Human beings are flawed and the BBC-Munchetty episode tells us why

If re’s one mess coming out of BBC –  Munchetty story that has played out in Anglo Saxon media world for last 48 hours, it is this – human beings are flawed characters. As a corollary, institutions we build and hold on for dear life are also flawed and must be subjected to periodic review especially in a democracy. Accepting that, I believe, will be a huge leap in correcting our steps. Denying that basic premise would be to pretend we are perfect. That, in a nutshell, sums up why BBC first upheld a complaint against one of its presenters and n revoked its decision.   media’s role in course correction is constant and necessary. 

Subha Nagalakshmi Munchetty – Chendriah is a journalist with British Brocasting Corporation (BBC). brocaster said she h breached its guidelines over comments she h me about a tweet from United States (US) President about four female politicians of colour. Upholding complaint against her, BBC said Munchetty h cast aspersions on Trump’s motives in singling out women politicians Alexandria Ocasio – Cortez, Illhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib. 

“Why don’t y go back and fix totally broken and crime infested places from which y came,” Trump tweeted on July 14th 2019. Three days later comments were discussed on BBC Breakfast where Munchetty said “Every time I have been told, as a woman of colour, to go back to where I came from, that has emboldened racism…w I am t accusing anyone of anything here, but you kw what certain phrases mean.” 

Her co-presenter Dan Walker agreed with her going furr to say he spotted a thought out strategy to strengn his (Trump’s) position to which Munchetty replied she wasn’t going to give an opinion on that. Viewers complained and axe, strangely eugh, fell on Munchetty on grounds that she h breached BBC’s editorial guidelines. complaint against her has since been withdrawn after a well - deserved backlash that left BBC with egg on its face. 

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This episode reminded me of an even worse one that played out on American television in August when presenter Alex Hudson of KOCO 5 News in Oklahoma City in US compared her black colleague to a gorilla while both were watching a segment on an ape in a local zoo. Tears and pardon followed, as if on cue, with ly saying she respected her community and all her friends and deeply regretted what she h said. Her co-presenter who’d been called a gorilla dded in agreement. I would have thought ly deserved boot, but we watch and we learn. Watch . 

Beyond obvious, both incidents speak to an ugly coming of and voicing of rot that is global in nature and local in its destructive impact. We in India have acquired some expertise as well. Putting people down based on colour, caste, education or simply because we don’t like way y dress is par for course. This of rot, eir curses people from word go or bends over backwards to accommodate it (rot) both of which are deeply harmful for societies. You only have to listen to prime time television news in India to realise how deep hatred and drama come toger to make us all flawed characters, some more than ors. 

How many of us stop to ask if gora gha – white donkey – a term we casually throw around could be racist and deeply hurtful? How different is it from calling someone black and stupid?  Where is that coming from? I believe it is coming from same spot that allows people like Trump to look down on people of colour in America. Increasingly in India, it is coming from same place where politicians are calling out Indians from or states as “outsiders.” It happens routinely in Karnataka (where I come from) where people from India’s rth East are threatened with expulsion because y are easily identifiable. When New Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal played “outsider” tune this week, he was only ding fuel to “orness” fires that have been lit in or parts of India. Let that sink in. 

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BBC episode is news because we in India have internalised “white” as powerful and expect m to be faultless just like BBC has internalised that journalists of colour have a special responsibility to remain flawless. That’s tantamount to saying poor people should be happy with one meal a day considering y h thing to begin with. re are reports that BBC is discouraging its reporters from talking about incident, but anyone who has spent any time in a newsroom will tell you that’s an impossible task. 

assumption that racism or calling out people as t belonging is a felt and lived thing that has to be experienced on a daily basis is partly, though t entirely true. That is partly true because it negates fact that black people are t racists. All human beings are racists. We are all capable of using words and terms that are neir fair r just. If you think English television in India crosses line, listen to what passes for conversations in many langus Indian news media beams into our homes. 

Since BBC issue began with Trump’s twitter, let me make it easier. Take a stroll down people’s Twitter timelines to get a glimpse of where y are coming from. Pick an international group and compare what’s comparable. What people write and say to and of each or would make blatant racism and insulting ors on television sound like a walk in park. 

One more thing before I end. Remember entertainment programme that preceded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official event Howdy Modi in Houston? We praised our professors and doctors, engineers and CEO’s as we must. Even our spelling bees got special mention. But we me sure we maintained that class divide. Texas’ very own son, trailblazing Sheriff’s Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal (who was killed last week) didn’t make cut.  In our collective Indian complexes that we nurture in our diaspora, we don’t think policemen are achievers. y belong with Illhans and AOCs. 

Yes, BBC was wrong. It corrected itself. re will be or mistakes and more corrections. Accepting that we are all flawed is being human. Till people do t accept ir daily warts and tumbles as rmal y will t mature as a nation.  Langu will be first slip. On television it sounds and looks even more grotesque.

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( views and opinions expressed within this article are personal opinions of author. facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in article do t reflect views of Republic TV/ Republic World/ ARG Outlier Media Pvt. Ltd.)