yes it's a Jade Goody thread! not really, I loathe her, but it's big news at the moment...

UK readers will know exactly what this is about, but for the benefit of those in other climes who don't, I'll try to encompass it.

This years Celebrity Big Brother UK "reality" tv show has been marked by many complaints of racism and racist bullying by members of the "cast" towards another housemate, the really quite beautiful Indian actress and AIDs & PETA campaigner Shilpa Shetty. Foremost amongst those accused of this behaviour is the former BB "star" Jade Goody, an (in)famously stupid, foul-mouthed, overloud pleb who, with the assistance of her svengali-like PR agent, Max Clifford, has up till now shamelessly milked the UK audience for attention and strung out her erstwhile "fame" and made a fair bit of money from it (she's worth a few million now, not bad for a pleb dragged up on a council estate)

The specific accusations are of references to Ms Shetty's supposed inability to cook to Western standards, supposed lack of hygiene, supposed arrogance, various comments to "f-off back home," a supposed familiarity with slums, being referred to as "the Indian" and semming deliberate mispronunciation of her name, being called "Shipla Poppadum" and being subjected to an increasing tirade of personal insults the cumulative effect of which has been deemed by many (including me) to be racist in origin and intent, whnether made directly to her or behind her back by Jade Goody and a cabal of "friends" that she gathered amongst the housemates, specifically former Miss Great Britain, Danielle LLoyd, and former S-Club 7 singer Jo O'meara, as well as Jade's boyfriend Jack Tweed who is also resident int he house (he called her a "F-ing P*ki" although the final word was edited out - a YouTube uncensored version clearly shows that this was what he said, though. He claimed it was the word "c*nt" (but why edit that word out and not the preceding, thyey're both equally bad, and C4 has no issue with bad language on BB after the watershed?

Last week matters came to a head, the media regulator Ofcom recieved a record number of complaints (including one from me!) and the matter even reached Parliament where questions were asked in the Commons, The Chancellor of the Exchequer was quizzed about it on an official trade visit to India, and there were riots in indian cities. It's whipped up a real storm. Complaints have also been made to Hertfordshire Police.

Jade's mother was evicted a couple of weeks ago, she's equally foul, and Jade herself was evicted last Friday and let out to a secured site and studio, no members of the public were present apart from invited guests in the studio. She semmed genuinely shocked by the furore although she knew something was up, and BB seem to have given the housemates some warning about what's been going on as the people in question were being spectacularly nice to Ms Shetty in the last couple of days. However Jade's apology was rather lacking and she denies any racist intent.

However, that's not the point, and not my argument, although I'll deal with it quickly. It is not the intent claimed or otherwise of a racist remark or act that makes it racist, but the perception of it on the part of the object of the comment or abuse and by extension on the ethnic group or community which that person belongs too. Jade can claim she wasn't being intentionally racist till the cows come home, the fact remains that her comments were racist in nature - they singled out one individual for belittling and humiliation based on references to her ethnic background, even if they didn't mention colour; hence they are racist.

What I really want to say is that it would appear that Channel 4 and Endemol, the prgramme makers, may have exploited this situation to improve viweing figures; BB is a huge cash cow for C4 and advertisers line up for airtime when its on - althought the main sponsor has withdrawn at the height of the row. Or to be less cynical, maybe C4 just failed to appreciate what was going on and lost control?

Personally i doubt it; BB is a very controlled environment and the edited highlights which are what most folks tune into are quite cynically manipulated. Back when Jade was first on, she'd been made out to be a drunken, foul, ignorant pig, with pictures of her rolling naked in mud (not a very nice sight) and she became so hated that in fear for her safety afterwards, the programme makers went on a charm offensive and started portraying her mnore positively, as a lovable klutz who said stupid things. The mass media turned her from an object of ridicule into (almost) a low-culture saint, almost overnight! and it is this manufactured perception that she's been cashing in on for the past few years.

But i was thinking the other day, this is perhaps the first time that a "reality" tv show has given us a genuine glimpse of reality; Jade said nothing you can't hear at work or on the bus any day of the week, her ignorant opinions and prejudices are common coin amongst Britain's white working class. Some have argued that we should thank C4 for bringing to the open this almost unmentionable aspect of our mass society, even if they did exploit it for financial gain. Or should C4 be punished for blatantly exploiting racism, using it to get up their ratings? which it undoubtedly did, have no illusions about that.

Opinions? Myself I'd like to see an end to BB and the plague of reality tv shows, but it has at least brought the issue of low-level common racism into the open. As a Muslim I often get comments such as "but you're not a P*ki* or *but you're white* to which i usually answer *so what if I was?* and I witness low-levels of racism all the time at work and in the local community, often by otherwise well-meaning people who although not overtly racist (they don't go poring petrol into Asian families letterboxes, or sport skinheads or swastike tattoos!) yet they still say and do little things that indicate that they don't view non-whites as equals.