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Brickbats

Brickbat: No Irish Need Apply

Charles Oliver | 6.9.2016 4:00 AM

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The BBC has two junior scriptwriting jobs open, but only for blacks, Asians or other ethnic minorities, not for any white people. BBC officials say such discrimination is legal under the Equality Act.

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Charles Oliver is a contributing editor at Reason.

BrickbatsRaceMediaTelevisionEnglandDiversity
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  1. Groovus Maximus   9 years ago

    ‘Of course there was no guarantee I would have got the job, but to be told I wasn’t even allowed to apply because of the colour of my skin was appalling.’

    What was appalling, exactly? The actual colour, or denial of application opportunity? Do you have rosacea or port wine-stain birthmarks? I’m sure there are other, “protections,” for these medical designations under UK law.

    I am curious how, “White,” is determined? Surname? Some sort of Paper Sack Test? A Ruler Test? Or are there other ways to concretely determine this.

    1. pan fried wylie   9 years ago

      They hold up a picture of Chris O’Dowd next to the applicant.

      1. Groovus Maximus   9 years ago

        Nope; Buzzfeed has 27 specific ways he is, “The Most Flawless Ever.”

        Apparently, this is a CV ehancement, and lack of employment thereof is grounds for a lawfare instant win.

    2. Groovus Maximus   9 years ago

      Linky Limit: Or are there other ways to concretely determine this?

      1. straffinrun   9 years ago

        I own boat shoes, ride a vintage Schwinn, hold unpaid internships.

        *Tosses lead pipe into spokes of fast-moving hipster doofus*

        1. pan fried wylie   9 years ago

          the vegan diet precludes fast cycling.

          1. Groovus Maximus   9 years ago

            Also, fried chicken.

        2. Bra Ket   9 years ago

          looks like a textbook case of cultural appropriation.

      2. Ted S.   9 years ago

        That’s mighty white of you.

        1. Groovus Maximus   9 years ago

          I’ve been known to, “Play the white man.“

      3. Notorious UGCC   9 years ago

        Let’s see how the *real* experts made these decisions

        “An Office for Race Classification was set up to overview the classification process. Classification into groups was carried out using criteria such as outer appearance, general acceptance and social standing. For example, it defined a “white person” as one who “in appearance is obviously a white person who is generally not accepted as a coloured person; or is generally accepted as a white person and is not in appearance obviously a white person.” Because some aspects of the profile were of a social nature, reclassification was not uncommon, and a board was established to conduct that process. For example, the following criteria were used for separating the coloureds from the whites:

        “Characteristics of the person’s head hair

        “Characteristics of the person’s other hair [ewwww!]

        “Skin colour

        “Facial features

        “Home language and especially the knowledge of Afrikaans

        “Area where the person lives, the person’s friends and acquaintances

        “Employment

        “Socioeconomic status

        “Eating and drinking habits”

        1. Rich   9 years ago

          What?! Not “Odor”?!

          1. Groovus Maximus   9 years ago

            What?! Not “Odor”?!

            It’s SA, it would be spelt, “Odour.”

        2. Notorious UGCC   9 years ago

          Text of the Population Registration Act

    3. Adans smith   9 years ago

      I assume they have a color wheel ,like when I get paint at Lowe’s. You no,coffee brown,egg shell white,the wogs some where in between,.

      1. Adans smith   9 years ago

        No for know? Seems I need more coffee.

    4. Pompey (91% LOLLOLZ)   9 years ago

      I am curious how, “White,” is determined

      With a comprehensive spread of cranial caliper measurements to characterise race, duh.

      1. Groovus Maximus   9 years ago

        Might as well go The Full Monty and employ The Lost Science of Phrenology.

        1. Metalib   9 years ago

          Ya, das ist gut science. Heil!

    5. invisible furry hand   9 years ago

      ask Rachel Dolezal

      1. Groovus Maximus   9 years ago

        I did. She appears not to check her email.

  2. pan fried wylie   9 years ago

    This is a direct response to Irish’s racist ways. Also, “legal”? I’d wager it’s mandatory.

    1. Adans smith   9 years ago

      Is Irish a ginger? That would explain a lot.

  3. straffinrun   9 years ago

    What happens when BBC figures out Hobbits are white.

  4. Fist of Etiquette   9 years ago

    [standing under spotlight at mic in front of fake brick wall]

    White blokes write like this… but black blokes write like this.

    1. Groovus Maximus   9 years ago

      Fist of Improvise.

      1. pan fried wylie   9 years ago

        Fist of Def

        1. Groovus Maximus   9 years ago

          Little known, recently unearthed proof of, “Evening at the Fist-prov.”

