I’ve never seen a movie starring Shilpa Shetty. I’ve never watched Big Brother. I had no idea until this post on SepiaMutiny that Shilpa Shetty would be on Big Brother. Frankly, I didn’t read it because I didn’t care.
So why, in in the name of all that is sacred, have so many of my conversations in the past few days involved the unholy combination of a mediocre Bollywood actress and a revolting reality show?
Sajit recently tackled the growing controversy surrounding the show, so please refer to his post if you need to catch up. That’s were it began for me.
Then Mr. Cicatrix and I randomly channel-surfed our way to a ABC Nightline News segment on the how Shilpa’s quiet dignity was “Uniting India’s Warring Muslims and Hindus.” So sixty years after Partition, THIS is what finally unites?!
The House of Commons has weighed in. Tony Blair. The British Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Indian Parliament has lodged a formal complaint with the British government. All this over remarks variously described as “girly rivalry,” “bullying,” and “racist abuse.” (link) Remarks made by people so stupid, one thought “Winston Churchill was the first black president of America.” (link)
The talking heads pontificated and culture critics scibbled op-eds. Is it jealousy? Class conflict? Bigotry? Ignorance? (link). Insecurity? Stupidity? (link). A set-up by the show’s creators? (link). Shilpa’s own fault? (Yep. Germaine Greer said it).
The semiotics of racism, of “poppadoms,” “can’t even speak English,” “Shilpa Fuckawallah” and “live in a house or a shack,” have been tossed about selectively and dissected to the point that it’s all just meaningless chatter.
So it was a relief and a surprise to read Martin Jacques’ article in the Guardian (thanks ultrabrown). Jacques, a Fellow at the Asia Research Center at the London School of Economics, roots around the muck to find a very solid reason for why this show is more than a tempest in a teapot, why it resonates so violently in Britain and abroad:
The test of our behaviour, of how racist we are, is no longer what the white British think. That started to change with the self-awareness and growing confidence of our own ethnic minorities. But the matter does not end there. The test now, in this instance, is what Indians in India think, how they perceive us.
As Goody raged and railed against Shetty on Wednesday night’s TV broadcast, she was like a cornered animal, lashing out in every direction against something she clearly detested but also feared and felt threatened by. She was confronted not only with the Other, but a hugely self-confident Other. What could be worse? It was a metaphor for the world that is now rapidly taking shape before our very eyes. (link )
I think he nails it. To go back to that “poppadom” business:
Racism always exists cheek by jowl with, inside and alongside culture and class. As a rule it is inseparable from them. That is why, for example, food, language and names assume such importance in racial prejudice. And that has certainly been the case in Big Brother. Food is a signifier of difference: so are names, so is language. So Jade and her sidekicks homed in on Shilpa’s cooking and choice of food, made fun of her name and refused to learn it. And with food came the suggestion that Shilpa’s hygiene left something to be desired, that she was unclean (she had touched the food, it was claimed, and “you don’t know where her hands have been”). In other words, not only was she different, but she came from an inferior civilisation.
Th world is changing:
Almost from the outset, Big Brother’s racism has had a new and novel dimension. Because Gordon Brown was in India at the time, and was asked about it during his trip, the issue immediately acquired an international dimension. In an earlier era, of course, this would have been dismissed as of no consequence: the natives could safely be ignored. But no longer. We saw this just a year ago in relation to the Danish cartoons and their ridicule of Islam. Europe used to ignore what the former colonial world felt. There was no feedback loop.
I’ve been waiting for this for a long time – the dawning awareness that the “third world” is no longer silent or passive. The realization that “the Other” can speak for itself, quite well, thank you. The acknowledgement that we are here, we are watching you, and we will not be ignored.
Please read the full article here. You might disagree, but it’ll be worth it.
UPDATE: The BBC (thanks Ennis!) reports that the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone said he was “delighted” that Jade Goody was voted off the show with 82% of the vote.
“You can imagine the uproar there would have been in this country if, say, Keira Knightley had been being abused in a Big Brother house in India.”
He added that India is the second biggest investor to London after the US and that without last night’s protest vote, there “would have been a lot of harm to people’s jobs”.
