Is It Just Me: Questioning When Our Sense of What Constitutes Racism is More Important to Protect Than Children?

If I say the word Rotherham to you, unless you have yet to catch the headlines last night or this morning, than you will be, no doubt, disgusted by what has come to light.

It was revealed yesterday that children as young as 11, in fact 1,400 of them (or that's what we know of), have been used a currency by a gang of Asian males. They were raped repeatedly, and passed between friends in different towns between 1997 and 2013.

That in itself in the modern world we live in is disgraceful.

But the story takes an even more "are you fucking kidding me" angle when we find out that Social Workers- those whom are responsible for the welfare of those unable to care for it themselves, knew about the attacks. Did they intervene?

Well, you'd think owing to their job description they would have done without question. But they didn't. They did nothing. Not one thing. Hence the length of time and severity of the attacks on these 1,400 children (again, we know of these, but I would not be at all surprised that there are more who are still too scared to come forward).

According to reports, the main leader of this pack of, and I'm not sorry if this offends, and would invite you to get the hell off my blog and never return if it does or you sympathise with these men in anyway, utter animals walked around like he was King of the World. He was well aware that the Social Services knew, and well aware they stood by and let it happen. He goaded them frequently according to reports. He knew they knew and did nothing, so he simply carried on, safe in the knowledge that he could do what he wanted and not face what rightfully should have happened (and has, thankfully, now happened) and be jailed.

So, why did this carry on for so long? Why were so many of these poor kids allowed to have their lives ruined forever for the sick sexual desires of these freaks? (again, not sorry for offence, they're freaks).

Its that word again, the one we hear over and over increasingly when the Powers That Be who are meant to protect the rest of us fail.

Racism.

They were scared about being accused of racism. More scared of that than of what was happening to these children.

One could ask how they could sleep at night, knowing that this was going on, under their noses.

Do they have kids themselves?

To top it all off, and to further reinstall that racism is more important that children's welfare in this country these days, how many have been sacked, resigned or given their wages back?

One.

Out of a whole department of people, paid to do a job, one person, the head, has resigned.

You can see this being a Sharon Shoesmith all over again.

And what are our mates the Tories doing? Are they sacking people?

Are they feck.

If it's not an excuse to kick a disabled person or similar, they don't care.

Its the usual round of solemn looks to camera and "lessons will be learnt" yet again.

Yet these lessons are not learnt.

I'm not a racist person. Far from it. But I really hate that these so called do gooders are ruining the country by marking everything as racist at the drop of a hat, meaning people are too scared to speak up and people like these sick individuals can walk around, knowing that, should they have their collars felt they can cry racism and it all goes away.

No doubt the same will be true when the deluded UK ISIS fighters decide they've quite had enough of beheading people are raping and pillaging a land they've probably not had family members in for decades and want their cushy UK lives back.

Frankly, they should have their passports revoked but it wont happen.

This time, we do actually need a public referendum on what constitutes racism. What levels it takes and when this is nothing compared to what children like those in Rotherham (and no doubt other boroughs we're yet to hear about), some of whom had petrol thrown over them when they told their attackers they would speak up, have had to go through and the future they face trying to live a normal life.

And you can't help thinking, had these children have been mates of David Cameron's party members, this would have all been dealt with a lot quicker.

I leave you, disgusted that this story has happened in the UK, a supposedly civilised country. And hoping that, these poor mites may be left alone and never failed again.

Comment: Big Fat Gypsy Weddings- Insightful TV or Just Plain Racist?

Hands up who watched Channel 4 at 9pm on Tuesday, for My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding?


Now hands up who laughed, tweeted "jokes" or watched purely because they saw the programme as comedy?


I thought so.


Sadly, I wasn't watching with the same mirth as many.


Elder is an ex-traveller. He lived in a caravan until he was 8 with his Mum. After this they would travel in the summer holidays, meeting up with friends and family, whilst living in a flat the rest of the time so Elder could go to school. These are times he remembers fondly.


In the time when Elder would have been considered a Traveller, he went to countless parties, either wedding, funeral, communion or otherwise- he went to the same Epsom Festival back in this childhood as was featured in the documentary.

Of all these events he went to, whilst Elder readily admits that everyone made an effort with their dress and wore their most expensive clothes and flashiest jewellery, he never saw any weddings as shown in the programme, or OTT communion dresses that Channel 4 has emphasised on the recent episode.


It is sold by Channel 4 as an insightful view of the mystery surrounding the traveller community. I failed to see that shown at all.


The programme was very one sided to the comical view of the Traveller, only presenting a view of the minority who opt for the "bigger is better" ideal. Not all Travellers deem it necessary to wear such huge and heavy dresses, rather they wear your average wedding dress or communion dress. These events are "big", just like anyone elses, and like any parent, the Traveller family spends as much as possible on making those one off events as enjoyable, and memorable as possible.


The section showing the young child who wore the oversized Communion dress was met with tweets of horror, and disgusting comments towards the child and the little boy with her. People questioned her parents ability as responsible adults, and I even saw people expressing the viewpoint that the child should be in care. 


No one commented about how much that little girl smiled at having her dream dress- yes, her dress, not one forced upon her by order of her parents, one she had specifically chosen- and how that child will never forget that day in her life. By comparison,the other children who were there for the same day out looked bored.


Like any parent, this child's parents wanted to make her day special, and what parent can be written about with anything other than praise for doing everything to make their child happy?


With respect, this programme would never be made with the spotlight on any other ethnic minority community, or at least not in the same way.


My Landlord is currently planning (and paying for) his daughter's wedding. He has bought her a house which is being re-decorated to her standards, paid for by her Dad. She has 1100+ guests coming to the wedding, which will go on over a whole weekend. Paid for by her Dad.


Now imagine we had a programme about the excesses of the cost of this wedding- called along the same lines "My Big Fat Indian Wedding". It would never be allowed to poke fun at the Indian, or any other, community in the same way as it would mean journalists and amateur bystanders alike up and down the country shouting Racist before Channel 4 even shouted Cut.


The way the current Gypsy programme is being handled means it may as well be called "My Big Fat Pikey Wedding" instead.


And to refer to the teens (4 of them) as "running in a pack". Sorry, a what?


These teen girls had no make up on, they did not have a bottle of Cider (or worse) in their hands, they were out in daylight, and not one was seen with a cigarette.


To suggest it is unusual for teen girls to hang around together is obviously the view of an uninformed writer who hasn't walked through their local park of an evening, and met with the daunting sight of 30+ mixed gender, drinking, swearing and smoking teens, snogging and worse still. They obviously have never watched (grudgingly) an episode on any weekday of Jeremy Kyle and seen the consequences of non-Traveller teens needing DNA tests to determine which spotty oik a girl has produced an offspring with.


In the traveller community, behaviour is everything- they marry for life, are virgins beforehand and are chaperoned if going out with a member of the opposite sex. They are respectful of their elders, and would never disgrace their family with the kind of behaviour that is ever increasing amongst the non-Traveller teen community.


No matter how they are persecuted, called scum, laughed at and moved on, the Traveller community remains strong, unbreakable.


Now tell me how well you know the neighbours on your street, in your community?


Before we seek to poke fun of things we don't understand, maybe we should act more responsibly and take a look at our own young people and communities first.


And perhaps "edgy" channels like 4 could give a properly rounded, well researched and truly insightful programme, rather than this "mockumentary" they are currently responsible for.




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Image: Nutdanai Apikhomboonwaroot / FreeDigitalPhotos.net