the failening

[prof_pangaea]

this probably doesn't need to be said to anyone who will actually read it, but i thought i'd make it clear nontheless. statements that are inappropriate in all circumstances:

Also, while it's not exactly on the subject, I'd be unwilling to accept a Doctor that is non-Caucasian appearing. And no, this is not due to any latent racist views on my part. I just don't see the character working that way.

I don't want a black Doctor. Because I want to fancy him and I don't really find black men attractive.

saying the doctor can't be non-white because the character doesn't "work that way"? racist. justifying not wanting a black doctor because you don't find black men attractive? racist. no, this is not up for debate. this should be clear, and yet apparently isn't to some people. mentioning that statements like this are racist is not an attack against whoever might have said it. it's a statement of fact. if someone says something racist they can own up to the racism of their statement or try and explain it away, it doesn't change facts.

i was much wordier in other places but ya'll shouldn't need this to be explained to you so i think we're good.

Comments

[stunt-muppet.livejournal.com]

I hadn't seen that comment, but...ew. Yeah, I've never heard Johnson speak, but a lot of the lead actors in 70s Who spoke with Cockney or Estuary accents naturally; I can't imagine that sounds the same as someone who speaks RP all on their own.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

Here is the context. I bailed out of the thread because obviously I was dealing with someone who had a completely different perception of reality to me.

a lot of the lead actors in 70s Who spoke with Cockney or Estuary accents naturally...

Exactly; it was how they got work. Not to mention the BBC's culture at the time was strongly biased against regional accents.

Complaining that Tom Baker, a man with a working class Catholic-Jewish background who was working as labourer to pay the bills, is "posh" involves a very reductive understanding of class. Even the Hon. Lalla Ward used to get pissy in interviews and point out that her parents earned wages and paid taxes.

[stunt-muppet.livejournal.com]

It physically pains me that I cannot reach through the screen and add a full stop somewhere in that second sentence.

I can understand wanting to move away from BBC English (sort of; being of untuned American ears my understanding is mostly theoretical), but arguing that Tom Baker's Doctor is a parody of a politician who wouldn't be in power for another twenty-five-ish years is...odd, to say the least. And accents can be learned and unlearned, even as adults; it'd be one of the more unreliable indicators of class, especially for someone who *had* to assume another accent.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

And accents can be learned and unlearned...

My day-to-day accent says, "Hello, I was educated at one of Brisbane's more expensive private schools". But that's purely because my parents have southern accents and I'm quite pedantic in my speech. Purely as a means of judging class ... no.