This further underscores the point made in the Guardian article:
India is a rising giant; we can no longer afford to ignore, as we once did with impunity, the views and feelings of a country that represents one-fifth of humanity.
This is HUGE. The economic factor appears to be the decisive one, but Indian investment wouldn’t be a concern if there hadn’t been an outcry in India about the ethnic slurs. Get on board, people! This isn’t really about parsing the racism of “the Indian” or whether Shilpa irritated you personally. It’s about how casually people in the third world, “foreigners,” were dismissed and ignored. It’s about how that is finally, maybe, changing.
cicatrix,
let me add another article from Gaurdian. Some excerpts:
If I get time, I’ll find the clip where actually Jade Goody boyfriend did call her “Paki” during their pillow. I think it has been edited out by Channel 4, but it is out there. BTW, you can find all pristine clips of CBB on youtube, and google videos.
The question is if a high profile actress can be put through this, then who is not vulnerable (if the conditions are not friendly – CBB is a classic cabin fever/ ship board environment where it brings out the base nature of people). People who sail (as sailors or oceanographers) will tell you that confined environment truly pulls out the unhindered self.
Here is a different article on the state of matters racial in today’s Britain:
http://www.city-journal.org/html/eon2007-01-19td.html
When Jade got kicked out:
I agree with Germaine Greer’s premise; Shilpa is laughing all the way to the bank.
Regarding “paki”. I fail to see what is an insult about calling someone a Pakistani. From what I have read and pictures I have seen, as well as the people from there that I have met, Pakistan seems like a beautiful country with a rich culture and history.
Is it that Indians don’t like to be called “paki” because of the long-standing tensions between the two countries?
If someone called me a “paki”, I would just be like “thanks”.
It’s a shame to see that someone like Germaine Greer, once on the cutting edge, has stooped to writing about reality TV.
A sign of our times. The 60’s are clearly over.
And yeah, it is called “reality TV” afterall. Why should it portray an ideal? — that’s what acting is for and these people are not supposed to be acting. The whole point of reality TV is to show what people are like in real life, right? So then who can be held responsible for the “racism” or “bullying”? I mean, those two things ARE a part of reality.
Are we to blame those girls for portraying themselves realistically in the show?
Again, Shilpa is getting paid the most out of everybody on it so why are people feeling sorry for her?
She’s getting paid for showing up and getting called a few bad names. What an easy job! The rest of us actually have to work for a living….
Someone feel sorry for me instead please!
MoS,
With due respect, you have lost it.
Ask anyone what Paki means? It is not a short name, just like Aussie. Please watch Bend it Like Beckham for reference.
FYI: Shilpa in fact said that she would not even stand her neighboring country, Pakistan be humilated. Was it good politics via CBB? Maybe. Who knows? It has nothing to do with India-Pakistan.
It’s great that the lady was kicked out, but surely the good mayor is going way overboard. As an Indian, I’m quite disappointed by the gross over reaction in India. The right response to the whole episode would have been a collective smirk. No offense, but there is much irony in a British person using ‘food slurs’ on Indians.
MoS: Paki
A word only has power over us if we allow it. And attitude is more important than facts.
If one thinks “paki” is an insult, it is.
If one thinks “paki” is a compliment, it is.
The world IS how we perceive it to be.
He didn’t call her a “Paki”, called her a “cunt”… I spoke to Channel 4 to confirm this. They cannot lie or OfCom will be on their ass.
Thank you, MoS. We are all sufficiently emancipated now.
Nanda, The kind of abuse Shilpa suffered hit a nerve with NRIs. We’ve almost all had to go through it in some form. You can see how rough it was for Shilpa. I for one am grateful for the Indian reaction, which backed us up.
Same with the word “cunt”.
It is how we perceive it.
The vagina is the source of all life. It is the fountainhead of all humanity. It is creativity incarnated in the flesh.
If I were her I would’ve just taken even that word as a compliment.
I mean, with all the hundreds of thousands she is getting paid to do this show – she got absolutely nothing to complain about.
Regarding “Negro” or “Whitey”. I fail to see what is an insult about calling someone a Negro/Whitey because that’s what they are – black or white. From what I have read and pictures I have seen, as well as the people I have met, African Americans/European Amerians are a beautiful people with a rich culture and history.
