Touchy,
these mutants, eh?
Reg ed rattles the Red-Headed League
Our editor Joe Fay usually keeps a pretty low profile, but earlier this week he stuck his resolutely brunette bonce* above the parapet with this piece about a shouty Steve Jobs and MobileMe. One carrot top was prompted to protest: Joe, I am curious why you chose "like a red headed stepchild" as a description for Apples …
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Friday 13th May 2011 12:48 GMT Ian Johnston
Playing with fire
The poor sod's actually being targeted because he works for a company which shamelessly and blatantly milks the repulsive sectarianism of central Scotland for financial gain. As do Rangers, of course - without the excitement of prods vs tims both of the Old Firm would be on a par with Stenhousemuir or Raith Rovers.
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Friday 13th May 2011 13:21 GMT Stratman
title
While a Northern Ireland player Lennon said in an interview that he wanted to play for a united Ireland football team. Considering the difficult political process at the time over here that wasn't very smart. While playing for Celtic against Rangers Lennon got sent off, as he left the pitch he turned to the crowd and shouted "Orange bastards!" He's also been recorded signing sectarian songs. I am not in any way condoning the behaviour of this fan or anything else that's happened to Lennon, but he is well aware of the volatility of the situation yet continues to goad 'the other side'.
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Friday 13th May 2011 09:34 GMT Candy
Red haired racism?
Since when has Ginger-baiting been on a par with racism?
Is it now race, caste creed and hair colour which must be held apart from all comment?
Formerly ginger, now grey. A silver surfer, part of the grey vote, etc, etc. Not offended by that, either. I'm also quite short. Should I be deeply offended by any reference to that, too?
Although for those who are ginger and needy, it must be nice to have something to blame their social inadequacy on...
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Friday 13th May 2011 10:44 GMT Nigel 11
Completely non-racist technical comment
The gene for red hair is more common amongst Celts than other peoples. It's recessive, masked if one also has the genes for black hair. It might have been unique to Celts, many millennia ago, but since then it's been spread around quite a bit.
Flame bait for racists: outbreeding is better for one's children than inbreeding.
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Friday 13th May 2011 12:01 GMT Naughtyhorse
if you dont believe it....
just look at nick griffen
(tho at least he's not ginger)
A couple of Gs an R and an E, an I and an N,
Just six little letters all jumbled together,
Have caused damage that we may never mend.
Only a ginger, can call another ginger Ginger.
Only a ginger, can call another ginger Ginger.
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Friday 13th May 2011 13:01 GMT Elmer Phud
Tim Minchin
Seeing him perform this (on DVD) is wonderful.
The parts of the audience who know the song are carefuly watching those who don't, almost wetting themselves in anticipation. Those who don't know the song who have come to see a 'right-on' performer look on in fury until the chorus.
'Qualiteeee!' as some might say, 'pwnd' is another.
"In our modern free-spoken society
There is a word that we still hold taboo
A word with a terrible history
Of being used to abuse, oppress and subdue
Just six seemingly harmless letters
Arranged in a way that will form a word
With more power than the pieces of metal
That are forged to make swords"
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Friday 13th May 2011 09:38 GMT Anonymous Coward
Ginger bashing is not racist
I'm both short and fat. People can call me short, fat or short and fat. It's an observation based on my physical appearance and people might choose to make such observations in an attempt to insult me or make humour. But I AM short and I AM fat. Being short or fat is not specific to a race of people and so is not covered by the UK racism laws. Do I give a shit? Hell no. Do you want me to wear a t-shirt with something like "Who ate all the pies?" on it? I couldn't care less.
These ginger-tops need to get over it.
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Friday 13th May 2011 10:36 GMT Francis Fish
Yeah, yeah whatever
Personally not a red head but my son is - the bullying was so bad he walks to school and won't get on the bus and of course the school did f-all. You say this isn't prejudice? If you say so.
That's why I get irritated, I'm not hypersensitive - just don't like bullies or normalising bullying. Of course, with a name like Fish I used to get it all through school anyway. So maybe my hypersensitivity comes from disliking bullying and so on?
I left school with a broken nose and 8 O levels in the 70's - again this mustn't count as abuse in your lexicon.
That's why I don't like it - I don't like this kind of crap being thought of as acceptable because of where it can lead. I stand up to it now, even when it's uncomfortable.
YMMV
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Friday 13th May 2011 12:32 GMT Anonymous Coward
Francis
All kids get bullied to greater or lesser extents at school, unless they're the ones doing the bullying. If it wasn't your kid having red hair, it would be something else. Kid at my brother's school wore a yellow waterproof to school early on, and forevermore couldn't live it down, "Big Yellow Teapot" etc.
But you stand up to bullying because, err, you were bullied. Else you wouldn't know how to deal with it. It's like building up resistance to colds by getting colds. Not sure what your point is really, you think if people didn't say anything about gingers your son wouldn't get bullied? Even though you were bullied for other reasons yourself? Or is it just that bullying is bad? And therefore saying someone is ginger mustn't be tolerated, because it must be bullying?
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Friday 13th May 2011 12:54 GMT Francis Fish
Nah
He has been known to call himself Jaffro (ginger afro) - he's now over six foot tall and hasn't been bothered in a while ;) He just looks down from on high and they shut up.
