Jump to content

Councillor to have diversity training after golliwog remarks

trousers

By trousers,
in The Lounge

 Share

Recommended Posts

trousers

trousers

Posted
Posted

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10529940/Councillor-to-have-diversity-training-after-golliwog-remarks.html

 

A Conservative councillor is to undergo diversity training after she claimed that golliwogs are "nostalgic, not racist".

 

Dawn Barnett was found guilty of bringing Brighton and Hove City Council into disrepute with her remarks.

 

At a closed hearing, a panel of three councillors said the 72-year-old should have diversity training.

 

She was cleared of failing to treat others with respect and breaching the Equalities Act and the panel also recommended all councillors should have diversity training in future.

 

In August, Cllr Barnett said she thought golliwogs were "nostalgic, not racist".

 

She also dismissed complaints against a homestore in Brighton selling golliwog placemats as "political correctness gone too far".

 

Four complaints from three people were made to the council’s Black and Minority Ethnic Workers’ Forum in response to her comments.

 

Cllr Barnett said she thought the issue should never have progressed to a hearing, which took more than five hours, and was a waste of taxpayers’ money.

 

She said: "They threw out the two most serious charges but said I was guilty of breaching the code of conduct.

 

"I am pleased they have let me off on the other two serious charges but very disappointed they have judged I broke the code of conduct.

 

"I don't think it should have got this far, it was a waste of taxpayers' money and officers' time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Wes Tender

Wes Tender

Posted
Posted

So the Council wasted all that time and expense on the basis of 4 complaints from 3 people. How few people does it take to warrant an investigation? And what would be the situation if many more people agreed with her remarks? Do their opinions not count too?It comes as no surprise at all that this is Brighton & Hove Council, and I would argue that their petty left-wing lunacy which has taken political correctness to new depths of crass stupidity, has done far more to bring the Council into disrepute than the opinion of this Councillor.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Whitey Grandad

Whitey Grandad

Posted
Posted
So the Council wasted all that time and expense on the basis of 4 complaints from 3 people. How few people does it take to warrant an investigation? And what would be the situation if many more people agreed with her remarks? Do their opinions not count too?It comes as no surprise at all that this is Brighton & Hove Council, and I would argue that their petty left-wing lunacy which has taken political correctness to new depths of crass stupidity, has done far more to bring the Council into disrepute than the opinion of this Councillor.

 

I totally agree.

 

Are dolls not allowed to be black?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Wes Tender

Wes Tender

Posted
Posted
I totally agree.Are dolls not allowed to be black?
Thinking about this further, what has this to do with the Council? If she has done something illegal, she can be prosecuted, but if she refuses to undergo this "thought Police" style indoctrination that the Council is proposing that Councillors undergo, what can they do about it? Councillors are not employees of the Council as such, they are the elected representatives of the voting public. If she doesn't represent the views of the voters in her ward, then they will not elect her next time round. But I have a strong suspicion that she is more in touch with her electorate than the Brighton Council officers are. If I was her, I'd tell them to go to hell.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
pap

pap

Posted
Posted
Yep agree with you here. Golliwogs are not racist and were still around in the 90s before they decided they were unacceptable.

 

Have you not noticed the word "wog" at the end of that word?

 

Would it still not be racist if it was gollyn*gger or gollycoon?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Whitey Grandad

Whitey Grandad

Posted
Posted
Have you not noticed the word "wog" at the end of that word?

 

Would it still not be racist if it was gollyn*gger or gollycoon?

 

But it isn't either of those two is it? Is 'pollywog' racist? Is 'woggle'?

 

Words are just collection of letters. It is how those letters are combined and used that is important. There is a lot of ignorance about over some of these proscribed words. Some councils will not allow 'nitty-gritty' for example but is has absolutely nothing to do with the slave trade.

 

My friends had a house built outside Toronto in the early 1980s. It stood at the junction of two roads. The council sent them a letter telling them that their address would be no. 1 Coons Road. They explained that there family in England would not understand so they were allowed to be in the other road which was Beaufort Hills Drive. (Coons is short for raccoons in that part of the world).