If someone called me a “Korean”, I would just be like “thanks” since the caller is obviously making a fool of himself/herself. I hope this was just ignorance on your part, although it seems hard to believe.
Mistress of Spices…
Okay, forgive me if I come across as being obtuse, but IÂ’m going to take a crack at your question about being called ‘pakiÂ’. (If you’re being totally ironic, please ignore everything I’ve written and continue on with your day)
I was called ‘pakiÂ’ a number of times growing up in Canada, I remember each and every time in detail. It will always carry racist overtones with it. The word carries with it a history of xenophobia and racism. I appreciate your argument, and the way youÂ’re playing with the power of the word… But for me it canÂ’t be stripped of its social history and become a word that warrants a simple ‘thank youÂ’.
Kurma, negro means black and it is not derogatory at all, unless intended to be.
White also is not derogatory, although “whitey” might be, as well as “blacky”. But just white or black or negro or caucasian – they are not derogatory – they are adjectives, pure and simple.
Mistress of Spices
Consider this your final warning. Please abandon your incredibly inflammatory and specious line of argument immediately, or you will be banned. You were warned before on another thread.
We do not suffer fools or trolls gladly.
They are adjectives, neither pure nor simple, as language never is. Your absolutist statements about what words have what weight irrespective of context are absurd.
There, the argument is complete. We all know what negro means. It is the word for black in so many languages. Why, I can even argue that Negro translates to the name of an Indian god, so it’s actually a term of respect.
If you are very comfortable referring to black people in America as negroes, then hey, I’ve got nothing to say.
I do agree with you on this point in the sense that the ‘reality’ being show makes it more difficult for us to avoid confronting the very real presense of these kinds of attitudes. ThereÂ’s a fantastic interview on Ch4 news that brownpeople linked to with ShilpaÂ’s British Asian agent Jaz Barton that brings up the same point:
The interviewer asks of Jaz Barton: “Isn’t reality tv in the end demonstrating a reality, and isn’t the argument that is being stirred by it rather an important one for people to have?”
“…these three white women who were abusing Shilpa, do they not in fact react and reflect a reality in Britain? And isn’t that an important reality for people to see displayed because in seeing it displayed it may be tackled?”
This is the interesting part of your comment. Then you throw in a “Paki” statement and everyone’s attention is on that. Fine, a mistake, maybe if you didn’t know that it’s a very offensive term in the UK, someone can correct it for you. Then you defend it and the other words too??? What is your intention, MoS?
MoS:
You seem to have a real problem with Shilpa making all that money.
Do you have the same problem with Jade?
ShilpaÂ’s style was really unbearable. She has an irritating attitude. Her non-verbal stuff irks me even more. Just follow the whole sequence – where she complains (1:18) about the ‘chicken stock cubesÂ’ … she is obsessed with chicken throughout her stint! the surprises with eyebrows raised – ‘only thing I ordered’ … and then ‘why should I be apologetic the way I have been brought up’, ‘i am not from the roadside’ … doesn’t Shilpa Shetty know how many Indians in Mumbai sleep on the roadside, and get killed? … i don’t understand what makes her think she is God’s gift to the world. She goes on … ‘i am shilpa shetty for the work i have done for so long’ .. give me a break!! what work? some shoddy cheap third grade movies? i am sure shilpa shetty doesn’t even know what is a good quality movie. and she is supposed to have ‘class’! Please. She has made a lot of money. That’s all.
Frankly, “canÂ’t even speak English” or “The Indian” shouldn’t even be considered racist AT ALL. Can Danielle speak Hindi? So, why is it racist?
Cicatrix, Jacques is partially right when he says:
What matters more is how Indians perceive Indians.
And there are many Indias, and there are many categories of Indians. The sad part is people do not see reason, people do not get into the details. What I find surprising is the velocity of emotional contagion. Everybody got involved! I agree, when Danielle calls her a dog (00:35), that’s a nasty blow.
But please admit, Shilpa Shetty is unbearable. Germaine Greer gets it:
And yeah, it is called “reality TV” afterall. Why should it portray an ideal? — that’s what acting is for and these people are not supposed to be acting.
