The Daily Mail is a racist paper, of course - it regularly kills positive stories when they turn out to involve black people, for instance, as Flat Earth News documents. But it's rare that they're so blatant about it.
This was supposed to be a representation of modern life in England but it is likely to be a challenge for the organisers to find an educated white middle-aged mother and black father living together with a happy family in such a set-up.
Almost, if not every, shot in the next sequence included an ethnic minority performer. The BBC presenter Hazel Irvine gushed about the importance of grime music (a form of awful electronic music popular among black youths) to east London. This multicultural equality agenda was so staged it was painful to watch.
I haven't read anything that made me want to punch the writer in the face that much for a while. Boyle's show seems to have pissed off the right people, at any rate. And isn't that what being English is all about?
A national identity based on trolling? Sounds good to me.
Posted by: a3t | July 29, 2012 at 11:56 AM
Trolling normally implies bad faith, though. The art of saying the right thing in a way that pisses off the right people is slightly different.
Posted by: JamesP | July 29, 2012 at 12:20 PM
I don't disagree - it's not in bad faith, and they are saying the right thing - but the targets still see it as trolling and react about as constructively. Not that I mind, I'm delighted if their blood pressure rises.
Posted by: a3t | July 29, 2012 at 02:09 PM
Two phrases jump out:
First, "it is likely". It is likely that the author goes to stag parties dressed as a nazi.
Second, "educated". There's a type of white woman who goes with blacks, and at the Daily Mail we make sure they get the treatment they deserve.
Following your link, James, I see there's an update. The article's been rewritten. Doesn't change the fact that when you lift a rock at the Daily Mail, there's nasty things crawling there.
Posted by: bert | July 29, 2012 at 02:13 PM