Last week there was a hullabaloo about a postmaster telling customers who could not speak English either to get an interpreter or to leave the post office. He claimed they took too long in the queue whilst he tried to decipher what they were saying. The fact that he was of Sri Lankan background only helped to fuel the spontaneous fury, mainly from non-integrated Muslims. Deva Kumarasiri had a very valid point. He said, "People should learn the language. It doesn't have to be perfect, mine isn't perfect. To integrate into society you have to learn English. You don't have to change your cultural values, but at least learn the language." Now who, apart from nauseating Taliban supporters and New Labour culturalists, could gainsay that!
The old saying of "When in Rome do as the Romans" is lost on a lot of people. All that goes by the board, especially for the clipboard-hugging, box-ticking PC lot at the BBC.
Now we have a situation where Sir David Jason is brought up short, by the BBC's great arbiters of proper humour, for telling a "racist" joke. This is the offending joke -
"What do you call a Pakistani cloakroom attendant?" Answer - "Me hat, me coat."
Now if you put any other nationality in there it may be acceptable. Try Russian with a different tag line. David Jason hardly knew what hit him. He had been "horrified" when hearing he had "given offence". I'm more horrified at the comedic cleansing going on at the BBC. The corporation is so rectally challenged it hardly knows what to do. An unnamed spokeswoman prissilly says - "The comments made by David Jason were unacceptable and Christian O'Connell (the radio presenter) distanced himself from them live on air. We consider the views of our listeners to be very important and have received no complaints about these comments. We will continue to monitor any complaints and Christian O'Connell will issue an on-air apology in tomorrow's breakfast show."
What a garbled statement! Monitoring non-existent complaints. Get a life, woman!
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4 comments:
I think this is ridiculous about David Jason. What he said is very different to other remarks, which have been made recently. I hasten to add that I am not a racist right winger or left winger, knowing friends from many cultures, which would also think this is ridiculous. David Jason can keep polishing his halo for years to come.
Ok, firstly Id like to address the joke. Im origionally from Pakistan and i spent ages trying to even understand this joke- i dont get it. So after looking on the net I realise "my hat" (the puchline) is supossed to be a pakistiani name! Errmmm its not- Pakistani and Indian names are shockingly nothing like each other. Pakistani names are usually arab, muslim names. Indian names tend to be longer and the two countries share very few names in common due to religion differences-where names usually origionate from. so its a really poor joke. Its like saying what do you call a british man who think the fruit he is eating isnt an apple? Pear Though
---- wait petho (as in pedro in an spanish accent)
Errmm yeh hahaha! (my joke may not be that good i just thought of it but it illustrates my point).
I dont think any pakistani will see it as racist (im not sure if its been linked to anything in the past- im treating it as just a joke). However they will look at you as if your dumb, ignorant and think your bit silly.
2nd- article person- Heres a fact, a joke made about salvery of black people will be considered racist when a joke about a white slave wont- why due to history. Also of course pakistan is going to be a more senseitive country! It was used as an insult to call someone a pakistani, paki - and alot of jokes were made about pakistanis- they were looked down on because of where they were from. Russians havent got this in this country to the same extent at all- so why would it be seen as an insult. Are there lots of older russians here who were aused for being russian? No
Im a bog fan of david jason- i still am. I dont think hes racist- possibly a bit ignorant as the joke is not funnny. Its hard to debate whether it was a racist joke even if he got the name right as its just saying a name. It singles out a race but isnt an attack. I think the mixing of the names may be seen as more insulting if anything.
My, my, Hanna, you've gone to a lot of trouble to unravel this joke. All I get from what you say is that it isn't racist but it is insulting, that no Pakistani would get the joke and you give an alternative for "British" people to follow.
Heaven's it's only a joke. Are people from Pakistan so sensitive? It doesn't impugn their race or their country, does it now?
I'd say there are far more pressing things to be upset about, like many in Pakistan being beaten up for their beliefs. Now that definitely is no joke!
"To integrate into society you have to learn English"
Maybe, but I doubt very much that it should be mandatory.
The postmaster's reaction was still entirely inappropriate. Why? What if those he turned away were simply visitors to this country?
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