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Politics

Appalling Misjudged Harman Gaffe...

145 replies

Chil1234 · 30/10/2010 16:41

You know you've won the argument when your opponent is stooping to cheap personal insults. Calling Danny Alexander a 'ginger rodent' was jaw-droppingly childish and I'm glad she had the good grace to apologise. Silly woman.

OP posts:
Maisiethemorningsidecat · 31/10/2010 19:15

I wondered how long it would be before the defence of the poor Harriet started. She's an adult in a position of responsibility. Whilst we may have been the brunt of playground taunts as children (specky four eyes here, in my days before contact lenses), that kind of cheap, bullying jibe from an adult is just pathetic. No excuse.

Katisha · 31/10/2010 19:05

Plus fofr the record, I am not putting it on a par with homophobia, racism etc. I hate it as it's an apparently still acceptable excuse for bullying.

Katisha · 31/10/2010 19:01

You evidently thought the "ginger" part was still necessary for the laugh..

Katisha · 31/10/2010 19:01

SHJ, I base most of my assumption on the fact that earlier in the thread you thought "ginger twat" was oh so amusing.

YOu see no evidence of ginger-haired children being bullied. I do.

TheShriekingHarpy · 31/10/2010 18:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MissBeehiving · 31/10/2010 18:33

He is ferrety.

BetsyBoop · 31/10/2010 18:31

stupid playground name-calling, and from Ms Harperson who like to see herself as a champion of equality....

I would call her a muppet, but that's offensive to muppets Grin

huddspur · 31/10/2010 18:20

One of my cousins has red hair and he has had to change schools 3 times due to bullying regarding his hair colour. Its not a laughing matter.

SpringHeeledJack · 31/10/2010 18:17

how about "smug little tory turncoat?"

would have been more accurate. And probably more in keeping with what she actually thinks of DA

...ex Lib Dem voting friends of mine loathe DA more than George Osborne. Quote: "at least Gideon was born a horrible Tory. Danny Alexander has chosen to be one"

dittany · 31/10/2010 18:06

This reply has been deleted

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SpringHeeledJack · 31/10/2010 18:05

yeah, and what dittany said

SpringHeeledJack · 31/10/2010 18:04

unpleasant

SpringHeeledJack · 31/10/2010 18:04

Katisha you can't make assumptions about me just because I don't believe that calling red headed people names is a prejudice

I don't see- from my personal experience- that ginger kids get it worse than anyone else- much less that this sort of thing can be somehow considered as being on a par with racial abuse, homophobia etc.

It is umpleasant- but kids get called names for many, many 'reasons' apart from being ginger.

dittany · 31/10/2010 18:02

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soxhound · 31/10/2010 17:58

The fact that Brown orchestrated an entire culture of bullying has now been confirmed by innumerable autobiographies, diaries, etc. So it should come as no surprise that Harman is as she is.

Katisha · 31/10/2010 17:50

You don't have red haired children yourself I take it?
I do.
I resent this casual bullying of people because of their hair colour. Adults should know better, but unfortunately it's a good cheap laugh isn't it, and not something anyone should get upset about because it's "only joking"...

soxhound · 31/10/2010 17:50

Her behaviour's indefensible IMO. Shame on her. She is just so despicable.

SpringHeeledJack · 31/10/2010 17:47

hmmm, Katisha

one family? three years ago?

I'm not convinced...

Katisha · 31/10/2010 17:18

Like this do you mean, SpringheeledJack?

Also here

ISNT · 31/10/2010 17:09

Does "she needs a quick going over in a dark alley" mean what I think it means?

SpringHeeledJack · 31/10/2010 17:05

...when jobs are restricted to non-gingers, or B&B landladies start telling ginger people they have no vacancies, then let a non-ginger in 5 minutes later, or ginger families moving into estates have anti ginger slogans daubed on their doors you may have a case

Grin
SpringHeeledJack · 31/10/2010 17:02

all the folk who reckon that there is such a thing as "gingerism"- I have a little q for you to ponder. I got called Spock at least once daily at school by other kids-some of them ginger. This went on for- oooh- about 11 years. It may have had something to do with my fucking enormous slightly oversized ears

I learnt (at about 6) that the way to deal with this was to smile and accept it with grace and dignity. If instead I had wept and shouted "fuck off out of it you ginger bastards" would I have then been using discriminatory language?

I don't really think that calling this discrimination/ calling into question H Harman's commitment to equality is either appropriate or useful Grin

(me and dp think it's hilaaarious that the whole focus on this 'issue' has been to do with the ginger aspect- everyone is igmoring the rodent bit, which is much more offensive, surely!)

grumpyvamps · 31/10/2010 16:16

teej - I am a redhead. (Now blonde, but prob revert back at some point. Teasing happens all the time - surely the fact she made herself look like an idiot is enough?

byrel · 31/10/2010 11:37

This shows how desperate the Labour Party are. The country is realising the severity of the actions needed to clear up the mess they created when in Government and they know they don't have anything remotely constructive to say about how to solve the problems they created.