  5. thrakkorzog   9 years ago

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWJIQm9qH-w

    Now the thing about Arsenal is they always try to walk it in.

    There’s no shame in saying, “I got nothing.”

    1. pan fried wylie   9 years ago

      +1 “Are you crying?”

  6. Lee G   9 years ago

    Are you sure it’s the BBC because it seems every other report on NPR is about race or transsexuogenderitis. The rest of their airtime is reserved for making Clinton seem acceptable and not totally criminal.

    1. Pompey (91% LOLLOLZ)   9 years ago

      You listen to NPR as well? I am getting teary-eyed with feels meeting another hardcore masochist! I swear I do it for the human interest segments (and the lulz), not the intellectual equivalent to stiletto heels on testicles.

    2. thrakkorzog   9 years ago

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Y2uQn_wvc

      I don’t think he BBC is the hard hitting news force it likes to think it is.

      1. Lee G   9 years ago

        That’s hilarious

      2. Rufus The Monocled   9 years ago

        He’s better than Williams and Couric.

    3. block30   9 years ago

      It’s getting and harder and harder to listen to NPR. National Proggy Radio? Has Reason had a write in contest yet to rename NPR? You guys should.

      I used to listen for the lulz but seeing what our government on all levels is doing, the lulz have faded. Never donating them a dime!!! Reason almost pushed me to that point practically defending Melissa Click for a while there…

  7. WTF   9 years ago

    discrimination is legal under the Equality Act.

    What the, I can’t even….

    1. Rich   9 years ago

      It’s the UK. “War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength, discrimination is equality.”

  8. Rufus The Monocled   9 years ago

    Awesome.

    1. Rufus The Monocled   9 years ago

      About Brexit. If the UK was a model for us to emulate or had some sort of philosophical construct where politics or whatever to protect, then it would be a momentous moment. But it isn’t. It’s just one shitty entity leaving another shitty entity. If they leave, they’re still gonna be a bunch of PC pansies.

  9. Rufus The Monocled   9 years ago

    “In response, the BBC said the training opportunity was allowed under the Equality Act, and that the ad made it clear that particular job was only for BAME candidates.”

    In their defense, to the extent you can defend discrimination (because it is. Just because you put cologne on your armpits doesn’t mean you get rid of the odor, know what I’m sayin’?), but they have a point.

    They didn’t say ‘discrimination is allowed under BAME’. Though it’s pretty clear that’s what it is.

    This whole diversity nonsense is gonna explode. I don’t know how it will manifest into one, but it will. Maybe we’ll see more and more amateurish mistakes like the video linked above and general all around incompetence to the point it will become a parody of itself.

    1. Rich   9 years ago

      Just because you put cologne on your armpits doesn’t mean you get rid of the odor

      *Febreze*, OTOH, ….

      1. invisible furry hand   9 years ago

        oh Rich, you suave motherfucker

        1. Rich   9 years ago

          Thanks, ifh. I know a trick or two.

          Knowledge is power — share it.

  10. obijuan   9 years ago

    Well, in all fairness the Irish do have a drinking problem. Just saying.

    1. BYODB   9 years ago

      I don’t have a problem, the alcohol gets into my mouth at least 90% of the time!

  11. Chipwooder   9 years ago

    Nothing is more certain to bring about racial harmony than instilling a tribal mentality in white people. What could possibly go wrong?

  12. Injun, as in from India   9 years ago

    The solution to such job discrimination is simple.

    Pull a Shaun King or Rachel Dolezal.

  13. Injun, as in from India   9 years ago

    What a goddamned joke. This is Indian-style reservation quota BS.

    A lot of Indians left India precisely because of nonsense like this. And now the West is turning in that direction.

    1. Metalib   9 years ago

      Injun, we like to follow all the trendy, proven successful, social constructs. Socialism, diversity-as-racial preference or quota’s, ethnicity-as-race, statism. I myself am an Angle and hate saxons, burgundians and angles but those damn forms at BBC wont let me self-identify as native american (no hahvahd for me). Caste after all was imported and institutionalized by the brits, hard to break the habit I guess

  14. Jake Stone   9 years ago

    such discrimination is legal under the Equality Act

    Well, great. My irony detector just exploded. Thanks BBC.

    1. Jake Stone   9 years ago

      Damn, WTF beat me to it. But yeah, let that statement sink in.

  15. End Child Unemployment   9 years ago

    What about the black Irish?

  16. block30   9 years ago

    http://dailycaller.com/2015/12…..imination/

    I’m an airline pilot by my civilian profession. Suffice it to say I deal with air traffic control and know controllers. I can say this; yes our government did this. Orwell was right.

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