So I am writing about the Celebrity Big Brother one month after the hoopla dies down because:
- I did not have a blog back when it actually happened!
- I wanted the hoopla to die down!
So was it racism or bullying?
Racism as defined in a dictionary is: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and those racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.
Bullying is defined in a dictionary as: to affect by means of force or coercion.
So what was it?
My view on it was, at the point in time, that it was case of plain bullying. Anybody who has gone to school can vouch for this! How many times, when you were a child at school, did you get imitated about the way you walk or talk or anything that you do on a regular basis? How many times did you get verbally abused? I am sure it has happened and will happen in the future – Another form of this is ragging, which at least all students from India, who have had the opportunity to attend college, had to go through! So did Shilpa Shetty go through anything different from this? No!
So what really happened?
I was at the time, when Celebrity Big Brother was on TV, in the UK and I had no idea that Shilpa Shetty was a part of it and I am sure, millions in India also did not know! So when I saw Shilpa’s name all over BBC and other news media, I heard about it and got sucked into watching the show! At the point in time, apart from Shilpa and her travails, the only other news worthy item was about David Beckham’s move to the LA Galaxy from Real Madrid.
So the media really blew it up and why? Indians in the UK are a minority. That is when the media in India took it up and started a domino effect! One thing lead to another and at the point poor Gordon Brown was in India and all the poor man, slated to become the next PM, (if Tony Blair does decide to step down) was asked about were his views on the show! He is a politician and he will have to pander to the minority community in the UK and so he did! That led to the Indian Prime Minister making comments and then Tony Blair! When these kinds of people make comments on anything – it becomes news, whether we like it not (Come on, Britney Spears shaving her head became news!)
But what was the show about? It was about a group of people asked to live under the same roof for a period of time and their activities are shown live (Just like Jim Carey’s life in the movie “The Truman Show”) and the most un-popular person is voted out by the watching public! It was truly one of the most inane and boring show I had seen! So the ratings of the show went through the roof when the media started calling the show, the producers and Jade Goody and her friends racists. It did just what the producers wanted and did not get! Voila – Jade Goody and everyone else are out and Shipa Shetty wins a ton of money! For the same ton of money that everyone was competing for! How is it any different from most office promotions – most people would be back stabbing other folks covertly who are competing for the same one promotion! I would like to see the popularity of a show where people are closeted together where everyone has to be nice to each other! Who are you kidding?
Stirring up a hornet’s nest
We Indians are a bunch of hypocrites!
In my opinion we Indians are so racist, we even have a caste system like none other in the rest of the world! Brahmins are, even to this day, considered the purest of everyone, hell, my mom will not even let me cook eggs at home! She will not go to a restaurant which serves non-vegetarian food, at least while she is India! The country’s politicians will exploit the very caste system during elections! The same people who whipped up passions during the time Celebrity Big Brother was on air saying that Britain is racist.
So if Jade Goody wanted to win, and if she has to resort to bullying, who can fault her – there was a ton of money at stake!
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