Racism aplenty on Big Brother 8
by Carmen Van Kerckhove
It’s always heartening to see how comfortable people are with their racism. Here’s a sampling of all the racist shit the cast of Big Brother 8 has been saying. I guess they’re trying to top their UK counterparts. (Thanks Erika!)
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
CAM wrote:
makes me more than a little sick to my stomach… stuff like this also makes me think about how such public showings of ignorance and sort of passive hatred/fear enable–and even justify–people’s private opinions. Ugh.
Posted 05 Sep 2007 at 9:14 am ¶
Phil C. wrote:
I’m not suprised. How people behave behind closed doors, out of public view, often reveals what they are really like including being ignorant like that guy in Big Brother.
I’ve had a more than one instance where people privately confided their prejudices to me of other ethnicities; forgotten I was in the room and mocked Asians; yelled a racial slur to me from a passing car; or a common one, stereotyped based on race (”They are good at _____”) (Did I get into an argument with that person on the latter).
Posted 05 Sep 2007 at 10:07 am ¶
Allen wrote:
the most troubling portions of the clip were the first instance and the last instance. Racism was on display at every turn in the clip, but in the Asian segment and the black segment it was met with acceptance and not with a sense of discomfort. Particularly the black segment. Where excuses were made for why the name “Nigger Bitch” was acceptable. That bothered me the most.
Posted 05 Sep 2007 at 11:05 am ¶
erin wrote:
that was fucked up. I am glad Dustin and Amber are gone. Nigger bitch was horrible. That asian comments were even worse.
Posted 05 Sep 2007 at 1:17 pm ¶
Lyle wrote:
The frustrating part is that on the UK edition this kind of behavior was condemned on the show. CBS totally turns a blind eye to this, claiming they’re not responsible for what the broadcast over the internet feeds because they don’t put it in the primetime edition.
Posted 05 Sep 2007 at 2:06 pm ¶
squidfly wrote:
Mad TV did a wonderful parody of CBS/survivor episode.
Posted 05 Sep 2007 at 3:05 pm ¶
Faith Whitfield wrote:
The terrible thing about the season’s show is that they cast a black woman who had never really been around white people socially and threw her into a situation with these racists. There is enough screening done by the network that they had a very good idea of the characteristics of the mix of people they put in that house. They knew what they were doing.
Posted 05 Sep 2007 at 6:35 pm ¶
Rob wrote:
^I remember I couldn’t stop laughing at that segment where they had to construct a fire.
In case no one saw it, the parody involved giving the white challengers significantly easier tasks, such as a swimming challenge which allowed the white challengers to use a canoe, or building a fire with a fire building kit that consisted of gasoline and a DVD on how to build fire, the Hispanic contestants received flint, the Asians received a matchstick, and the African-Americans were given a glass of water.
Posted 05 Sep 2007 at 7:12 pm ¶
ltaoka wrote:
I don’t know why I’m still shocked when I see this stuff… today I was told, “someone in your family must be from Japan.” People never cease to amaze me.
Posted 05 Sep 2007 at 9:47 pm ¶
Jessica wrote:
This kind of crap pisses me off. I think I’m more pissed off at the people who sit around and don’t speak up against that racist prick than anything else in that clip. And what’s up with the snickering when she said “Martin Chan”? I thought that crap stopped after middle school. btw, you’re 39 years old. Maybe it’s time to rethink the pink streaks in your hair, k?
Posted 05 Sep 2007 at 10:47 pm ¶
Yori Kim wrote:
ugh………..I feel sick after watching this…. but I’m more angry than anything, that their constantly throwing around racist jokes-like their the norm, and apparently for them-it is.
Posted 06 Sep 2007 at 4:34 pm ¶