LOOOOL. Actually I think the problem is political correctness gone mad. I don't see why we only have the channels we have, why can't we have more channels that cater for the minorities, for example. Everyone's a winner.
I'm white, born and bred in London as were my parents and Grandparents. But i grew up with 2nd and 3rd Generation Blacks and Asians and I would say that our immediate cultural experience was pretty much the same. It was only when I went to my mates houses that I'd notice the cultural differences, mainly in the cooking, clothes and music and the strictest Nigerian parents ever! - and when my black mates would come round to my house and would have listen to my Grandad making what he thought were funny racist jokes - but essentially we were all living the same lives in the same area. Our parents and grandparents had different cultural experiences, but the generation I grew up in, the experiece was pretty much the same. And- Hip Hop had a big influence on everyone, Black, white and Asian - there were middle class white kids playing Public Enemy in their rich parents houses
What kind of programs would you like purely for blacks? black people can and are just as english as everyone else, so surely general english things are for blacks also? Asians, greeks etc have a different culture with different music etc, hence them having seperate things, but black things (hip hop, "gangsta" clothes etc are pretty much mainstream, thus are everywhere, you could say being black you have a better media exposure everywhere) Where are the programs, music etc aimed at me? the typical white british young adult?! I have to choose between black music/clothes, general everybody things, or other minorities to be fair a song about me sitting bored, then goin play footy, havin a *** an playin fifa would be ****, but still! Or as the The Real Mrs C PM'd me.... "doesn't he realise the BBC make Crimewatch just for him and his mates?"
I think it's more "bullshine" to produce programmes which go out of their way to cater to certain ethnic groups. It's mostly usually just insulting to everyone involved. I'm white, and I don't mind what ethnicity the people I'm watching are. I don't need to be watching white people to feel that they're representative of my background and upbringing; most people on the BBC are British, whether they're white, black, asian, whatever. In my experience, people who complain that they want to watch ethnic programmes which are "more representative of their ethnic background and lives" are usually just insecure about their ethnic identity.
the only portrayal of the kind of very working class west London that I grew up in seems to be Eastenders (which is SO far from the mark). What a gloomy, minority dominant out of touch nonsense that is. I've tried to watch the odd episode over the years and it so awful. Corry is again a Northern joke of a soap - extreme things riddle the show where once good scripts flowed. Reality and daytime TV should be abandoned as so much dumbdown rubbish. I've worked with multi-generation black, African and asians, and noticed resentful remarks made about them -when many were born here! Why should people wearing their cultural clothes be abused. However hiding identity with hoodies and Islamic female dress cannot be accepted. It seems to me there is tv and radio coverage dedicated for many of them - but I don't see what Hothead wants- specifically.
In Wales we have the Welsh language channel S4C-Sianel Pedwar Cymru-literally translated as Channel 4 Wales.It's programming caters for all the Welsh stereotypes, basically programmes about Farming,the countryside,hymn singing,soap operas set in the valleys,live rugby etc etc.Before digital TV and SKY the Welsh languge programmes were mixed with Channel 4 English programmes as we couldn't receive Channel 4.Now people can see Channel 4 no ****er watches S4C and it's losing money hand over fist and is only kept alive by the license fee.This is a prime example of what happens when you try and cater for a minority audience
I went to school with guys just like Piskie (thank god) I too am black and was lucky enough to grow up living as a teenager in the nineties in saff London arguably the greatest time and place for any teenage generation in history. Yep more could be done for black people but I bet every other ethnic minority has exactly the same opinion. Those times have passed and it is now more about me as an individual not the colour of my skin.
