I'm struggling to see how the fact that Whelan was eight years old when the second world war finished is an excuse for anything.The sheer arrogance of this post astounds me. They lived through a ****ing world war. You think it's up to you to educate them? Who are you to say that?
If you have relatives in their 70s (Whelan was born in 1936, not the fecking Middle Ages) who still use words like that today you obviously haven't challenged/educated them enough. As much your fault as theirs, tbh.
I'm struggling to see how the fact that Whelan was eight years old when the second world war finished is an excuse for anything.
Good point. When some of us were young, immature, impressionable and 99.9% of the people we knew were white we said things that would be considered racist today. Most of us gradually became more enlightened but some stubbornly and or ignorantly live in the past.With age comes experience. At the age of 77 and used to being in the public eye, he should have learned by now what is and what is not acceptable to say in public. The man is clearly a twit.
If you're brave enough to tell my 103 year old great-grandmother not to use the word 'brown' when talking about one of her nurses, by all means, be my guest.
EDIT: That's not to say I condone it; merely that she's from a different time, a different world almost. Hell, when I was in school 20 years ago I used to call people gay like it was a bad thing. I wouldn't dream of it now.
With age comes experience. At the age of 77 and used to being in the public eye, he should have learned by now what is and what is not acceptable to say in public. The man is clearly a twit.
Spot on. My Dad (born 1925) was a racist and cheerfully admitted it. However he was aware of sensibilities, and in hospital once was trying to explain to a doctor what a nurse had told him. The doctor asked him which nurse it was, he said he didn't know her name "but she was a negro lady". That was my Dad trying to be polite and trying to be culturally sensitive, bless him. We all know that you wouldn't/shouldn't say that now (this was in 2005), but if anybody had tried to 'educate' him I would have had words.If you're brave enough to tell my 103 year old great-grandmother not to use the word 'brown' when talking about one of her nurses, by all means, be my guest.
EDIT: That's not to say I condone it; merely that she's from a different time, a different world almost. Hell, when I was in school 20 years ago I used to call people gay like it was a bad thing. I wouldn't dream of it now.
Spot on. My Dad (born 1925) was a racist and cheerfully admitted it. However he was aware of sensibilities, and in hospital once was trying to explain to a doctor what a nurse had told him. The doctor asked him which nurse it was, he said he didn't know her name "but she was a negro lady". That was my Dad trying to be polite and trying to be culturally sensitive, bless him. We all know that you wouldn't/shouldn't say that now (this was in 2005), but if anybody had tried to 'educate' him I would have had words.
Er, why ??Spot on. My Dad (born 1925) was a racist and cheerfully admitted it. However he was aware of sensibilities, and in hospital once was trying to explain to a doctor what a nurse had told him. The doctor asked him which nurse it was, he said he didn't know her name "but she was a negro lady". That was my Dad trying to be polite and trying to be culturally sensitive, bless him. We all know that you wouldn't/shouldn't say that now (this was in 2005), but if anybody had tried to 'educate' him I would have had words.
Because the nurse might not have been too keen to be referred to as a negro maybe? Just a thought.Er, why ??
With age comes experience. At the age of 77 and used to being in the public eye, he should have learned by now what is and what is not acceptable to say in public. The man is clearly a twit.
Have you heard the expression "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink?" What the **** do you think I'd spent most of my adult life trying to do? We argued bitterly over his antediluvian attitudes and fell out over it to the extent of not speaking for months at a time. He knew his own mind and it really wasn't a case of me 'enlightening' him and him saying "wow, son you're right".It would appear he needs a bit of enlightenment though?
Er, why ??
My point was that why does someone think it is up to them to 'educate' someone in their 70's? Times change, that doesn't mean that people necessarily have to change with them if they don't want to. I wasn't speaking specifically about Whelan.
You must have been advanced for your age back in the day!Are people ever too old to learn? Do you really believe you cant teach an old dog new tricks? I am 46 years old and I used to watch alf garnet and laugh. Now it seems like something from the dark ages and not funny at all. You can always learn and at the very least whelan should have learnt to kept his mouth shut the man is a fool.
Oh I forgot about 'In sickness and in health' in the 1980s.You must have been advanced for your age back in the day!
Are people ever too old to learn? Do you really believe you cant teach an old dog new tricks? I am 46 years old and I used to watch alf garnet and laugh. Now it seems like something from the dark ages and not funny at all. You can always learn and at the very least whelan should have learnt to kept his mouth shut the man is a fool.
No, but I think all this 'Alf Garnet is terrible' stuff these days is nonsense. It was from a different time, if it was funny at the time, so what? It was a different time. It wouldn't work in today's world, but that doesn't make it wrong.
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