Big BRO II

Just a few thoughts on the whole Emily/racism thing.

I was reminded of the Freud Borrowed Kettle thing when Emily was explaining to Big Brother why she said it: I know it can be offensive but I didn't mean it like that. And anyway it's not offensive anymore. And even if it is everyone says it.

The whole Hip-Hop culture thing (which was used in the article I linked to yesterday as well) seems to be overly simplistic. It ignores the fact that there's a debate within Hip-Hop about whether it's a suitable word to use ever. I used to know someone who would use it in this way and he couldn't see the problem with it. His argument was, “Racism doesn't exist, therefore it is now acceptable to use the word”, which perhaps shows the ignorance behind a certain type of privileged white middle class teenager, which, like Emily, this person was (and I might just add here that this is taken to the extreme end of privilege when we get to the video showing Paris Hilton making racist remarks). The interesting thing was that this lad was a complete racist, he'd deny it, but in the sort of I'm definitely not a racist but ... way. So, his use of the word was a defence against his own racism, I'm using this word, therefore I'm not a racist, because if I was, I wouldn't be able to use the word in this Hip-Hop way.

It demonstrates well (and this is one of the reasons I love Big Brother: because it so often does this type of thing) the impotence of the individual in the face of language (and more generally): the situation is always bigger than the individual, the individual can only watch her fate unfold.

And the other thing, which I've seen referred to in different places as well, is the fact that Jade Goody and Danielle Lloyd haven't become the pariahs everyone said they would be. They're always in the celeb papers etc. This is interesting mainly because it demonstrates how offence no longer means anything. We no longer actually feel offended, we simply act being offended, sometimes raising it to the level of outrage, but then when we have our way... ach, who cares really.