Friday 22 February 2019

Is "tinge" offensive?


When the Labour-defecting MP Angela Smith made her weird and racist comments about British Asians being "funny tinge" on the big day these splitters had been plotting for months, this racist gaffe was obviously going to attract a lot of ridicule.

The mess was made even worse when Smith and her fellow splitter MPs decided that there should be no disciplinary process, and agreed the line that she only spouted racist remarks because she was "very tired" (is it just me or is 'I was only racist because I was tired' an extraordinary excuse that implies racism is an inherent attribute that is always there, but only leaks out under conditions like tiredness, stress, or drunkenness?).

For context this is a bunch of MPs who spent months bitterly attacking Labour's internal processes for dealing with bigotry, who then immediately give one of their own MPs a total free pass on a bizarre outburst of 1970s-style racism, revealing the fact that they have absolutely no disciplinary procedures at all for dealing with racism in the ranks!

This shockingly lax attitude to dealing with racism is hardly surprising from a group who all either abstained on, or actually voted in favour of Theresa may's racist "Hostile Environment" legislation that created the Windrush Scandal, and resulted in black Britons being deported to their deaths overseas.

This bizarre and hypocritical "funny tinge" episode was always going to provoke derision, and the word "tinge" has subsequently been used to ridicule the Independent Group.

Nicknames, satire, and political shorthand have always been a fundamental part of UK political discourse, but ever since "tinge" became a thing there have been an awful lot of people turning up in comments threads to cry that calling Independent Group "tinge" is unfair, improper, offensive, and even Trumpian!

Amazingly these are people who will willingly and uncritically accept the explanation that Angela Smith slurred British Asians as "funny tinges" because she was "very tired" but then get hyper-offended at other people using the term "tinge" to refer to the group of MPs who continue to side with Smith, and who fully accept her outrageous 'I was only racist because I was tired' excuse!

In this warped worldview it's apparently perfectly fine to refer to the "tinge" of British Asians' skin as being "funny", but then unspeakably offensive to use the word "tinge" as satirical shorthand for the group the woman who did this belongs to!

The same thing happens when you use the political shorthand "parliamentary squatters" to describe the fact these MPs have refused to call by-elections in their constituencies because they're a bunch of democracy-fearing cowards who know they'd lose their seats if they actually put their divisive and egotistical actions to the vote.

The reason pro-austerity centrists are getting so upset about the use of satirical shorthand like "tinge" and "squatter" to describe the Independent Group actually has nothing to do with these words being offensive in their own right, it's that these people know that satire and shorthand are very effective ways of influencing public opinion.


If nicknames and descriptions like "tinge" and "squatter" are allowed to stick, people will be continually reminded about this group's shockingly lax attitude to racism in their ranks and the fact that they're so terrified of democracy that they're treating the constituencies that elected them with contempt.

So they react with outrage, and attempt to impose a form of political correctness to police political satire (meta political correctness if you like) because they desperately want to stamp out the kind of political satire that satirises the opaquely funded, self-serving, Tory-facilitating, pro-austerity centrism they approve of.


These people are not upset because the words "tinge" and "squatter" are offensive, they're upset because they're effective.


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12 comments:

Anonymous said...

For me the even more offensive racism, is the none reaction to the offensive comment from the the rest of the panel on the BBC. It shows how deep racism is entrenched in our national psyche.

Anonymous said...

Poor Tingela was probably tired from her great work lobbying for privatised water. Ordinary citizens just don't understand the hard work required to support Canadian pension funds or the Chinese government take control of our national infrastructure. Anyone who disagrees with having to hand over their water rates to foreign governments and pension funds is clearly institutionally racist.

The Toffee said...

Who gives a flying f**k if they find those words/terms 'offensive'?

They're deserved and fully brought about by their own actions.

Jason said...

Sure there are plenty of TIG supporters with references to 'gammons' on their tedious timelines.

Haravikk said...

I think referring to them as TINGE is not only not offensive, it should be mandatory, as it's basically the perfect phrase; it mostly fits the group's name (The Independent Group) and characterises an event that basically tells you everything you need to know about these careerist self-serving hypocrites.

The only legitimate criticism of the use of TINGE that I have is that it's difficult to fit into sentences since the first letter is "the". =D

Anthony. said...

A bunch of liar,I'm surprised at Chucka,antisemitism is all liar.

Anonymous said...

i would have thought minge would have been a more appropriate name as they all are abunchofcunts

Josh k said...

Can we really be shocked at the Tingers' casual anti-Asian racism after all their loud posturing about antisemitism? Hypocrisy has been the signature trait of liberals since America's founding fathers were claiming they believed all men are created equal.

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