today in the mirror on the front page was the headline

'MP tells Racist joke aboout cockle pickers'

truthfully i did not find the two sharks joke racist. The joke would have been the same if it was a japanese food truck that fell off a cliff into the sea! and they say humor is the best medicine

i found the knee high joke more racist than that one - because i dont think that one is racist at all!!

did anyone else??

Not really racist, but rather insensitive considering how recent the incident occured.

For those who don't know the story, it can be found here: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/content_objectid=13989671_method=full_siteid=50143 _headline=-TORY%2DMP%2DS%2DRACIST%2DJOKE%2DON%2DCOCKLERS-name_page.html

No I don't think it's racist either. Bad taste and insensitive, but not racist.

Nomme

Ugh, senior Politicians need to get a life, and a friggin' SENSE OF HUMOUR the crusty old farts!

So yeah. the woman made a controversial joke, and suddenly it's front page news!

This sucks... and symbolises why I never buy tabloid newspapers and hate Politicians.

She was female actually.

For some reason my link doesn't work. If you go to http://www.mirror.co.uk you can link to the story from the front page.

She was also a senior politician who had already been sacked from the front bench for another mis-guided joke.

Funny that, only this morning on the way to work I was thinking "Terribly tasteless joke and worth getting the sack for, but racist? not exactly, or is it...?"

And now I see I am in good company

You would really think that she would have learnt her lesson after last time - which was a proper racist joke as I recall.

She must be pretty stupid to keep on making after-dinner speeches with inappropriate jokes

"Oh dear, my mouth opened and the words just fell out - AGAIN!"

To paraphrase Lady Bracknell, telling one inappropriate joke is unfortunate, telling two is at the least careless

Her previous "joke" was pretty racist - something along the lines of "Pakistani's being ten a penny..." or something like that, but I don't think this one is at all.

It's not being derogatory towards Chinese people as a whole or even poking fun of them because of their race, it's just a bit of wordplay on a phrase that thousands come out with every day.

It's a bit inappropriate for a politician to be coming out with such stuff though, especially so close to the incident so I can see how feathers have been ruffled.

Ah well, is she any great loss?

If you've heard one politician you've heard them all........that's if you can stay awake of course. ;)

And while we're on the subject of politicians, is it at all possible that the requirements for being a senior politician shows that you must:

a. Be unneccesarily ugly or grey-faced.
b. Have a hairstyle that doesn't belong to any fashion era.
c. Be able to speak at great lengths but not actually say anything.

You can tell I'm not a fan of politics. ;)

edit: In addition I'd love to see a fly-on-the-wall documentry on what these so -called bigwigs get up to in their spare time. ;) I have a sneaking suspicion that there's alot of hypocrisy going on behind the scenes and I'd just love to see it all over the tabloids. :twisted:

Pauly, I wonder if you are quite young?

I remember 1996 and 1997 where every tabloid front page, every day, was another example of a Tory politician in bother for something

Labour MPs tend to get in the press more for falling out with the leadership than for personal misbehaviour, although Robin Cook made the front page a few years back didnt he. And the Welsh MP who had his photo on a dating website wearing only his undies....wasnt that a month or so ago?

I suppose that seeing as MPs are meant to be representative, they are bound to echo the same good and bad behaviour as the constituents they represent

Yes Belle I do remember the 'Tory sleaze' headlines of the mid 90s. I guess I should've said 'I'd just love to see it all over the tabloids AGAIN!. :twisted:

I'm 28 by the way. :P

Originally posted by Belle
...and the Welsh MP who had his photo on a dating website wearing only his undies....wasnt that a month or so ago?

