Are We Over-Sensitive?

[Vinnie]

H&M have hit the headlines this week.  Racist jumper.

Are folk being over-sensitive?

[El Patrón]

Aye, the world has gone bonkers. Social media is fuelling the PC brigade and giving them platforms to spout their ****e. People find anything to be offended by and will look for anything to get some attention and build a following. 

On a side note, the biggest thing that pulls my ****er at the moment is the increase in the gender neutral cause. What a load of bollocks. You’re either, straight or gay and male or female. Nothing else. Now **** off.

[Teuchter]

In general, yes, but in this particular case dressing up a black kid with a t shirt that says coolest monkey in jungle is just stupid. It is easily within living memory when stadiums rang out with monkey noises aimed at black players. 

Given that the photo must have passed through a lot of hands before publishing I wonder if it is not just a cynical marketing ploy to get attention. 

Are there more important issues out there? Certainly, but it is not entirely beyond the realms of possibility that there was not some racist intent, one way or another, behind the use of the photo.

 

[Vinnie]

dressing up a black kid with a t shirt that says coolest monkey in jungle is just stupid. 

I would suggest that its ill considered, with hindsight, but certainly not racist.

Are we saying that Afro Caribbean parents dont call their kids "little monkey" or "cheeky monkey" from time to time?

Maybe these hoodies should be banned as Afro Caribbean kids are excluded from wearing them? - another example of discrimination?

This was a kids photoshoot, I suggest the parents would have been in the background? And possibly had some sort of opportunity to view the photos before they were used? Perhaps the kid chose what top to wear? Perhaps the parents saw no issue with the hoodie and its logo? 

I get how it looks, I do.

But is it not equally racist to feel the need to treat black (or any minority race) folk differently for fear of offending them?

[Teuchter]

I get also that it may have been totally innocent and the majority of black people probably couldn't care less, perhaps least of all the kid and his family - white middle classes do seem to be at the forefront of getting offended on others behalf.

The only reason that this story got publicity was due to some celebrity (who I have never heard of) taking the hump. I know nothing of the guy except the colour of his skin. Even though he is young, I imagine that the word monkey still has negative connotations in the UK black community thanks to what has happened in years gone by, not least in football stadiums. I can't speak on their behalf though.

As I said before, it has the air of a cynical publicity stunt - no such thing as bad publicity etc.

As with anything else, the full story would need to be known.

 

[Vinnie]

Mum says get over it!! (though I do accept this may not be the most reliable of sources)

 

[Captain Deadpool]

I still can't believe that folk don't understand what drives the so called 'PC culture', and that's money. The whole thing is that businesses are now ultra cautious to avoid being sued, so they'll come across as 'PC'. The same applies to the health and safety stuff, even the ridiculous things like cafes warning that coffee can be hot etc.

Incidentally this hoodie was at best very insensitive. You're frankly a bit of a moron if you can't see why it would cause bother.

[Piracy]

F*ck off min, that's not racist. Stupid maybe but it's not been done deliberately.

It's a f*ckin bairn in a jersey.

Do we really need to get out of bed looking to be offended nowadays. Are we really that shallow and socially inept?

[Paradox]

It's the same with people clamouring for Danny Murphy to be sacked because of a tongue-in-cheek remark he made about an Everton fan on crutches getting his benefits stopped.

Can't say anything funny these days for fear of offending some poor little flower.

[Vinnie]

It's the same with people clamouring for Danny Murphy to be sacked because of a tongue-in-cheek remark he made about an Everton fan on crutches getting his benefits stopped.

The best of it is is that Danny Murphy is from that neck of the woods, he taking the **** out of one of his own! 

Twitter and the likes are to blame, giving idiots a louder voice.

[Teuchter]

F*ck off min, that's not racist. Stupid maybe but it's not been done deliberately.

It's a f*ckin bairn in a jersey.

Do we really need to get out of bed looking to be offended nowadays. Are we really that shallow and socially inept?

How do you know that it wasn't done deliberately? Probably not in a racist way, but more likely in a publicity seeking way. Do you believe that in the US (I mistakenly thought that it was in the UK), a photo like the one in the advert could have passed through many hands on the way to publication without at least one person pointing out the stupidity of it.

