Danny Baker sacked

Buddy · 9 May 2019 at 15:36

Have we got to the point were we have posters defending him .... oh too late.......

inogen · 9 May 2019 at 15:37

hominid said:
I hate to be part of an outrage mob but that was just a tad stupid, I can't see it any other way than to see it as racist. Whilst I'm a free speech advocate, people have to be 100% responsible for what they say and in today's society racism is not a joke.

Well indeed. I too am staunch advocate of free speech. And yes, when people say stuff they shouldn't, they can't hide behind that. It's about personal responsibility, not irresponsibility.

Tom B · 9 May 2019 at 15:39

chroniclard said:
White knights are out defending casual racism again.

Let's say there are two people who consider posting the image:

1) Posts the image without making any association between minorities and apes
2) Sees the image but doesn't share it because they mentally associate minorities and apes and know they'd get called racist by like minded individuals who make the same association

It seems to me that in today's society you have to be just racist enough to make the association but clever enough to keep your mouth shut about it until someone else does it and you can go "AHA! You're not as racist as I am for making the connection but you posted it so I get to call you a racist because you didn't make the connection!"

CaptainRAVE · 9 May 2019 at 15:39

He is a bit dim if he didn't consider the connotations of that image.

cheesyboy · 9 May 2019 at 15:44

Tom B said:
Let's say there are two people who consider posting the image:

1) Posts the image without making any association between minorities and apes
2) Sees the image but doesn't share it because they mentally associate minorities and apes and know they'd get called racist by like minded individuals who make the same association

It seems to me that in today's society you have to be just racist enough to make the association but clever enough to keep your mouth shut about it until someone else does it and you can go "AHA! You're not as racist as I am for making the connection but you posted it so I get to call you a racist because you didn't make the connection!"

It's about being aware ('woke') and empathetic of others. If you don't recognise how regularly and viciously many black people's experience of being correlated with apes is, then that's not a virtue - it's ignorance.

Sutters · 9 May 2019 at 15:44

Also he is a labour voter and Corbyn fan, seems like like an open and shut case.

edscdk · 9 May 2019 at 15:45

Kermit said:
Its only racist if you mindset is that Monkey ALWAYS represents black people & if that was the intent. In this case its a clear case of DB perhaps not pausing to consider the way social networks react these days and just posting something he found ammusing himself. I very much doubt the guy is in any way racist.

Its all getting very 1984 and distubing the way free speech and misrepresentation of an image not intended to offend does if your keen to find offence, then it will offend 'some' people the point of loosing your job.

What next, send him to prison for 5 years?

that's stupid... in 5 years he would have been sent to prison BEFORE he posted the image...

Tom B · 9 May 2019 at 15:53

cheesyboy said:
It's about being aware ('woke') and empathetic of others. If you don't recognise how regularly and viciously many black people's experience of being correlated with apes is, then that's not a virtue - it's ignorance.

There's nothing wrong with not knowing something. Once it was pointed out he should have apologised and he did so. Firing him for not automatically joining the dots between black people and apes is backwards.

chroniclard · 9 May 2019 at 15:58

Kermit said:
Its only racist if you mindset is that Monkey ALWAYS represents black people & if that was the intent. In this case its a clear case of DB perhaps not pausing to consider the way social networks react these days and just posting something he found ammusing himself. I very much doubt the guy is in any way racist.

Its all getting very 1984 and distubing the way free speech and misrepresentation of an image not intended to offend does if your keen to find offence, then it will offend 'some' people the point of loosing your job.

What next, send him to prison for 5 years?

Its literally a picture of a monkey representing the royal baby. Faux outrage at 1984 society is tiresome.

Moothead2 · 9 May 2019 at 16:00

While I don't believe he had racist intent, posting something like that on Twitter these days is just asking for trouble. Twitter is cancer, if you care about job security don't even bother opening an account.

Admiral Huddy · 9 May 2019 at 16:01

chroniclard said:
Bring back the good old days when you could be openly racist and everyone would just laugh along.

Whilst I'm not a fan of this over sensitive world we live in, I'm not sure I'd welcome a return to the cringeworthy and insensitive "Good old days" we once lived through. I'd like to think we have evolved to a more civilized society which applies a bit of common sense.

inogen · 9 May 2019 at 16:02

Moothead2 said:
While I don't believe he had racist intent, posting something like that on Twitter these days is just asking for trouble. Twitter is cancer, if you care about job security don't even bother opening an account.

Or do things like post photos of chimps in jokes about mixed race babies.

cheesyboy · 9 May 2019 at 16:03

Tom B said:
There's nothing wrong with not knowing something. Once it was pointed out he should have apologised and he did so. Firing him for not automatically joining the dots between black people and apes is backwards.

You said that recognising the monkey pic as problematic was more racist than not even considering it. You now appear to be backtracking. That's fine, I was just taking issue with your assertion.

I do think firing him is probably a bit strong.

molinari · 9 May 2019 at 16:13

inogen said:
Or do things like post photos of chimps in jokes about mixed race babies.

No, the twitter post was a joke about a royal baby, not about the baby being mixed race. It was, however, easy to see how it would be interpreted as a racist post, and therefore very stupid of him to do so. His intent was not to make a racist joke, but a joke at a member of the royal family. Stupid picture to use, and he's paid the price of it.

Tom B · 9 May 2019 at 16:14

cheesyboy said:
You said that recognising the monkey pic as problematic was more racist than not even considering it. You now appear to be backtracking. That's fine, I was just taking issue with your assertion..

I stand by that. If you don't even think about the race of the baby when viewing the image you are less racist than someone who associates the race of the baby with the ape.

Moothead2 · 9 May 2019 at 16:15

inogen said:
Or do things like post photos of chimps in jokes about mixed race babies.

It's pretty easy to forget Meghan is mixed race if you don't care about the royals honestly. It definitely comes across as accidental but you're a racist in the eyes of Twitter now.

Akagi · 9 May 2019 at 16:15

No1newts said:
He claims to have meant it another way, what other possible way could he have meant it?

Seems a pretty open and shut case.

The joke, missed by most was about the baby being paraded like a circus animal by affluent people to the worlds media.

The real racists here are the ones who saw the monkey and associated it to race.

MassiveJim · 9 May 2019 at 16:21

cheesyboy said:
It's about being aware ('woke') and empathetic of others. If you don't recognise how regularly and viciously many black people's experience of being correlated with apes is, then that's not a virtue - it's ignorance.

I wouldn't have made the connection so I guess that makes me ignorant. Doesnt make me a bad person though.

weathmatth · 9 May 2019 at 16:25

Ive just had a look at the picture, and my first reaction was laughter. I actually thought it was quite funny. But then again i have the below canvas in my stairwell at home which i chuckle at every now an then.

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Jean-F · 9 May 2019 at 16:26

Moothead2 said:
It's pretty easy to forget Meghan is mixed race if you don't care about the royals honestly. It definitely comes across as accidental but you're a racist in the eyes of Twitter now.

I think that everything that could be said about DB, either for or against him has already been said, but on following a thread about this incident, on another forum, I was truly amazed at the number of posters who swore, hand on heart, that until this all blew up, they had absolutely no idea that Meghan Markle was of mixed race.
One comment made me smile, “You can take the man out of Millwall, but you can’t take Millwall out of the man.”