Oooh no, that's just wrong. When I think MP I think of a fat, middle-aged John Prescott lookalike. I really didn't need to imagine that in just underpants. *shudder*

i found the joke quite funny actually. i dont know how the newsreader said it with a straight face. haha

Not racist IMO, but very very tasteless

its something id expect from Royston Vasey, not an MP

Im now getting tierd of all the 'Do gooders' in the world saying things you say in complete innocence is now racist. I mean for goodness sake everyone is taking this to far. The worst thing is now you cant say 'Paki'. I mean dont get me wrong i hope that some day racisim will be gone for good. So nowadays you cant say 'Paki'. So does that mean you cant say'Aussie' or 'Yank' or even scot. This is getting a joke. Im sure im going to get a load of people now repling with a load of balony saying im now racist. By the way if you do i would just like to say that my step sister is black so..........

in the mail today

HYPOCRITE

the labour Mp who exposed a Tory colleague's sick joke about the deaths of the Chinese Cockle picker himself broadcast tasteless jokes about Muslims over the inter net. .......... The broxtowe MP, who last week led the attacks on Mrs Winterton's tasteless remarks, e-amiled his jokes (about the sexual habits of arabs, groping Muslim Preists and ridiculeed their cutom of praying to Allah and mocking the Koran) to more than 1000 of HIS constituants!!

what an asrehloe!!

Although the term "Paki" is similar in form to "Aussie", it's history of usage makes it an offensive term.

Look at the definitions:

aussie (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=4914&dict=CALD)

paki (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=57124&dict=CALD)

Spot the difference?

And you might find this case pertinent:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4692700-103690,00.html

nope! cant see any difference!

the thing i dont like is that black people in my school call each other 'pakis' all the time, but any other person cant call them a 'paki' and iif they do they are jumped and beaten!!

why not?

The difference is:

aussie "adjective, noun [C] INFORMAL"
paki: "noun [C] OFFENSIVE"

In answer to the second part of your question - do some research on the history of the word "******" and it's adoption by the black community.

oh ok sorry...................

I know a pakistani bloke has started a clothing range called PAK1, and he cant see anything wrong with it.

I think you're missing the point - to quote the BBC:

Abdul Rahim, who runs Star Crescent Clothing in the Cambridgeshire town, admits his Pak1 logo could look like a racial slur.

But he said fellow Pakistanis should take back the meaning of the word and wear the clothing with pride.

Mr Rahim said: "Pakistan means land of the pure, so to be called a 'paki' is to be called 'the pure'.

"Somehow, somewhere in the 1960s, the racists hijacked this word for their own uses and abuses, and our elders, and society in general allowed them to do so."

I quite like sick jokes, providing they're funny. This one was a bit lame.

I also use 'bad' language, break the law occasionally, get drunk and scratch my arse.

If I was a senior politician I wouldn't do any of these things in public.

Ergo: she is an eejit and should be sacked. Plus, she is a horrible old Tory crone and should f*** off just for that.

MichaelTravis for PM!

:lol:

Originally posted by Mike
I think you're missing the point - to quote the BBC:

Abdul Rahim, who runs Star Crescent Clothing in the Cambridgeshire town, admits his Pak1 logo could look like a racial slur.

But he said fellow Pakistanis should take back the meaning of the word and wear the clothing with pride.

Mr Rahim said: "Pakistan means land of the pure, so to be called a 'paki' is to be called 'the pure'.

"Somehow, somewhere in the 1960s, the racists hijacked this word for their own uses and abuses, and our elders, and society in general allowed them to do so."

must we quote the bbc
its hardly balanced journalisim is it ?:loopy:

What do you consider balanced journalism then?

And that was a quote from the founder of PAK1, so no other news organisation could report it differently, could they? :loopy:

I think the joke is racist. Not all sharks eat people so it's not fair to tar them all with the same brush. You simply can't generalise like that.

Originally posted by Zamo
I think the joke is racist. Not all sharks eat people so it's not fair to tar them all with the same brush. You simply can't generalise like that.

At last Zamo, you actually understand why it's wrong to generalise.:thumbsup:

Originally posted by Zamo
I think the joke is racist. Not all sharks eat people so it's not fair to tar them all with the same brush. You simply can't generalise like that.

You may tar them if you wish but you may lose a limb trying. There's also the RSPCA to contend with as they're a bit touchy about that kind of thing. ;)