Racist or not Racist..

I just have to comment on this argument that is occupying our airwaves at the moment,  because I have found myself forever shouting at the TV, internet or any other medium in which I am reading or listening about the latest race issues.  Just a little opinion though! Let me start by posing a question. Does the use of racist language mean that the person using it is racist? 

It may seem like a silly or obvious question. Let me use a fictional example. Who watched the film Rush hour with Chris Rock and Jackie Chan? Remember the scene, where they go into a snooker bar, with Chris rock hailing his mates, hello my niggers, and what does Chan do? He copies what he believes to be an example and goes wading in with the exact same phrase (funnily enough he couldn’t seem to pronounce the world properly) and then is confused when they all round on him, were they right to round on him? Was he actually being racist?.  I remember laughing my guts off at this. Look at the real life example of Ron Atkinson; he was so sent to Coventry for calling or referring to a player as a lazy nigger! This is the same manager who can be credited with nurturing and increasing the number of black players in top flight football. At a time when racism was much more overtly practised. Some people live by the mantra of actions speak louder than words but that did not save big Ron, and in fact it had a really bad effect on him. (Not substantiated, happened to catch him in an episode of celebrity Wife Swap) In my mind, to be racist one has to actively and consistently behave in a particular way towards a person purely motivated by their race. It means not giving a person a job because they are of a particular race one does not like; it means abusing someone just because of their race or indeed attacking them because of their race and so on and so forth.  Clearly the incidents that have been reported in the news shows just how different and how emotive the subject can be.  These  incidents were all provoked by actions other than race, but ended up becoming embroiled with race issues as arguments ensued. That notwithstanding all the stuff about Sepp Blatter, John Terry, Jason Gardner and Luis Suarez with Patrick Evra reveals how differently people see things and that they draw the line between wrong and right in different places. I have my opinions about all of these, but the most stupid one was Jason Gardiner being told he was racist because he tweeted that he had been robbed by two black youths. So far as I know he was mugged by two black youths so how is that racist?  I admit that had the youths been white, he may just have said he was robbed by two youths, but in the grand scheme of things how the hell does this make him racist?  I need someone to explain it to me, as I personally don’t get it. That brings me on to John Terry, do I think he made racist comments to Anton, probably, does that make him racist? Probably not!   These are quite interesting cases, because they all work in industries that have different rules of engagement to those of us in normal jobs. That is why despite John Terry being under investigation the FA seems to think it is ok, that he still wears the captain's armband for England. I understand the argument about innocent until proven guilty, but like I said, it appears to be different rules.

There has to be some perspective on this, yes racism exists, and in some cases it's devastating a la the Stephen Lawrence killing and there are probably incidents in bullying in schools and indeed work places, and it needs to be stamped out. But does that mean that every little thing that comes out do with race has to end with someone being brandished a racist?

Britain is such a diverse place and our attitudes are to be lauded the world over, but in the end if we continue on the path we are on now we will end up living in a world that can be compared to one where we have become immune to every single form of antibiotics!

msnikkidee's 12th November 2011.. a day in the life ....

The BBC is making a docu drama.. Britain in a day.  They wanted everyone to participate by filming themselves and posting it up to YouTube, well I am not willing to do that, but I did think it would be a good idea to make a record of the day.  No videos though, well not my own anyhow.

9:30 ish, woke up later than normal to the sound of the burglar alarm. which in our house only means one thing..the electricity has gone off. Bummer! I would like to say that I sprang out of bed with nifty feet, but you know it would be a lie! After replenishing the leckie, I make coffee and go back upstairs fully expecting that himself will still be sleeping but where the burglar alarm did not wake him, the alarm on my phone does! ( hmm so what would happen if there was actually a burglar, hmm).  We now partake in what has become a bit of a Saturday Morning tradition over the last few weeks and watched our sky plussed edition of XFactor USA!  Very good, leaves the British one in the wind... really but for my on any side of the pond, it pulls at my heart strings.. It seems that in America they are not fans of groups either. I would love to work that out, really. Anyhow we like Chris Rene in our house, as well as Astro..  The problem with the the American X factor is that they can all sing, and put on a performance, there are not joke acts, no one to dislike.. have you heard Melanie Omaro or Leroy Bell. The latter is a fantastic example of why you should never give up on your dreams!

It would be fab to see some collaborations between some British X- factor artistes like Misha B and Chris Rene and a sing off between Little Mix and Lakoda rain!

12:10- Well before you know it, its lunch time, and yes surprise surprise it was really hunger that alerted me to the time, so had to interrupt American X-Factor to utilise my wonderful culinary skills! After that, can you believe I had a nap, something i have not done for ages, at least not since my clubbing days! 

 I woke up watched a bit of the Republic Of Ireland's Euro qualifier in which  Robbie Keane scored. He has such a funny celebration run, it really did make me giggle. 

