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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To Think This Is A Racist Comment, even for the DM?

167 replies

RubyFakeNails · 28/07/2012 21:52

A friend alerted me to this article in the DM.

This section I think is particularly crass, with one sentence being racist.

"The highlight was undoubtedly an hilarious sketch featuring the Queen and James Bond which saw her Majesty ?parachute? into the stadium.

But it was the absurdly unrealistic scene ? and indeed one that would spring from the kind of nonsensical targets and equality quotas we see in the NHS - showing a mixed-race middle-class family in a detached new-build suburban home, which was most symptomatic of the politically correct agenda in modern Britain.

This was supposed to be a representation of modern life in England but it is likely to be a challenge for the organisers to find an educated white middle-aged mother and black father living together with a happy family in such a set-up.
Almost, if not every, shot in the next sequence included an ethnic minority performer. The BBC presenter Hazel Irvine gushed about the importance of grime music (a form of awful electronic music popular among black youths) to east London.

This multicultural equality agenda was so staged it was painful to watch.
And Conservative MP Aidan Burley was right to point out on Twitter that it was a load of 'leftie multicultural c**p'. Yet predictably he has been castigated by Twitter's Guadianista brigade.

Unfortunately the kind of politically driven multiculturalism we saw last night is the kind of social engineering we have come to expect."

I'm really offended by this as I can't see what evidence they have to make that comment, and as a white educated middle-aged woman living with an equally educated black man in a happy family set-up, maybe I am biased. Would like some opinions.

AIBU to make a complaint about this?

OP posts:
OhDoAdmitMrsDeVere · 29/07/2012 08:45

Several of my family members were dotted about that arena as dancers, drummers and stewards.
They were not bussed in from another planet. They are British and Londoners and volunteered hours and hours of their time.

And that beautiful mixed race girl who was the main dancer in the 'couple' storyline?

She looked so much like my DD it broke my heart.

Itchyandscratchy · 29/07/2012 09:54

You might find this interesting: a comparison between the 1st version of the article and the 2nd, an attempt to cover up the worst of the initial comments.

frankie4 · 29/07/2012 10:22

My dp's are daily mail readers (!) but they really enjoyed the opening ceremony and did not think it was too multicultural at all, it did not cross their minds. If someone on twitter can be sent to court for racist comments then why is this article allowed?

By the way I live in a suburban area and have a good friend who is white married to a black man for 10 years with good jobs and mortgage Shock

Thumbwitch · 29/07/2012 10:25

Did they enjoy themselves, MrsDV? And yes, she was beautiful, utterly gorgeous.

NotLikeThatYouWont · 29/07/2012 10:44

Just from another perspective, here. We live in one of the most UNdiverse parts of the UK - almost all white. But I didn't even register the mix of people in the opening ceremony until I read that article. We were watching the ceremony. It just doesn't follow that, just becaue you don't live in a mixed area, you're going to notice a mixed performance. I think that if you see something like that you have to be actually looking for it.

After reading the article, I checked to see if my children (13 and 10) had noticed. I didn't mention skin colour - just asked them what they remembered about the bit in the house. They both said there had been "a mother and her little boy, and he was playing a game, and she brought him into their house..." When I asked if they remembered what they looked like, they described them in terms of age and what they were doing.

The guy who wrote that, and anyone who agreed, must be the types who set out from the start to count non-white faces and get offended if there are "too many", or if they appear in contexts that don't fit in with their shitty racist opinions.

Frontpaw · 29/07/2012 11:03

It would have been suprising if the DM didn't find something to get on its outrage soap box about.

Where I live it is very mixed and I am a minority as a white GB born person, but where I came from (AFN Scotland) we had three 'foreign' families in our town - one afro-american (they left when I was little), one indian and one from Hong Kong. I was borderline as my mum waas english (mainly).

I didn't see colour or race - I didn't like that segment (I wondered if people in the stadium could follow the storyline) but thought the girl was really beautiful and looked like she was having the time of her life. I like Dizee Rascal - really makes me laugh and DS loves 'Bonkers'.

neolara · 29/07/2012 11:09

That's shocking. Complain away. Loudly.

Toughasoldboots · 29/07/2012 11:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

FreudianSlipper · 29/07/2012 11:38

they may have supported Doreen Lawrence that makes what they have written even worse, support her yet make judgements on people purely based on colour

this is low even by DM standards

hackmum · 29/07/2012 11:42

What a vile article. What a revolting man. I've never even heard of him before - was expecting Richard Littlejohn or Mel Philips but I suppose even they have the sense to tone down their more extreme views.