I am not offended by it. The black people that I have asked about are not offended, but then again, we are not of a community who were segregated against, and even lynched within living memory. It was against this backdrop of low level racism, like referring to black people as monkies, that segregation could thrive.

I cannot speak for the  entire US black community, most of whom probably don't care either to be fair - bear in mind this story has been processed in Twitter then run through the Daily Mail exaggeration mill.

[Teuchter]

Leaving aside the specific case in the original post, it is not so much the over sensitivity that bothers me as the intolerance coming from sections of the left. Debate (and it is open to debate) on the transgender issue is shut down and the word bigot is banded around cheaply. I was going to say that it is a new way to label the white working classes as bigots (fresh from their success in helping to generate Brexit by branding them racist), but even Germaine Greer has her views dismissed due to her being an"old white woman". 

Shutting down opposing views under the guise of sensitivity is a form of bigotry imo.

[Piracy]

F*ck off min, that's not racist. Stupid maybe but it's not been done deliberately.

It's a f*ckin bairn in a jersey.

Do we really need to get out of bed looking to be offended nowadays. Are we really that shallow and socially inept?

How do you know that it wasn't done deliberately? Probably not in a racist way, but more likely in a publicity seeking way. Do you believe that in the US (I mistakenly thought that it was in the UK), a photo like the one in the advert could have passed through many hands on the way to publication without at least one person pointing out the stupidity of it.

I am not offended by it. The black people that I have asked about are not offended, but then again, we are not of a community who were segregated against, and even lynched within living memory. It was against this backdrop of low level racism, like referring to black people as monkies, that segregation could thrive.

I cannot speak for the  entire US black community, most of whom probably don't care either to be fair - bear in mind this story has been processed in Twitter then run through the Daily Mail exaggeration mill.

I don't know that it wasn't done deliberately, like you don't know if it was done deliberately.

I just choose to beleive that anyone in a position dealing with children would not have chosen to have done anything so crassly ignorant involving children for some perverse reasoning (including the cynical publicity seeking angle you suggested). I could be wrong of course.

I haven't personally asked any black people if they're offended, however I could ask my future son in law or the odd friend if they're offended, but I won't on this occasion.

As for what community would be offended, just because I'm not black doesn't mean I couldn't be offended on their behalf. I'm 52 year old and I have seen what racism has done in this country like I've seen what hate and ignorance has done in other communities, including the one I grew up in. I'm against any form of prejudice.

However I'm also getting tired of people going out their way to find things to be offended by. I don't read the Daily Mail so I'll refrain from commenting and I limit how I debate, or rather use forms of social media as it depresses me reading the gutless, hateful, ignorant, point scoring, aspects of the online debates. People using anonymity to push their bile and the lack of personal responsibility is also depressing. Twitter is bad for it as is Facebook.

As I said the decision was stupid and some level of backlash would be merited in this circumstance, but the furore and level of outrage has been astounding.

[Teuchter]

@ Piracy the reason I picked out a particular community is that in the article, most, if not all of the tweets stating offence were from Black Americans. 

I was only aware of this story when it was posted here. Was there much of a furore beyond a storm on Twitter reported on the BBC via the Mail? 

I think there is tendency for incidents like this one to get exageratted.

[SanguinePar]

Aye, the world has gone bonkers. Social media is fuelling the PC brigade and giving them platforms to spout their ****e. People find anything to be offended by and will look for anything to get some attention and build a following. 

Social media is enabling the bigots of the world IMO, easing the spread of lies and hate, far more than some imagined "PC brigade".

I'm not saying there aren't instances of people taking PC too far, but in general it's mostly about challenging hate speech and calling people out for acting like d***s - naturally those spouting that ****e don't like being called out, but that's their problem.

On a side note, the biggest thing that pulls my ****er at the moment is the increase in the gender neutral cause. What a load of bollocks. You’re either, straight or gay and male or female. Nothing else. Now **** off.

Why do you feel more qualified than the people themselves to make that call. Who are you to say? And more to the point, why do you even care? Is it seriously impacting on you?