Repeating the “Offensive”
Posted: Thu 26 March, 2009 Filed under: Cynicism, News, Offensive Repetition, Thoughts Leave a comment »Yet again, the BBC manages to have a story about people complaining something is racist and/or offensive, yet somehow feel they can still get away with republishing it.
In this case, David Jason told a joke that caused offence (and not just because it’s piss-poor) and then apologised for it. And there, at the bottom of the story, is the “offensive” joke in all it’s glory.
I know I’ve said it before, but just how does this work? If it’s actually offensive, the BBC should receive complaints about publicising it to a wider audience. If they don’t receive complaints, does that mean the joke isn’t actually offensive? And if that’s the case, what’s the story in the first place?
But it seems to me that the BBC (and, in fairness, most of the other media organisations) seem to revel in this “Oh, someone said something offensive, so now we’ve got to report it and repeat it” attitude. I don’t know if they get away with it because it suddenly comes under “it’s in the public interest”, or if they’re all just a bunch of deceptive double-standards bullshit bandits.
Ah, I’ve answered my own question, haven’t I?
Jade Goody
Posted: Sun 22 March, 2009 Filed under: Cynicism, News, Thoughts 2 Comments »So, Jade Goody died today. And already all the weasels are coming out of the woodwork (I know, it’s a mixed metaphor – live with it) with their tributes and homilies. Of course, high up in the order is good old Gordon Brown, who wouldn’t be saying anything at all if she weren’t a reality TV “star”. (which means, “star” in the loosest possible sense of the word) In fact, if she hadn’t died of cancer, the two-faced toss-pot would probably prefer to be deriding her as all that’s bad with the world™, a single mother with no education or job prospects.
Now, I have no problem with the fact that Goody’s cancer has resulted in a surge in the number of people getting scans for cancer – that’s nothing but good in my book.
But seeing all the tributes about how she was such an inspiration, such a great person (and even in one case “a Princess Diana from the wrong side of the tracks” – purlease!) really just makes me want to vomit.
The media seems to have forgotten that Jade Goody came to their attention as part of Big Brother (Series 3, I think) where she was villified for being
- fugly
- pig-thick
- unpleasant
She also then went on to show all these character traits again in Celebrity Big Brother where she was – let’s not forget – the epicentre of the racism complaints.
Yet somehow contracting cancer nullifies all these bad points, and turns the sufferer/victim into some kind of Joan of Arc figure, almost saintly in their purity, humility and beauty.
Get a fucking grip. She died. It happens every day. Sure, she was more in the public eye. But think on this – if someone like Margaret Thatcher were to die of cancer, would they instantly be converted to sainthood too?
Inauspicious Starts
Posted: Sat 21 March, 2009 Filed under: Cynicism, Domestic, Getting Organised, House Work Leave a comment »So, the week off work begins with…
- Engineer visit to find out what’s wrong with the bastard cooker
- A letter from my cretinous ex-accountant’s Official Receiver, basically stating I’ve got fuck-all chance of getting any money back. (Which can be summarised thus : Assets : £5,000. Debts : £150,000. Chances : Fuck All)
- Herself grouting tiles
- Yours Truly painting/creosoting fence panels. There’s only 100 of ’em to do…
Still, at least I’m not back in work for a while now. Silver linings, clouds, and all that guff.
Fred Goodwin, RBS, and that Pension
Posted: Wed 18 March, 2009 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Thoughts 1 Comment »I know I’m going against the flow here (now there’s a shock) but I have to say, I really don’t understand the current media (and public) loathing of Sir Fred Goodwin, and his immense pension .
Now first of all, personally I think that getting a pension of near-as-dammit three-quarters of a million quid per year is utterly fucking obscene in the first place. (And particularly when I look at it in the context of “that pension for one year is three times the amount of our sodding mortgage“) But at the same time I realise that payscales are pretty much utterly fucking obscene when it comes to chairmen of multinationals etc. anyway.
In Goodwin’s case, I also kind of understand that people are pissed off that he’s getting paid that much for what he did.
However, from the corporate perspective I can fully understand that he was worth that much to RBS as a chairman.
After all, he managed and steered the bank during its growth phase, to the point where RBS bought up NatWest and Ulster bank (among others) as part of its expansion plans. Under his leadership RBS went from being a little provincial bank to being one of the world’s top five banks. And he was paid in bonuses and salary for that growth.
Then when the bottom fell out of the market, and it was shown what arrogant twats the banks had been, he managed to get the government to buy up a massive share of the bank, thus protecting it from going bust. I’m sure that having managed both of those things, the board of RBS figured he was absolutely worth what they paid him as a severance and pension package.
The fact that the Government then failed utterly to understand what Goodwin’s severance deal and pension would be is actually more of a sign that the Ministers and MPs involved were totally, utterly, criminally clueless – after all, it looks like he could’ve been fired with “just” a 12-month-salary payment, instead of the severance deal.
As I see it, it’s those Government Ministers and MPs we should be angry with for allowing the Goodwin deal to go through, rather than with Goodwin himself for doing what any corporate multinational chairmen is paid to do – protect and build the company.