Posted by Colored Commentary on Thu, 05 May 2016 18:47 | #

Gerry Adams defends N-word tweet

It is now the turn of Gerry Adams, the Sinn Féin leader, to be in the crosshairs. While watching the film Django Unchained, which tells the story of a freed slave who sets out to rescue his wife from a vicious Mississippi plantation owner with the help of a German bounty hunter, he tweeted: “Watching Django Unchained – A Ballymurphy Nigger”. He shouldn’t have done that. He was wrong. But his attempt to explain it in the context of the nationalist community’s treatment in Northern Ireland makes sense.

It’s a similar formulation to that used by Roddy Doyle in The Commitments. “The Irish are the niggers of Europe,” Jimmy Rabbitte Jr tells his fledgling band. “An’ Dubliners are the niggers of Ireland. An’ the northside Dubliners are the niggers o’ Dublin.” But The Commitments is 144 pages long; a tweet is just 140 characters. Context is important, and a tweet (soon deleted) stands alone.

After an initial hamfisted non-apology – blaming people for “misunderstanding the context in which [the word] was used” – Adams quickly graduated to a less grudging response, stating: “I apologise for any offence caused.” That should be the end of it.

To judge Adams, who has a life’s work of internationalism and antiracist solidarity, by a single tweet borders on the grotesque. People should be assessed on the body of their work, not just on a single off-colour statement. That doesn’t mean the statement should be ignored. But to fetishise it above a person’s record does a disservice not just to the person but to the issue.

As someone who, as an adult, has been stupid enough to ask gay men about their girlfriends and Jews how they enjoyed Christmas, I believe everyone has the right to misspeak, be set right, apologise and then carry on about their business. If that whole process is conducted in a spirit of generosity, then who knows? We might even learn something.

But if it’s not, all we have is an almighty game of gotcha with considerable collateral damage. This is not a new problem. In 2004 the football pundit Ron Atkinson was heard, when he thought the mic was off, referring to the Chelsea player Marcel Desailly thus: “He’s what is known in some schools as a fucking lazy thick nigger.” It was a reprehensible thing to say. He apologised, offered his resignation to ITV, which was accepted, and left his column in this newspaper by mutual agreement.

That’s as it should be. It is also the case that when it mattered he was one of the few coaches in British football who nurtured black talent, bringing on the likes of Cyrille Regis and Laurie Cunningham – both going on to play for England – and Brendon Batson. That excuses nothing that he said; but it makes a difference to how one chooses to describe, deride or disparage him in the wake of his awful comments.

Last year it was the turn of the actor Benedict Cumberbatch, who referred to how much things would have to improve before “coloured actors” could get the work they deserved in Britain. In the process of pointing out racism he came out with a word not used to identify black people for almost 40 years.

Racism is a system of oppression. It should not be reduced to series of gaffes. It not only cheapens the charge but essentially redefines it. Racism becomes not the subjugation of a people that has its roots in history, economics and power, but a series of bloopers in which the unfortunate are caught out. A matter of politics becomes an issue of politeness. The institutional is relegated to an indiscretion.

With the help of diversity consultants and a cautious manner, the careful can carry on doing bad things so long as they don’t say the wrong thing. That won’t get rid of racism. It’ll just give us some of the best-mannered racists in the world.

Source, The Guardian

Posted by Vitamin Story on Fri, 06 May 2016 14:24 | #

That Vitamin Movie:

I’m a man who doesn’t surprise easily. But a recent conversation with a friend not only surprised me, it surprised me so much that it started me on a journey halfway around the world, and left me a lot more than surprised by what I’d discovered.

I’m a filmmaker. For 40 years I have been producing and directing television news and current affairs programs; and making documentary films.

I see myself as a modern version of an old fashioned story teller. The stories I tell are as varied as the human condition. They can be funny, sad, depressing, uplifting. But probably the most important thing that I can do is to sometimes, present the audience with more than just information or entertainment; with something that has the potential to actually make a difference to their lives. Never over four decades have I come across a subject with as much potential as this one to change lives, maybe even save lives…

Vitamin story:

My journey began when a friend of over thirty years told me of how his life had been suddenly and radically turned around. He finally got a handle on the depression that had plagued him for years. Quitting sugar was the first step. That began to lift the fog. And the second step?

Well, Trevor had watched a documentary called “Food Matters” and heard one of the contributors, Andrew Saul, recommend treating depression with niacin, that will be B3.

Because Andrew was so credible in the movie and as I looked into his backstory, there was no financial motivation for him - he wasn’t saying the things he was saying for any reason that he sold supplements or whatever, so - I literally got in touch with him through e-mail, and said listen, I’m coming to the States, I’m going to be close to where you live.. I would love to call and chat with you for half an hour. Now factually that wasn’t particularly true; I was going to be in the States but I was a long way from where he was; but he agreed; and I spent half a hour with him; and he told me that I should also take B vitamins and chromium would help me; and with the help of those things it really made such a huge difference to me.

If the key to Trevor’s cure was something as simple as a bunch of vitamins, why aren’t doctors prescribing vitamins instead of drugs?

Ireland, where I live, has one of the highest suicide rates in Europe. So what’s going on?

Trevor’s experience made me want to find out more; and one of the first stories that I came across seemed little short of miraculous…

That Vitamin Movie

Posted by Welcome To Ireland on Sun, 12 Jun 2016 22:24 | #

Posted by student suicides highest since 2007 on Tue, 21 Jun 2016 09:51 | #

Independent, “Student suicides: Life for young people ‘fraught with loneliness and anxiety’, says academic”, 21 June 2016:

Professor’s comments come just weeks after ONS figures show student suicides are at an all-time high since 2007

The growing problem of suicide among students has been highlighted again, this time by a professor who has described how student life can be “fraught with loneliness and anxiety.”

Speaking at a conference on student wellbeing in Belfast, Ulster University’s Professor Siobhan O’Neill addressed the issues of self-harm, alcohol, and suicide, presenting, for the first time, findings from a study of 355 suicides in young people aged under 25 years in Northern Ireland.

Student suicides are at their highest level since 2007

She described how young people who die by suicide are “somewhat different” from the older age groups, and explained: “Over half will have had a prior attempt; around 64 per cent of the males will have used alcohol at the time of death, and a third of females who die by suicide in this group are students.

“Furthermore, our studies show around 60 per cent of students have anxiety difficulties, around one in five have self-harmed, and as many as one in ten have planned or attempted suicide in the year prior to going to university.”

University of York’s decision to cancel International Men’s Day ‘frankly looks rather silly,’ says MP in parliamentary debate on male suicide.

International Men’s Day: Director of Helping Men UK, Glen Poole, ‘deeply saddened’ at University of York’s decision to cancel

Students’ concern over finances is affecting their mental health, says poll

ChildLine expresses concern over rise in number of students under exam stress

LSESU calls urgent meeting to debate growing number of deaths in English and Welsh prisons

Bournemouth and Poole College withdraws and apologises for ‘extremely offensive’ mental health awareness test

The academic also described how the competitive academic environment, along with additional life challenges, mean that, for many, student life can be “fraught with loneliness and anxiety.” She continued: “Without proper support, damaging patterns of stress management behaviours can take hold.

Posted by Ireland: The South Africa of Europe (Cont’d) on Mon, 17 Jun 2019 19:20 | #

Ireland: The South Africa of Europe (Cont’d)