Equally offensive, later on in the article (if you got that far) was the use of the phrase "banana republic". Difficult to believe that in this day and age someone even thinks like that let alone chooses to publicise their bigotry in a national newspaper.

Toughasoldboots · 29/07/2012 11:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

edam · 29/07/2012 11:46

tough, the story is that Stephen's father did some work round at Paul Dacre's house (the editor of the Mail) and PD realised the Lawrences were nice, ordinary people. He then took up the cause. Bit shit that he was prejudiced against them before meeting Stephen's Dad but hey, at least it achieved something. Sad that he hasn't applied the same thinking to everyone else though. I suspect it's a mix of class and race, the Mail being obsessed with class and seeing its role as defending the middle class against the great unwashed.

edam · 29/07/2012 11:47

(I don't know how true this story is, btw, but the fact it is told and believed amongst journalists says a lot about Dacre and the Mail.)

theinets · 29/07/2012 11:59

I like the daily mail but even i am staggered that they managed to find a "political correctness gone mad" angle to the ceremony . The ceremony had something fo everyone, that's what made it so good. What did they want, 3 hours of military music and Teutonic displays? Bonkers...

edam · 29/07/2012 12:02

Teutonic displays is probably about right - the Mail supported the fascists in the 30s.

Nancy66 · 29/07/2012 12:02

i work at the Mail and i've never heard of this bloke.

Online content is not closely monitored - chances are he wrote this (unpaid I imagine - most Online bloggers are) and it was put up with just a cursory check.

I'm sure there will be an inquest come Monday

edam · 29/07/2012 12:11

Hey Nancy, I searched him on the Mail website and he's got plenty of news stories up there, not just blogs.

Nancy66 · 29/07/2012 12:15

but i suspect he just works for online - not the paper

BanoffeeSplitz · 29/07/2012 12:19

I've just been re-watching some of the opening ceremony, the first section in particular & it actually seems very balanced in terms of race - the Suffragettes, Pearly Kings & Queens, Jarrow Marchers are mainly white (AFAIK one, possibly more, of the Jarrow Marchers in the ceremony were descendents of the original marchers Smile), the Windrush emigrants are black / mixed race. There are one or two (but not loads of) black faces amongst the rural villagers and the industrialists and given that there have been black people in London since Elizabethan times or before even this has origins in historical fact.

The house party segment was mixed racially - like East London today, even if it's not representative of every town & village in rural England.

And FWIW I'm in my 40's and grew up in an 'educated' mixed race family in a village outside London, and my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last year - I'd say that was a pretty stable relationship Grin.

We do tend not to have ignorant bigots on our Christmas Card list though, so perhaps that's why Rick Dewsbury has apparently never met or can even imagine a single family like ours.

edam · 29/07/2012 12:19

Could well be the case. But the Mail has one of the biggest websites around so they really need to sub it just as carefully as the paper.

WilsonFrickett · 29/07/2012 12:28

It's funny because until I read this thread/article I hadnt even noticed the multiracial aspect of it. I just saw brilliant, exciting, fabulous London and wished I was there. And I live in a very 'white' part of the country by the way.

Well done Ruby for complaining. Hate-filled bile.

RubyFakeNails · 29/07/2012 12:36

Dh and I have both now complained as have my parents, in-laws, and a couple of friends of mine who also make up a 'challenging to find' family.

I guess the thing that bothers me most is that generally the DM and writers of a similar mindset at least thinly veil their sentiments, so they either didn't think this was racist or that it is a completely acceptable view to take and didn't believe it would be challenged.

OP posts:
threefeethighandrising · 29/07/2012 12:50

Yes of course that article is racist!

The Olympics is in the East End of London which is very diverse, culturally.

It would have been wholly inappropriate to have had a predominantly white cast!

And like someone pointed out up thread, these people were volunteers. They represent the community by definition.

threefeethighandrising · 29/07/2012 12:54

DP reckons the DM are deliberately controversial - particularly on their website, as a deliberate tactic to get more web hits, as then they can charge more to advertisers.

Using tactics like this, they get a load of Guardian readers (me included) to go to the DM website - how else would they manage this?!

threefeethighandrising · 29/07/2012 12:56

If you want to complain about the article, here's a link to the Press Complaints Commission

Reposting in case anyone missed it earlier.

Thanks for that florafox :)