To ask if there's something I'm missing about the allegedly "controversial" Diversity performance

[GlummyMcGlummerson]

Diversity performed on Britain's Got Talent, a performance which incorporated a message about BLM. Their performance, as usual, was incredible and sent out some great messages. The video is below.

It's had 10,000 complaints. Why?! am I missing something? Did someone's nipple pop out or something? What is the basis of people's complaints? The only reason I can think is that some people (probably because they're part of the problem) don't like it when others point out that there's racism in the world? Boo hoo to them

It was not 'recreated' in some very graphic fashion
Ashley did not gasp for breath, cry, plead, piss himself and then become unconscious right in the middle of everyone's Saturday night light entertainment TV.
If he had that would indeed have justified complaints
He represented George Floyd's death in a moving artistic way in a small part of a routine.
If a toddler was watching they would not have been upset by what the saw as it was not objectively upsetting.

As for Diversity being too posh to experience racism. Well they are experiencing it right here right now in being subject to a record number of complaints and denied the right to make art about an issue that matters to them in a way that a white dance troupe on the same program are not.

My black colleague was arrested whilst moving his Mercedes off his own driveway in his tracksuit because he did apparently looked more like the kind of person who would steal that car than own it.
He's privately educated and well off but as a black man he still experiences racism

Anyone can be responsible for Racism, @Gilead.

The police, the government, and the judiciary would be my top three to start with @strawberryraspberryjam. Unless you've any groundbreaking evidence to the contrary?!

Ah okay, thanks dancing That does make sense. Sean Rigg and Roger Sylvester needed mental health services not the unnecessary restraint and force which killed them

13 and 20 years ago. Policing has come a long way wrt MH in the last 10 years, especially as MH services have been cut to the point where the police are expected to pick up the pieces in many cases.

No saying it’s perfect, but most police deal with MH day in day out, and are consequently experienced with it, and training is greatly improved.

I work alongside MH and regularly see PC’s handling MH incredibly well.

This video is one shown to US police- the man with clear MH issues would not have survived.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=9mzPj_IaMzY

But the police, the government and the judiciary are made up of people aren't they?

Their policies are written and enacted by people. They are voted for by people

We have the institutions we deserve
We have to change public opinion, hearts and minds
Policy change usually follows on from rather than leads public opinion cf gay marriage (majority of people in favour years before it was put into law)

If you find this offensive, you're part of the problem.

So many people on this thread demonstrating internalised racism.

Don't they just Tonkerbea.

But the police, the government and the judiciary are not exactly known for their diversity, are they? It just seems like an odd argument to say that it’s not white people, it’s institutional, so tackle the institutions, when those institutions were almost exclusively set up by white people for the benefit of white people and are populated by white people.

And isn’t raising awareness on a popular platform that will actually be seen by many people a good start to get people to think about the issues.

But Micah would it not be better if MH services had better funding and therefore could avert and deal with MH crises rather than train police to do it?
Isn't it a bit bizarre that we are needing to train police to do a job they are not there for rather than invest in services that are dedicated?

@theld

Of course. But it isn’t. I don’t see why the police should be punished though. Defunding the police to fund MH services is not the way to go either. Especially as the police will still be needed in certain MH circumstances regardless- where weapons are involved, or there is a danger to staff or the individual. It is much more economical for example to use existing police resources to find missing suicidal people, for example, than fund and train MH staff to do it.

The upside has been that the increased MH pressure has forced police to deal with it better. It tends to be inexperience and fear that leads people to use force in MH cases.

"Banjo had a privileged childhood, he went to a private school, was head boy which doesn't suggest he experienced any prejudice. Now he of course can still dance about the racism others experience but it's as palatable as Jacob Rees Mogg doing a dance about poverty."

This is nonsense. JRM has not experienced poverty. Banjo has experienced racism. Being head boy doesnt mean you've never experienced prejudice either. That's a ridiculously silly notion.

Do think Deborah meaden has never experienced prejudice because shes successful in business?

@Livelovebehappy

simonjt stupid comment, deliberately missing the point I’m making. It wasn’t about black peoples being on the show. You do know Alisha Dixon is a permanent fixture on BGT? There’s a place for politics and bad news, and BGT isn’t the platform for either. So yes, when these topics are introduced into a light entertainment show, it does spoil my viewing.

Excellent show of privilege there. People are being killed because of the colour of their skin. It affects their very being. It's terrible - but let's not spare a few minutes of BGT to acknowledge it. FFS.

As diversity are so socially conscious I will await their dance tribute to the two officers recently shot and to David dorn and many other innocents who have lost their lives

It's because the Daily Mail ran an article about the performance and how many complaints had been received about politicising a family TV show. And of course, complaints then went up from 1000 - 15,000, according to the DM. You can guarantee that most of the complainants didn't watch the show.

"As diversity are so socially conscious I will await their dance tribute to the two officers recently shot and to David dorn and many other innocents who have lost their lives"

Maybe they're waiting for you to do it seeing as you care so much.

So Diversity are not allowed to do a dance about how the world would be better without racism because:

1. the dance reminded people that an unarmed black man was murdered by a white police officer which made them uncomfortable

2. Diversity are privileged so can't have experienced racism

3. They should not be dancing about racism, they should be tackling gang culture

4. They cannot comment on the murder of a black man by a white police officer that sparked massive global protests unless they also talk about every other death ever, but especially the deaths of white people.

5. It was inappropriate for Saturday night TV when people don't want to be reminded that the world isn't all skateboarding dogs

6. It referenced the slogan Black Lives Matter and some people don't like the political organisation of the same name.

7) they are black

'Maybe they're waiting for you to do it seeing as you care so much'

No no they have the platform you see, we don't. David Dorn's life mattered, yet you wouldn't think so.

I can imagine Diversity cannot simply wait to go back on TV to dance for the nation, seen as the last one went so well. Are they now expected to just dance for us like court jesters, to whatever topic we demand them to?

Good summing up noble giraffe.

Also because they RECREATED a violent death on light entertainment telly.

I'm going to complain about that magician who CUT A WOMAN IN HALF! It's disgusting. Shouldn't be allowed.

I don’t think recreating a recent murder is the same as the cut in half magician tricks which isn’t real. Maybe recreating PC Harper’s murder would be less controversial though.

I think you're conflating race and class @Strawberryraspberryjam. Those institutions were set up by and for the rich, who in the UK happened to be exclusively white - and exclusively male - as women couldn't own property. Do you think they were set up to protect the interests of the white dock workers and domestic servants I'm descended from?! Are you fucking kidding?! Not my circus, not my monkeys.

In Saudi Arabia all the same institutions exist to protect the interests of rich, brown-skinned men. Rich men always look after their own. That doesn't mean everyone else in Saudi Arabia who happens to share the same skin tone automatically also shares the values of the ruling class.

Yes murder of a white man would be less controversial I am sure

BGT is a light entertainment programme. Not a platform for political messages of any sort.

IMO Diversity inappropriately used 'entertainment'

'don’t think recreating a recent murder is the same as the cut in half magician tricks which isn’t real. Maybe recreating PC Harper’s murder would be less controversial though.'

Yes it would be 'art' after all.

They didnt recreate it. They did a non graphic artistic representation of a violent event. Happens all the time on tv without any sort of kerfuffle.