Outrage of The Week Part II

BaconZombie

A BBC radio presenter who asked a taxi firm not to send a Asian driver has been sacked.

Sam Mason made the comments while ordering a taxi for her 14-year-old daughter who she said would be “freaked out” by a turban-wearing driver.

Mason: “I know this sounds really racist, but I’m not being . . . please, don’t send anyone like, you know what I mean. An English person would be great, a female would be better.”

Operator: “We would class that as being racist. We can’t penalise the Asian drivers and just send an English one.”

Mason: “You’ve managed it before.”

Operator: “Right, OK. I don’t agree with it personally.”

Mason: “It’s not your 14-year-old girl who’s, you know, is it?”

Operator: “Yes, but that’s racist to say you don’t want an Asian driver.”

Mason: “If it were me I wouldn’t care if it had two heads, but it’s my little girl we are talking about.”

Mason, is then handed to a male taxi operator and tells him that his female colleague has “a bad attitude”.

She adds: “I work at the BBC. I’m far from racist and that uneducated woman has no right to call me one.” She says of her daughter: “I don’t want her to turn up with a guy with a turban on. It’s going to freak her out. She’s not used to Asians.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/bbc-presenter-sacked-for-demanding-nonasian-driver-1011114.html

The BBC is going fecking PC mad....

Mark200

To be fair, although I think the other ones were blown way out of proportion....that sounds a little racist to me

MagicMarker

In all fairness, that IS racist.

Plus what mother sends her 14 year old daughter off in a taxi on her own?

phantom_lord

MagicMarker wrote: »

Plus what mother sends her 14 year old daughter off in a taxi on her own?

a racist one!

I am pie

in all fairness, the girl is 14. If she is gonna get freaked out by a guy in a turban she needs her head lookin at.

Kold

It's immensely racist but that doesn't mean she should lose her job.

thelordofcheese

Kold wrote: »

It's immensely racist but that doesn't mean she should lose her job.

If she wanted to keep her job she probably shouldn't have brought up the fact that she works for the tuppin' BBC, now should she?

"PC mad" my arse.

daveharnett

BOFH_139 wrote: »

...An English person would be great, a female would be better...

Why is nobody outraged at this blatant sexism?!

RichMc70

If she had insisted on a female driver would the BBC have sacked her for being 'Sexist' ?

Gummy Panda

what if her daughter was mad emo and had a fear of muslims due to the london bombings?

Dudess

Was she being racist though when she said it was her daughter's problem and not hers? Was she being racist when it was the driver's headgear that was her concern moreso than the driver's ethnicity (even if his headgear is part of his ethnic dress code)?

ART6

Seems to me that this ***ist thing is getting out of control. If I am going to buy a service I expect to have some say in how it is to be provided. If my wife wanted to book a cab late at night but said she would prefer a woman driver, is that sexist? If I as a man would prefer to be examined by a male doctor, is that sexist? If I want to buy meat but want to be assured that it is not prepared by cosher or Islamist methods, is that racist?

Whatever the hysterical PC movement says, I reserve the right to like or dislike any person, race, culture or religion for whatever reason I choose, and I will defend their right to dislike me, again for whatever reason they choose. I willingly draw the line at stirring up trouble for any of those because of my personal beliefs, as I would draw the line at stirring up trouble for, say, women drivers because I don't think most of them should ever be allowed in cars. Perhaps Islam should try the same approach?

So in this case, and given the news items almost daily of the activities of Islamic extremists, is it unreasonable to castigate a 14 year old girl because she is frightened by turbans? I'd suspect that she is not alone even among reasoning adults.

And before anyone starts to flame me as a racist, I have had many dear friends over the years who were of all colours, and my only daughter is married to a guy I can't see in the dark. He is the most genuine guy I have even met and I was delighted when they married. He and his family and mine are about as close as it's possible to get.

Sharpshooter

Her " little girl " as she puts it is a teenager ffs , how could a turban freak her out?
She didn't even give an explanation.

thelordofcheese

ART6 wrote: »

So in this case, and given the news items almost daily of the activities of Islamic extremists, is it unreasonable to castigate a 14 year old girl because she is frightened by turbans? I'd suspect that she is not alone even among reasoning adults.

She needs to cop on and so do any 'reasoning adults' who are frightened by turbans, of all fucking things.

Also, requesting a doctor of the same gender is nowhere near the same as insisting on the ethnicity of a driver of a goddamn taxi.
A closer comparison would be to ask for a white nurse to draw blood or take your temperature, which is, of course, stupid.

havana

I think its justified that a 14yo might feel safer with a woman driver so i'm not so sure that arguement holds up. And why on earth does a woman who claims to be so educated not educate her own daughter and challenge ridiculous fears like that. Sounds to me like she's a spoiled brat. If that is not the case and there was some valid reason for the request then such an educated woman could have explained that!

4zn76tysfajdxp

sharpshooterH wrote: »

Her " little girl " as she puts it is a teenager ffs , how could a turban freak her out?

Maybe it clashes with her hood?










Oh no he di-in't!

mike65

Sexism, racism 2/3 ain't bad. Need to find another story that includes ageism

Mike

Dudess

ART6 wrote: »

I would draw the line at stirring up trouble for, say, women drivers because I don't think most of them should ever be allowed in cars.

You are familiar with most women - as in, most women on planet earth - are you?

Gummy Panda

Raul Rhythmic Reporter wrote: »

Maybe it clashes with her hood?

Maybe she feels the Urban Turban is so 2007?

Wertz

Hold on a feckin' minute here...this woman (who I've never heard of) didn't even say this on the air or as part of her job! Why should she be sacked for her personal beliefs or standpoints? I could totally understand if she'd have made some sort of comment on the air or whilst in her place of work...but FFS her daughter doesn't like guys in turbans and wouldn't feel safe in a taxi with one...as messed up as that is (what 14yr old girl isn't messed up these days?) it's hardly her mother's fault and no-one has been directly abused, or had racist comments made against them.
Additionally the only reason you're hearing about this is because someone decided to sell the story on to the rags who in the current climate of BBC hate mongering are looking for anything at all to pile on top of the rest of it.

I can understand the BBC not wishing to appear to be employing racists but like I said this had nothing to do with her work performance.
It's like being suspended from school for drinking at the weekend.

4zn76tysfajdxp

Gummy Panda wrote: »

Maybe she feels the Urban Turban is so 2007?

Probably, if he'd have turned up wearing Ugg boots she probably would have killed herself. Poor lil lamb.

ejmaztec

The girl could have been traumatised when Aladdin asked her to rub his lamp at at last year's Christmas pantomime.

amcalester

muslims dont wear turbans (I dont think).

She's thinking of a Sikh, and all Sikh men are required to carry a knife called a kirpan (although its only to be used in self defense)

So maybe she was right not to want her 14 year old child ride in a taxi with a knife carrying driver.

Personally I think the daughter must be an idiot. Freaked out by a turban.

nouveau_4.0

Dudess wrote: »

You are familiar with most women - as in, most women on planet earth - are you?

LOL, poor response my friend. Break down the semantics of his example and his whole post is discredited. Sure thats how things work. :pac:

ejmaztec

nouveau_4.0 wrote: »

LOL, poor response my friend. Break down the semantics of his example and his whole post is discredited. Sure thats how things work. :pac:

I think you're being anti-semantic. :P