4 ish, was hungry again, believe it ( I attribute it to slimming world- it gets your furnaces going!) Watched all of the England V Spain game ( well bar 10 minutes when I popped out to the shops to buy stuff). I have to talk about it, I enjoyed it in a funny sort of way, Spain was Spain, ever patient, ever possessive of the ball! Somehow though it was England who got the goal early in the second half and they proved that they could defend for 90 mins, ( cos even the first half was defend, defend defend). I accept that it may be a boost for the team, but it was by no means a show stopping performance ( well) by England and they cannot do that for a whole tournament and expect to win, am pretty certain they watched the  last world cup!  I heard on the radio at some point that it would be very easy, what with all the talk about the alleged racism case against Terry and the poppy wear no wear chatter, to forget that England do play football as well and to me that is the 64 thousand dollar question.. can they or can't they is it just bad luck that they have not won a major tournament since 19 God knows when!

Evening

The Akiti went out to visit his Godson and I was left with the remote control  and X factor UK. It was good this week, as it was full of drama what with the demise of Frankie Coccoza's journey on X factor and the subsequent return of another act, not to mention some technical hitches. In the end it was Amelia Lily that came back, but I would have liked two shoes.  It makes you realise who subjective and personal such a show is. Apparently Amelia got 48% of the vote not bad eeh.. So we like what we like only some people put their money where their mouth is.. So apart from the occasional CD purchase or Itunes download I am definitely an armchair supporter!

Well my Saturday was not really that extraordinary, I was in my house all day, bar 10 mins in the local shops, very lazy. None of my normal activities anywhere in sight, although to be honest It would be a special case if I were to go to Tae Kwon Do on a Saturday, or indeed dance class, but there were no parties, no real shopping to talk of indeed no visitations all normal Saturday activities usually.  As you can see there was no need to video we are a normal family from Luton Bedfordshire and would have ended up on the cutting room floor. Good!

People Just Don't get it!Facebook squabbles, Slimming World and Liverpoolfc

I just have to tell you about some of my experiences this week, as they have been exhausting but exhilarating all at once! Having been gently  reprimanded about my timekeeping at work I took to taking   ultra early trains ( at least by my standards), much to my chagrin! I have now declared that I hate commuters, they are so nasty and selfish! You may want to see my earlier post: http://www.tumblr.com/blog/msnikkidee titled Its official.  Along with my pet hate of commuters lies those people who tell you, that you don't have a life, and that you are stupid because you like to play games on line, on facebook in particular. Well thank you very much for the insult , but according to my mother, I am a woman of substance, indeed I believe that.. you may not, but who do you think you think you are? Some kind of superstar? ( even superstars use some form of social media I'll have you know) After all, it is you who doesn't know how to set your settings so that you don't get notifications from or invitations to games from your friends, it is your choice not to participate with those things on social platforms, that does not mean that those of us who do are stupid, or to use your words don't have a life! I find that statement in any context very insulting and offensive, so how very dare you! Ok rant over ( for now). I suppose it is normal or logical to get grief from people who do not like or have a limited understanding of social media, or generally from those who do not have respect towards other people's choices! I say the world is big and beautiful enough to accommodate all of us and our different version of life!


Now I move my attention to my continual love of slimming world.  I had a lovely lunch date this week with my lovely friends Marian and Wunmi. It was going through the menu, with me muttering, oh what am I gonna have, too many syns in that, too many syns in this and so on and so forth, that brought it all on, I mean; I was told that I am not following the plan, I am not doing this, do you eat enough speed foods? I was half way through trying to respond when I remembered that actually this is one of the great things about Slimming World compared to other diets or eating plans, is that it accommodates dates with lovely people! The lady who was going on and on, has a sister who is a slimming world consultant..but as far as I tell that is where the knowledge stopped.  She did not understand how unique Slimming world is in it's approach and that it can be adapted to suit any lifestyle. It is an exemplar in diversity! You choose your own journey and make your own destiny. I love the tag line 'because you are amazing'. It re-inforces what my my mum always told me.. I am a woman of substance... check out the plan at www.slimmingworld.com.

All I will say about my next favourite issue of the week, is that Mr Kenny Dalglish, had better realise quickly that Andy Carroll and Jordan Henderson are not yet capable of being the dream team. We all know what a little wonder Luis Suarez is though. I believe we have to respect all opponents, but we also have to beat all those people our rivals are beating. I mean, why do we always seem to struggle against newly promoted teams, where the mancs don't, Arsenal don't and neither do Chelsea or spurs.  Statistics from the BBC website about our records with  Swansea are: 

• Swansea have never beaten Liverpool at Anfield in the league.
• Liverpool are unbeaten in six matches, their longest run since manager Kenny Dalglish returned.
• Liverpool have won just three of their last 11 matches against newly promoted sides
• This was the first time in 16 visits that Swansea have kept a clean sheet at Anfield

So come on boys, you know what needs to be done...