I just want people to think a bit harder about throw away comments and about how they would feel if it became a big deal that they had blue eyes or whatever - it's what's inside that counts. The odd comment is part of life and I wouldn't care one way or the other, it's the consistent bullying that I have trouble with.
And the original context was "ginger step-child" - which I think is *really* nasty. As in ginger is synonymous with unloved - not funny.
I had a row on linked in with some tosser who bullied someone out of a place I used to work a few months ago - as in "wtf would I link to you"? That was fun. He didn't understand why I wouldn't link to him - weird.
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Friday 13th May 2011 13:01 GMT Anonymous Coward
@Francis
Fair play, I misunderstood where you're coming from it seems. I'm not too comfortable with the implications of "ginger step-child" to be honest, though I wouldn't blink an eye at someone i don't know saying it if I had red hair. I'd just think them either an idiot, or funny, depending on context. I guess context is important ...
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Friday 13th May 2011 14:39 GMT Anonymous Coward
You're part of the problem, Mr Fish
By 'standing up' to some kids teasing another kid, what you are actually doing is singling out your kid for more teasing. You should instead teach him to tease back.
Almost everyone has physical defects of some kind or other. Here is a list for your kid to use. Repeat after me, "I may be $X, but at least I'm not $Y".
Acceptable values for $X and $Y:
a fat bastard
an ugly bastard
a short bastard
a tall bastard
a smelly bastard
a satellite ears bastard
The entire purpose of schooling is to allow children to get used to unreasonable behaviour and still cope. Waving your hands in the air and screaming "waah, its so unfair" isn't smart.
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Friday 13th May 2011 10:41 GMT Alex Wells
Sarah...
I love you. (unless you're gin... actually lets just not even joke eh?)
In all seriousness, it's Friday of the longest week in the universe, can we please discuss where the line ends and we start being offensive? Particularly since my office hasn't (yet) come round to the idea of going to the pub on a Friday. I'm all ears.
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Friday 13th May 2011 12:02 GMT Jim 59
Groups
It's unfortunate that those who define what is racist also define a list of alternative groups who may be abused with impunity. Groups on the list are either selected arbitarily, or contain people they don't like. The more "abusable" groups you are a member of, the more annnoying it is. Unfortunately, Welsh and redheads both fall into this category. Personally I think you should be nice to everyone.
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Friday 13th May 2011 11:30 GMT Loyal Commenter
@Sarah
You might be interested to read up on the etymology of the word 'cunt', it's orignal meaning being roughly akin to 'strong willed woman', and being a term of respect, not of abuse. Of course, like many words, its meaning has drifted somewhat over the years, and by the 18th century, it had taken on quite a different meaning.
There was quite a good programme (I think on BBC2) a few years ago about the interesting etymology of some common words, this was one of them, so I'm afraid I can't quote you any primary sources for this...
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Friday 13th May 2011 14:39 GMT deadlockvictim
cunt
I'm open to correction on this (preferably by someone who has studied Old- & Middle English).
The word 'cunt' means exactly that, namely women's sexual organs. It is one of the few words that has changed very little, if not at all, since time immemorial.
Testimonies to this are various 'Gropecunt lanes' that one finds in the mediaeval quarters of places like Oxford and London.
Matthew Hunt has a piece here [1] on the origins of the word and it looks convincing. Of course, it is as reliable as the Web.
[1] http://www.matthewhunt.com/cunt/etymology.html
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Friday 13th May 2011 09:39 GMT Anonymous Coward
Uncalled for comparison
>I would rather be dead then red on the head like a dick on a Dog" everybody laughed and as much as I tried to save him he was fired...
No doubt the person responsible for the firing was a dog lover.
And may I offer my heartfelt sympathy to Ms Bee who no doubt will have a job on due to all the twonks who think they have an excuse to repeat the N word
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Friday 13th May 2011 10:45 GMT Anonymous Coward
@Greg
I like my posts to get through so if I have to use "N word" so that I can publicly thank our moderators (not only Sarah) for the task they do then I will and won't consider myself any weaker for so doing.
I've sometimes over stepped the mark and on the whole the team has been right not to publish some of my comments, but what the hell, sometimes you've got to try. This wasn't one of those sometimes.
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Friday 13th May 2011 10:42 GMT Lamont Cranston
Red hair accompanies pale skin,
which implies weakness, thus easily overpowered.
In women, this would make them easy to impregnate, in a man, this would make them unlikely to impregnate anything.
Having typed that, it's clearly a load of bollocks - I'll bet Mick Hucknall has had plenty of opportunities to impregnate things (*shudder*) - which must mean that evolution is a load of rubbish, and the fundamentalists were right all along.
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Friday 13th May 2011 10:36 GMT Pavlov's obedient mutt
the difference..(possibly, perhaps, maybe)
is that it's inappropriate to make fun of something someone was born with (short, red, gay, black) vs something someone has control over (fat, smelly, lazy)
And, of course, where humour and good natured ragging inadvertently supports real bigotry.
There is institutionalised discrimination against gay people, black people (and white people) and real physical harm is dealt to these groups
I've yet to hear or read of some religious nut-job calling for the death of red-heads.
This topic is closed for new posts.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
