There has been so much written about Diane Abbott's 'racist' comment on Twitter and I am not going to change anyone's mind by giving my opinion on her Tweet.
However.... Diane Abbott's excuses got to me! First she claimed that "tweet taken out of context". Apart from the fact that the 'taken out of context' excuse is usually the last refuge of the scoundrel, it was not true in this case. Examine the history of the Tweet conversation and you will see that rather rather than concerning the interesting subject of the "nature of 19th century European colonialism", it was about race in the present day. Diane Abbott's final excuse was entirely predictable as it would always be accepted by the lazy "Bit much to get into 140 characters." The only slight problem with this excuse is that Diane Abbott had over 30 characters left in which she could have added some context or even just used the past tense.
Diane Abbott has form in this area, watch this video from June 2010...
Watch the video to end and then judge Diane Abbott.
Also Diane Abbott reportedly said staff at her local east London hospital who were "blonde, blue-eyed Finnish girls" and so were not suitable to be nurses because they had "never met a black person before".
Is Diane Abbott racist? Maybe not.
Was the statement, as made, racist? Yes.
Should Diane Abbott apologise? Yes, but so far the apology has been less than fulsome as she has tried to wriggle out of responsibility for what she Tweeted.
Should Diane Abbott pay for the comment by losing her job? What's sauce for Patrick Mercer and Carol Thatcher is sauce for Diane Abbott.
However.... Diane Abbott's excuses got to me! First she claimed that "tweet taken out of context". Apart from the fact that the 'taken out of context' excuse is usually the last refuge of the scoundrel, it was not true in this case. Examine the history of the Tweet conversation and you will see that rather rather than concerning the interesting subject of the "nature of 19th century European colonialism", it was about race in the present day. Diane Abbott's final excuse was entirely predictable as it would always be accepted by the lazy "Bit much to get into 140 characters." The only slight problem with this excuse is that Diane Abbott had over 30 characters left in which she could have added some context or even just used the past tense.
Diane Abbott has form in this area, watch this video from June 2010...
Watch the video to end and then judge Diane Abbott.
Also Diane Abbott reportedly said staff at her local east London hospital who were "blonde, blue-eyed Finnish girls" and so were not suitable to be nurses because they had "never met a black person before".
Is Diane Abbott racist? Maybe not.
Was the statement, as made, racist? Yes.
Should Diane Abbott apologise? Yes, but so far the apology has been less than fulsome as she has tried to wriggle out of responsibility for what she Tweeted.
Should Diane Abbott pay for the comment by losing her job? What's sauce for Patrick Mercer and Carol Thatcher is sauce for Diane Abbott.
No comments:
Post a Comment