Yes, it is reality TV. Highly dysfunctional and acted out.
However, like cartoons and caricatures, in its exaggeration brings out a kernel of truth. the most interesting point is three/ four (when Jackie was present) women in an unscripted way immediately zeroed in on Shilpa – her name, food, and sanitation. There was no wasting of time, as if it was waiting to burst out of seams.
I am really glad that England acted wisely in their voting, even if it is just a “reality TV”
Btw Cicatrix, great post! I found Germaine GreerÂ’s Gardian article utterly confusing. Especially this part where she conflates a desi being called a “Paki” with an Australian being called “Aussie”…wtf?
OkayÂ…I donÂ’t even know where to start with that. Making racism and sexism compete for political incorrectness (its not a zero sum game Germaine!), interpreting “Paki” to literally mean someone of Pakistani origi…yikes.
Anyway, I love the Jacques article — the observation that the test of racism is measured by “what Indians in India think, how they perceive us” is fantastic one.
Technically speaking “bitch” shouldn’t be derogatory either, you’re either a female dog or you aren’t. But obviously it is. Your whole line of reasoning is flawed. I grew up in Canada too and have been called paki many times. It is always used with a negative connotation. One would have to be pretty naive to treat it as anything else.
My last comment was directed at MoS, forgot to mention it.
Once I made a stupid mistake. In CT, liquor stores are called package stores and are often referred to as the “packie” — i.e. I gotta pick up some beer at the packie. I once said the word referring to a package stores in California and got stares and realized the blunder.
how come non-brits are on this?
i’ve read a lot about what the indians think etc. but i didn’t really hear too much in the mainstream dialogue about what the 2nd/3rd gen south asian britishers think. i would think that the whole reason shilpa was put on the show was to bring in ads to fit the south asian british market. and yet, the whole fiasco seemed to ignore that very important population who most likely would have had a more well-thought out response to the situation than putting out an “incredible india” invite to the weird woman.
Whether or not it was racist is secondary to most viewers of Big Brother.
It is the constant bullying and harassment of a generally polite, well-behaved woman that hit a lot of nerves. Why is bullying, verbal and emotional abuse more tolerated? It is more wide-spread and tackling this behavior must reduce overt racism.
Shilpa was wonderful to watch. Whether or not she is being herself, she acted in a way calculated to make her family, friend and her country proud. And proved that such values are appreciated by most of the population in Britain too.
This just shows how lame reality shows really are. If you’re going to produce “entertainment” that rewards people for being selfish pricks… can really call time out and penalize players who choose the “wrong” way to express their hatefulness?
i’ve read a lot about what the indians think etc. but i didn’t really hear too much in the mainstream dialogue about what the 2nd/3rd gen south asian britishers think.
They are tons of them in news print (Timesonline, etc.), and go to youtube, watch BBC, etc. Brit Asians, Brit Africans are all over it. They are the ones along with white Britshers who voted to boot Jade Goody out.
You have not looked carefully.
FYI: Shilpa was put to add glamor, and bring cultural clash. Big Brother knew exactly what they were doing. Last year, their talent scout went to India.
The degradation of colonialism is ending; our nightmare is ending, finally
And one way you can tell is that, now when something demeaning happens to us, there is a needle scratch moment. that needle scratch moment is the point at which we pivot now, and more and more often turn the other way. it took a lot of brutality to get us to accept our inferiority in the first place, and now we’re reclaiming our rightful place as fully equally and have no need to apologize for our color, our names, our food, our existence
re #22: does that mean that anytime you find someone unbearable (and not a good actress and highly paid) that gives you the right to launch into a bigoted tirade that takes the usual standard trite potshots at the person’s culture – food, hygiene, funny name? and calling someone “the indian” repeatedly in a sneering tone is meant to be derogatory from a smarmy person who thinks purposely mangling or not trying to pronounce someone’s name is oh so witty and a clever putdown. same with the tone of voice over her English, which is laughable given that her english is far superior to theirs and they know it, hence their attempt at putting down someone whose native language is not english. if she’s so unbearable, how is it that the others are able to bear her without being derogatory (including at least two of the women who earlier left the show apparently, who were able to get along fine with her)?
clearly, there is difference in class and breeding (that has nothing to do with what social strata you come from, given that the danielle girl is supposedly from a “respectable” middle class background. apparently she was given instructions from her agent on what to do and not do in the house. one of her don’ts was don’t be racist. why on earth would an agent tell someone that before they even went on the show if they hadn’t already displayed some proclivity towards that behavior?) at worst, shilpa may be a bit bossy and diva-ish and annoying, which is a lot better than what you can say for the other non-ladies.