 

Racist is as racist sees.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Ohio Saint

Ohio Saint

Posted
Posted

 

My friends had a house built outside Toronto in the early 1980s. It stood at the junction of two roads. The council sent them a letter telling them that their address would be no. 1 Coons Road. They explained that there family in England would not understand so they were allowed to be in the other road which was Beaufort Hills Drive. (Coons is short for raccoons in that part of the world).

 

 

I can't remember who it was, but a US politician a few years back got into trouble for using the word niggardly. :? Don't people know what dictionaries are for?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sour Mash

Sour Mash

Posted
Posted
I would love to see the Gollywog defenders on here (great name for a band btw) take their toys and nostalgic memorabilia to Brixton and explain to some of the Black population there just why they are harmless fun and a good time for all.
Every black person I know really wouldn't give a f**k to be honest. What do you know about Brixton?
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Griffo

Griffo

Posted
Posted
You can buy gollywogs in brixton or at least you could before the 'village' was taken over by middle class cheese and champagne bars. I would guess mikey knows nothing about brixton (sorry mikey) and imagines its some kind of black power homeland.

 

Brixton is getting gentrified now, as you said, like a lot of inner London areas. There are tons of places in London that have a lot more blacks than Brixton does.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
pap

pap

Posted
Posted
But it isn't either of those two is it? Is 'pollywog' racist? Is 'woggle'?

 

Words are just collection of letters. It is how those letters are combined and used that is important. There is a lot of ignorance about over some of these proscribed words. Some councils will not allow 'nitty-gritty' for example but is has absolutely nothing to do with the slave trade.

 

My friends had a house built outside Toronto in the early 1980s. It stood at the junction of two roads. The council sent them a letter telling them that their address would be no. 1 Coons Road. They explained that there family in England would not understand so they were allowed to be in the other road which was Beaufort Hills Drive. (Coons is short for raccoons in that part of the world).

 

Racist is as racist sees.

 

"Wog" is a racist slur. "Woggle" is not. "N*gger" is a racist slur. "Niggardly" is not.

 

Hypo was saying that golliwogs weren't racist. You've got the word "wog" combined with a doll that is supposed to depict a black man, based on the minstrel tradition, which of course, was all about white men blacking up and doing impressions of what they thought black men were like.

 

Times change, and she should have known better. Diversity training is the right result. I've known loads of people have to do it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
trousers

trousers

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Hypo was saying that golliwogs weren't racist. You've got the word "wog" combined with a doll that is supposed to depict a black man, based on the minstrel tradition, which of course, was all about white men blacking up and doing impressions of what they thought black men were like.

 

Is the history portrayed in this article incorrect then? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1136016/How-golliwog-went-innocent-childrens-hero-symbol-bitter-controversy.html

 

(Yes, I know it's the "Daily Fail", so pinch of salt at the ready...)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
pap

pap

Posted
Posted
Is the history portrayed in this article incorrect then? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1136016/How-golliwog-went-innocent-childrens-hero-symbol-bitter-controversy.html

 

(Yes, I know it's the "Daily Fail", so pinch of salt at the ready...)

 

Not wrong, but omits bits that this doesn't.

 

http://www.golliwogg.co.uk/history.htm

 

Given the slant they wanted to put on the story, its unsurprising they mentioned the minstrel part. Even they'd have a hard time getting a "Bring back blackface" campaign off the ground.

 

It is Britain's least accurate newspaper, after all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
hypochondriac

hypochondriac

Posted
Posted

 

Thanks for that interesting article. Particularly this bit:

 

It was a completely invented name and one that at the time had no negative connotations. By 1894 the first story, The Adventures Of Two Dutch Dolls And A Golliwogg, was completed and was published the following year.

In this tale, the Golliwogg was initially described as 'a horrid sight, the blackest gnome', but turns out in fact to be good, loveable and brave, with a 'kind face'.

 

Also it seems to be suggesting that the term wog as an offensive term for black people was coined after golliwog had been invented.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Ohio Saint

Ohio Saint

Posted
Posted

Any way I look at this topic, it seems to be a special case in terms of racism/nostalgia, and not meriting any form of reconstructive therapy for anyone slightly on either side of the fence on the issue.