PISKIE - you started to talk correctly then you slipped back off the path Unless you are black you don't know what it was like growing up in London, its all well and good saying you grew up with blacks, fair dos, that means you know a lot more about black culture than most, but there are so many massive differences between us. you trivialise these differences by saying "but essentially we were all living the same lives in the same area." Home life for Caribbean/African blacks is not the same as others, its not just the food, there are so many differences. It was only when I started to spend time at my white friends' houses that I saw. One massive difference is getting beaten, most non black friends shudder when I tell them about the beats we got, but for us it was "standard", but for them it sounds barbaric. For some we had the strong Caribbean influence of calypso/soca music and family parties, old blokes playing dominos and drinking rum, for others there is the heavy African influence, the pigeon English, the bragging and showboating, the African dancing. On the surface, to you, our lives were all the same because we integrated with other kids around us, but the truth is, our lives were totally different growing up. You are right about Hip hop, it did, but in London during the height of it, there were very few white people at Public enemy concerts, for example and the Hip Hop events around the place, they were pretty dangerous places to be.
'in saff London arguably the greatest time and place for any teenage generation in history. Nah - best ever was W.London - say 1965 to say 1972. The live R&b, clubs, pubs, drugs sex and roll'n roll !!!!!!!!!!! FANTASTIC. -some of it I can still remember.
Hip Hop ? Gangster clothes ? Are these black things ?? You sound pretty ignorant Mr Wright !!! A black household is NOTHING LIKE a white household, yeah I talk cockney and I'm as English as the next man but, essentially we are massively different. There used to be a program in the 80s called No Problem, a black sitcom, none of my white friends understood it or found it funny, but I don't know a single black person who didn't want to watch it. Desmonds, the Real McCoy, these comedies were full of caricatures of English blacks. Very few black people liked the Young Ones - I did, but you could see - British blacks had nothing in common with the characters in the show hence it wasn't that popular amongst them. Then we got the invasion of US Black sit coms like the Cosby Show, A Different World, etc, they showed positive black characterisations which we enjoyed. I think you need to educate yourself about the people around you if you want to understand them !!!
Yeah but Murray, most of the TV on the BBC I cannot relate too, I am not white, born and raised in some quaint little English Village, I am not related to anyone who lives in a stately home, I have no interest in dramas for "middle England", if I am expected to pay for a licence fee that doesn't cater for me then I should also have a voice to complain about it !! I pay rates for "Single Asian Abused Women's Hostel for Drug Addicted" people, fine, everyone needs help, I'd like to think that if I got myself into some strife there would be an organisation or network around to help me too, but the BBC don't cater for black people with their programming these days, its just reality TV, shows for old people and "good quality dramas" !!
Bergkamp, where are the Desmonds, the Cosby Shows etc ?? We had Love Thy Neighbour - and we all know how black people were portrayed on that and In Sickness and in Health - with gay Winston !! As the comedian Stephen K Amos cleverly put it in one of his shows, the BBC have their quota for black minorities on TV and his name is Lenny Henry and he'll be here for a while yet !!
Gooner, nobody is saying dedicate a channel to black people but England is certainly big enough to dedicate a channel to minorities - Greek, Asian, blacks, Turks etc and they certainly would not die a death if the quality of the shows were decent.
Hothead - your tastes will change as you get older! Also BBC knows that a VERY high percentage of viewers were brought up in the UK, during post-war Britain, living through industrial decline, womens equality and better education for all. They witnessed significant change in entertainment, visual and audio. The media brought the truth(!?) about the World and the shock of seeing the Royal Family portrayed as a dysfunctional shower when previously they were thought to be special. The standard of living rose for most families, but many discovered they could live on benefits which has become a cultural way of life. Single mothers were no longer condemned (changed by the loony left) but given flats ahead of the more deserving poor. Indifferent attainment has become the expected norm, and more families are single parent than ever before. Children grow expecting the 'establishment' to provide all their earthly needs. Great Britain has become mediocre.
excuse the intrusion, but i think the bbc should replace all motd presenters. linekar should be replaced by chappers, hanson and co replaced by a couple of presenters from bbc final score. the bbc could save licence payers quite a lot, and the public would have a lot cheaper more informative program, especially if the arsenal keep winning!
What do they show at 2am anyway? Do you want some sort of BET UK, dont think anything positive will come out of that.
