Thursday, November 05, 2009



More BBC double standards

Call a black a golliwog (even in private) and you are OUT. But you can go on TV and call the Queen anything you like
"The BBC has been accused of double standards after it once again broadcast offensive comments about the Queen. On the latest episode of Have I Got News For You, comedy actor and host Miranda Hart described the monarch and her husband as 'that Greek twit and his Kraut wife'.

The incident follows the panic at the Corporation after Andrew Neil light-heartedly compared MP Diane Abbott to a chocolate HobNob biscuit. On that occasion BBC chiefs, terrified of a race backlash, removed the episode from its websites and iPlayer on-demand service after 15 complaints. But the comments about the Queen have not been removed, despite more than double the number of complaints.

One viewer on the BBC's Points of View message-board said: 'I am very disapproving when the participants make derogatory personal remarks about public figures. 'Some of these verge on hateful racial prejudice for instance Miranda Hart referred to the Queen as a "kraut".'

Source

"Kraut" is derogatory British slang for a German. The Queen does have some German ancestry. A lot of Brits love the Queen so the contemptuous description above would have been deeply offensive to them. But it's only blacks, homosexuals and Muslims who must not be offended. Offending other people is fine.

It will be interesting to see if the German embassy objects to the slur "Kraut" being used on British TV. "Kraut" in German means a cabbage.

A bit of trivia: Although he has connections to the defunct Greek throne, it is actually Prince Philip who is most German. He has no Greek ancestry at all. His mother was German; he still speaks good German; and he keeps in touch with his German relatives. During WWII, he served with distinction in the Royal Navy.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Obviously there are a lot of double standards in every media outlet, not just the BBC. No denying that. However I do think it's kind of childish to go whining about insulting public figures. If anything they should have even less protection against insults than others. They are public figures and therefore by definition subjects of public speech - jokes included.

Now if someone would make a joke about Polish plumbers (I'm sure there are none of those in England) who's just trying to make a living I would understand - (although not accept) - but insulting the queen? Gimme a break!

King George, or is it Boy George said...

Yet another story coming out of Britain about their goofy PC'ized standards. Are they familiar with the term, FUBAR? They should be, since they have become the living, breathing, example of what it truly means.

Anonymous said...

Americans like to generalize about other countries but not about themselves - how's that for "double standards"!

Anonymous said...

And before I'm accused of generalizing too, I am refering to the repeated posts here which damn Britain in general whenever an alleged case of PC occurs there, but don't do the same when it occurs in the US - then the condemnation is confined to specific groups with whom the posters don't identify, like "leftists","mexifornia", etc.

Anonymous said...

And before I'm accused of generalizing too, I am refering to the repeated posts here which damn Britain in general whenever an alleged case of PC occurs there, but don't do the same when it occurs in the US

In all fairness, the initial posts are written by John Ray, who is Australian and therefore reads a great deal more about incidents in the Commonwealth than elsewhere.

You can actually see that from his sources. Most of the sources for non-US / Commonwealth posts are news articles. Most of the posts for US stories are either blogs, Newsmax, (which is worse than a blog)or Fox which has an admitted right wing bias.

Trust me when I say that there is plenty of hypocrisy and double standards here and many of us deal with it and confront it on a daily basis.

Boy George said...

Anon 4:00,
Whenever an "alleged" case of PC occurs there? Alleged? So, after reading stories like this just about every other day, you're not sure if it's happening? You MUST be British!

And when it comes to PC, the US is not any better, and no one has suggested it is. But even we're not that bad!

Anonymous said...

"And when it comes to PC, the US is not any better, and no one has suggested it is. But even we're not that bad!"

So which one is it - you are or you aren't?


The first years of my "awakening" to the problem of PC were filled with examples from the US. Black people suing for this and that, quotas in colleges, negro-black-african american-debate, affirmative action, TV-shows filled with black characters and black issues and references to racism, feminism,... Examples are numerous. Europe hadn't even heard about that when it first hit the tube via American shows. Now the cancer is spreading but we all know where it originated.

Anonymous said...

10:08 PM Americans use the classic "projection-syndrome". They accuse their "enemies" of what they do. While they brag when they export supposedly "positive" things like jeans and rock&roll and economic aid (which is often only related to US business & influence), they don't mention political correctness, all the other social fads they export, not least drug and gang related, or about the whacky cults like Scientology and Mormonism, or the first global spreading of AIDS, and so much more that has made them so hated or at least suspect, eg. the exploitative oil companies and "big business". But most ordinary Americans (a shocking % of whom apparently can't even find their own country on a world map) don't understand why that is; but as has been mentioned elsewhere here, their source of information is so improverished thanks to their own introverted, superficial media.

TrueAmerican said...

Anon said: "Now the cancer is spreading but we all know where it originated."

It may have originated in America, but you folks across the pond are perfecting it.. Let us know when you get it right..

Anonymous said...

Okay - So what's the next crazy fad that you folks on the west side of the Pond going to send over for us to "perfect"?