethical and resource allocation decisions on our behalf) but we criticise them for gettting dirty in the process. We hold them to a higher moral standard than we apply to ourselves. We want them to be tough but not uncaring, determined but not robotic, clever but not too clever...It's not surprising most politicians fail our expectations.

      Esler thought he could bring his media persona, based on a preening ethical self-regard, into politics and be applauded for his presumption. Doesn't work like that!

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    4. ... Esler thought he could bring his media persona, based on a preening ethical self-regard, into politics and be applauded for his presumption ...

      Agreed. There is a misconception amongst the Simpsons. Eastons and now Eslers of this world that they are well-respected popular and that the electorate will hang onto their every word. Plaudits received from their adoring fans within the BBC simply do not transfer readily to those outside that cosseted world - and in Esler's case, he has been dumbfounded in his realisation of the simple matter of fact.

      Delete
  6. Dara, professional Irishman and Beeboidist, sticks up for fellow Beebsnaffler Danny and gets a twitter lashing for his pains...

    https://twitter.com/daraobriain/status/1126450953874546689

    :) It's enjoyable seeing the PC pack tear each other apart.

    Dara has never shown any forgiving mercy to anyone not of the PC Left-Liberal consensus who offended against the peeceearchy. Why should we show mercy to his mates?

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  7. Jon Gaunt asked where are all Danny's mates to defend him ?
    like Jonathon Ross, and Chris Evans etc.
    https://www.jongaunt.com/articles/danny-baker-is-not-a-racist-you-muppets

    To me the whole thing is just a stupid playground pile on thing
    We should save our outrage for the real rapists.

    ReplyDelete

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