In reference to the word “paki” and its “innocent” usage, my parents left Canada in the early ’70s b/c they had been the recipients of that word one too many times. A shame, really….
The fact this issue has get out of control is joke. Look at shows like The Sureal Life and Real World, they have the same crap and racial insults all the time, yet nobody freaks out like this.
I wonder what our 300 million lower caste brother and sisters think of this issue. I bet they would like someone to come to there defense which is alot more important then some B-rate actors.
It just amazing how much us desi love to play the race card and get hurt by any comment they don’t like in the West. Yet very few of us have done anything in homeland of people to make things better for our lower caste brothers and sisters who have alot worse then any of us on even our worst day.
The most racist thing I ever saw in my life was in the town of Ludhiana, Punjab in 1996 when I saw bunch of drunk Jatts take turns urinating on some 10 year lower caste boy. One of those drunk idiots was a 2nd cousin of mine who never met before, and I hope I never meet again. What happened to that 10 year old boy is alot worse then what happened to some stupid bollywood actress.
OT Comment.Apologies. I know SM has the right to ban whoever it wants, but can you guys please reconsider your standards of “trolling”? If nothing else , MoS gives me an idea of how some ‘other’ people think, instead of a bunch of people saying “yes thats right.. i agree with TFA\Post\comment” in one form or the other. However intelligent\informative the rest of the comments may be, I still wanna hear from the naysayers who disagree with the blog’s mainstream opinion and see an intelligent reaction to it. Yes even I hate flame wars, but personally I would have loved to hear back from MoS about what the others had to say about her comment. Maybe its up to us to exercise self-restraint and ignore trollish statements while responding to half-thought-out arguments. Absolutist opinions and devils advocacy aren’t really trolling are they? How about ignorant bullheadedness? I think free speech and all that jazz are nice to have and banning should be reserved for the most extreme of cases. But then again, you guys know more about the past behaviour of this specific user so i defer to your judgement.
Oh what the hell…I’ll just go sing ” What if Voltaire had a blog..” to the tune of What if God was one of us. 🙂
“The most racist thing I ever saw in my life was in the town of Ludhiana, Punjab in 1996 when I saw bunch of drunk Jatts take turns urinating on some 10 year lower caste boy. One of those drunk idiots was a 2nd cousin of mine who never met before, and I hope I never meet again. What happened to that 10 year old boy is alot worse then what happened to some stupid bollywood actress.”
that is indeed disgusting. i trust you did something about it and that the boy is now leading a much better life (and i don’t mean that facetiously).
I was 19year olds at the time and visting India in 1996 at the time. I was able to help the boy run away,
But after that event I have tried to help lower caste people any chance I have. 2 years ago in Vancouver I met a lower caste husband and wife who were working in Vancouver restaurant industry. They had been treated like crap by the desi community of Vancouver because of there caste. They wanted to open there own restaurant, but wanted to move somewhere else.
I gave them a number of somebody I know in my hometown area, and rest is history. So now they have there own place in area that 99% white, yet they feel like part of the community, instead of Vancouver where they were treated like crap by there fellow desi’s.
clueless, thanks for your reply.
Thanks. I didn’t know that. That is useful perspective. Perhaps racism is less tolerated in reality tv in the UK. The issue wouldn’t be so big if it hadn’t been discussed at the House of Commons.
If someone looks down on lower caste people but is hyperventilating about racial discrimination, then that person is certainly a hypocrite. But if someone tries their best to not discriminate and be decent to everyone, they have a right to expect others to be fair to them.