 

It's a part of the nation's history, good or bad. There are more important things to worry about. The whole Gollywog issue is something I would have no problem approaching a black friend about for his opinion. I'm sure he/she would understand, and gladly give their input.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Ohio Saint

Ohio Saint

Posted
Posted
I don't think it wise. The Yanks have banned the word niggardly from the TV because most people don't have big enough vocabularies not to be offended.

 

See my post above.....Idiots like these in the US and in Britain have led have led to the dictionary definition of the word "Literally" to mean "Figuratively" or "metaphorically".........I am literally exploding at the way idiots get to be correct through the power of majority.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
SuperMikey

SuperMikey

Posted
Posted
You can buy gollywogs in brixton or at least you could before the 'village' was taken over by middle class cheese and champagne bars. I would guess mikey knows nothing about brixton (sorry mikey) and imagines its some kind of black power homeland.

 

You're wrong Tokes, there's a big black power movement going on in Brixton now - mostly championed by liberal middle-class sort of fellas like me. Truth be told, very few people in the Black community in that part of London are aware of it.

 

Griffo - you're so wrong. This is me and my mates in Brixton last week, the Daily Mail did an article on us because we're fighting against the oppressors:

 

article-1266725-067EB589000005DC-713_468x307.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Wes Tender

Wes Tender

Posted
Posted
=pap;1836004Times change, and she should have known better. Diversity training is the right result. I've known loads of people have to do it.
You being you, I'm not altogether surprised that you happen to know loads of people having had to undergo "Diversity" training. I've never heard of it before, but nothing about the lefty PC brigade surprises me anymore. But in this case it isn't the right result and as I said earlier, the "offending" Councillor is not an employee of the Council and should tell the Council Thought Police to go and take a long walk off a shorter Pier. Either one of the two will do.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
pap

pap

Posted
Posted
You being you, I'm not altogether surprised that you happen to know loads of people having had to undergo "Diversity" training. I've never heard of it before, but nothing about the lefty PC brigade surprises me anymore. But in this case it isn't the right result and as I said earlier, the "offending" Councillor is not an employee of the Council and should tell the Council Thought Police to go and take a long walk off a shorter Pier. Either one of the two will do.

 

You're way off the mark, sir.

 

I worked in Northern Ireland for 3 years. All permanent staff went on diversity training there, largely on account of the political situation, but also to accommodate eastern European workers.

 

Diversity training has its time and place. Definitely thought it was worthwhile in the Northern Ireland context. It's probably worthwhile for people who represent a diverse range of constituents, such as this councillor.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Whitey Grandad

Whitey Grandad

Posted
Posted
You're way off the mark, sir.

 

I worked in Northern Ireland for 3 years. All permanent staff went on diversity training there, largely on account of the political situation, but also to accommodate eastern European workers.

 

Diversity training has its time and place. Definitely thought it was worthwhile in the Northern Ireland context. It's probably worthwhile for people who represent a diverse range of constituents, such as this councillor.

 

The proper name for these trainers is 'thought police'.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
pap

pap

Posted
Posted
The proper name for these trainers is 'thought police'.

 

Normally, any mention of thought police would have me in a lather, Whitey G - but I think you're stretching this a bit.

 

I've been in places where I dropped an utter b*llock because I was not

aware the cultural differences. We live in a multi cultural society where many people are going to be ignorant what is offensive to others. One has the choice of still continuing to use such terms, but shouldn't people that want to respect others have the opportunity to avoid social faux pas?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Whitey Grandad

Whitey Grandad

Posted
Posted
Normally, any mention of thought police would have me in a lather, Whitey G - but I think you're stretching this a bit.

 

I've been in places where I dropped an utter b*llock because I was not

aware the cultural differences. We live in a multi cultural society where many people are going to be ignorant what is offensive to others. One has the choice of still continuing to use such terms, but shouldn't people that want to respect others have the opportunity to avoid social faux pas?

 

Were you unaware of the cultural differences because you were in an unfamiliar culture? Who should adapt to whom?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...