Shilpa Shetty Big Brother episode : Was it racism ?

There was a lot of hue and cry over Shilpa Shetty’s victory in the celebrity Big Brother show. A three week show could draw so much of interest because it touched on a burning problem of the world we live in, racism.

First of all, I do not think the attack (if we can call that) was racist at all !! It was a celebrity show where celebs were paid to be there in the 24 hours reality show. And there was a prize money for the person who can survive the show and would successfully ELIMINATE others. Such being the conditions, it was obvious that clashes will be seen. The personalities chosen for such shows are such that clashes and fights happen. And it happened. So whats so new about it !!!

The important factors here were: the South Asian population in UK, the racial tension among the people in UK and bullying by a few contestants. Shilpa Shetty being a wellknown Bollywood celebrity was being watched by most South Asian. And the fights were blown out of proportion. Such things happen all over the world where people discuss other cultures and sometimes not all those stuff are nice things. So wondering if Indians or Chinese eat with their fingers and thats a dirty thing is not racial abuse. It pertains to race but thats nothing to complain about. Thats just an observation.

Indians movies have been calling whites “Goras” all through and made fun of them. That was not racial ? Calling Shilpa the “Indian” was also taken to be a racial thing !! And three people ganging up against Shilpa Shetty.. well that was a part of the contest. Big Brother had such things in the past too. In the Indian version we witnessed such bullying but no one cared. Only when that happens to a minority it becomes an issue and no one can come out and defend it because then the person will also be termed as a racist.

The point here was that Jade or whoever it was .. was wrong in dealing with Shila Shetty that way and people judged and voted her off. And people went ahead and made Shilpa the winner !! The contest had a deserving candidate and a result which people loved. Stereotyping any community is so common .. however anything deragatory .. on your face insult should be called racism. Anyone faking an Indian accent behind someones back is not as abusive as it was meant to sound in the whole Big Brother episode !! Yes if you want to use it as an issue and fix the overall issue of racism .. yes go ahead.

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