Firstly, there has been outrage whenever caste-related discrimination has come up on SM. While Shilpa’s story has certainly been popular on SM, the response has been more mixed. Some people have come out and said they could see why Shilpa irritated her roommates so, or that she’s been v cleverly manipulative, etc etc.
Also, it is a BIG assumption that most of us at SM have never done anything to help the situation in India. I am sure a significant percentage of us did what they could given a chance, and are doing what they can through given a chance through charities, etc. All of us probably have our own personal stories, which do not have any connection to the common reality of other people’s lives, and so cannot be discussed here. OTOH, we have all heard of Shilpa, so it is natural that discussions about her will go on longer.
At the same time I also often feel that SM has a rather elite perspective and is somewhat divorced from the ground reality of India. But it is an ABD blog, so that is perhaps to be expected.
Racism is a problem in every country in the world today and will be in 100 years from now. Yet from what I’ve have read its seems like that some people think it only is a problem in so-called white countries.
Sometimes I wonder if there is jealousy among many on this board that countries like Canada,United States, Australia,New Zealand and Most countries in Europe are considered the best places to live in the world and they all have populations that are over 50% white. Most of ancestors come from places that don’t have the same standard of living.
Yet everybody knows how desi are treated in Saudi Arabia and U.A.E and yet there is little outrage as there is for the so-called white countries for things nowhere as worse.
Also look at Japan, and South Korea 2 countries that could pass for 1st world, yet they have very little desi immigration and they don’t want desi immigration, yet if place like Sweden or Norway had the same immigration policy there would be much more outrage.
Our very tenderness on this issue is the flip side of racism, and still part of the same coin. If you call me an Aussie you don’t insult me because Aussieness is OK. Pakiness is evidently not OK.
Is this person insane? I just read the whole article and its beyond silly.
Also saw the clips on youtube and its very difficult to understand Jade. Jade’s accent is for the most part, incomprehensible.
Jade ‘donating TV fee to charity’
yeah right 🙂
I agree. To some extent, it has been blown out of proportion. Its just a stupid reality TV show, with a very stupid Indian who would be the last person I would choose to represent my country, culture, heritage, (and all those glossy words used by her manager). If this had been in a more serious setting, like when Jaswant Singh (not totally sure if it was him) was made to take off his shoes and socks and frisked thoroughly on an official visit to the US, it would have been a different case.
Also, let us not forget that Indians too are quite racist by nature. I do not imply everyone here, but if you consider the average ignorant Indian (as we are considering the average ignorant Britisher here), racism and particularly ignorance of political correctness are quite a trait. For example, last year in the UK itself, Rimi Sen made an outright racist comment (link) about black Africans out of sheer ignorance. Specifically, this was her comment: “Rohit Shetty is amazing as a director. He can make even a black African look pretty.“
I can even cite examples of my relatives using words like “Negro” (which is illegal in Europe). One of them even used it in public in the US (thankfully it wasn’t very loud to cause problems).
The Jatts are sudras or low caste themselves. The poor boy must have been dalit/untouchable.
Indian casteism is far more inhumane than white racism towards desis. No doubt about that. Whites in Britain marry non-whites in significant numbers. Jade Goody, who looks white, is actually a quarter black jamaican. How many brahmins do you know who are married to dalits or sudras?
Yes the poor boy was dalit/untouchable
How many brahmins do you know who are married to dalits or sudras?
More than you know. In fact, a significant number of Dalit leaders, doctors, engineers, businessmen have upper caste spouses. There is huge, similar to African Americans that upwardly mobile sometime marry outward. PPS: This does not deny deep problems though. A very famous example is BR Ambedkar.
So now, we are going to have scorecards or self-inflicted flogging, and declare “We all deserve to be called Fuckwallahs?“
This woman oozes class from every pore. Her calmness and poise in the face of adversity is reminiscent of legendary Indian women such as Sita, Rani of Jhansi, Sarojini Naidu and even Mother Teresa. Now, Abhishek Bachchan has a public responsibility to immediately dump Aishwarya Rai and marry Ms. Shetty. I hope they invite him over as a Mystery Guest as she is clearly in distress and needs all the support she can receive. Hopefully, once her inevitable victory has been achieved, the Indian government will have the sense to declare a Public Holiday to celebrate a monumental achievement.
Peace