Just how stupid is Danny Baker?

So, the general consensus seems to be that Baker was undoubtedly stupid and should have realised how his Tweet might have been interpreted, but it wasn't an overtly racist act, just a dumb one.

I only hope morons at football matches don't somehow take strength from this and start throwing bananas on pitches again. Whatever you think of him, Baker can be influential.
[/QUOTE]

This is the sort of hand-wringing which is damaging our society.

Edit - I have just remembered that hand wringing is an action typically displayed by people suffering from moderate or severe autism/Asperger's. I have, myself, fallen into the Baker trap. Although I did not intend to trivialise lifelong mental illnesses when I made my original post, I now come to understand that somebody somewhere could have become offended.

I will be handing myself in to my local constabulary as a matter of urgency. My employer has been notified and I expect to be fired before the end of the day.
 
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SteMerritt said:
Gig down the Cowley Road?
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Perhaps, though most of Harry's visit is in Barton/ Headington, who knows he might pop to Cowley road? .....there's a top band making their first Oxford appearance tonight at The Bullingdon ( im away working!) .... Stone Foundation

The Bullingdon Tickets and Events

Find upcoming events by The Bullingdon. Book official tickets on Fatsoma, the UK's favourite ticket outlet.
www.fatsoma.com www.fatsoma.com
 
bashamwonderland said:
This is the sort of hand-wringing which is damaging our society.
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How is it 'hand-wringing' to say that certain people *might* seek to see this as a justification for their own bigotry? It might not be logical, it isn't what Baker intended, but it certainly might happen. In the same way that the same sort of person has taken the Brexit vote to abuse people in the street because they aren't 'from around here' - that's not logical or sensible either, but it happens. Does that mean Baker had to be sacked - possibly not, but he stupidly put his employer in a difficult position and only has himself to blame.
 
If you don't want to be treated like a bigoted fool don't act like a bigoted fool.
 
ZeroTheHero said:
How is it 'hand-wringing' to say that certain people *might* seek to see this as a justification for their own bigotry? It might not be logical, it isn't what Baker intended, but it certainly might happen. In the same way that the same sort of person has taken the Brexit vote to abuse people in the street because they aren't 'from around here' - that's not logical or sensible either, but it happens. Does that mean Baker had to be sacked - possibly not, but he stupidly put his employer in a difficult position and only has himself to blame.
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Because if you take the overly-cautious approach of dismissing someone from their employment partly on the basis (but with literally no evidence) that the hypothetical, everyday racist might use the actions to justify future abuse, you are allowing your own 'hand wringing' to deprive someone else of their liberty to work and/or their finances.

(The reason I use the term hand wringing is because the sacking was based on overly-cautious fretting instead of actual evidence of racism).

I take your point on Brexit but it's totally unrelated to this incident in magnitude, context, fact etc. No comparison between Brexit and Baker's actions at all.

I think you hit the nail on the head when you suggest he perhaps should not have been fired.
 
Robie said:
If you don't want to be treated like a bigoted fool don't act like a bigoted fool.
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Or don’t cast someone as a bigoted fool when they’re not, condemning their livelihood for eternity, so that you can pitch yourself as a moral arbiter?

Because then you become the real enemy of the fight against bigotry by debasing legitimate efforts to prevent it.
 
Sarge said:
Perhaps, though most of Harry's visit is in Barton/ Headington, who knows he might pop to Cowley road? .....there's a top band making their first Oxford appearance tonight at The Bullingdon ( im away working!) .... Stone Foundation

The Bullingdon Tickets and Events

Find upcoming events by The Bullingdon. Book official tickets on Fatsoma, the UK's favourite ticket outlet.
www.fatsoma.com www.fatsoma.com
Click to expand...

Nightmare for him everybody else with the existing traffic problems in Headington/Barton.
 
ZeroTheHero said:
And in the end, that is what the problem is I suppose. While an ill-considered 'funny' social media post by a well-known but pretty minor public figure (or 'influencer' in the current jargon!) is not of any consequence on it's own, it is whether it gives idiots the 'Danny said it, so it's OK' excuse. Even if he didn't mean it that way.
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On the counter side, if the 'hand-wringers' had not leapt onto his post, would the 'banana-throwers' have even have noticed that a post that was not intended to be racist but has been interpreted by some as being so, had even been sent?
 
Just because someone doesn't intend racism, that doesn't excuse their behaviour if others interpret it as racist.

We have the first mixed race child born into the royal family and a well known figure shares a photo of a couple and a chimpanzee with a direct reference to the new royal baby.

It's really difficult to see this as anything but racist!

Ignorance isn't a plausible excuse, he works in the media, he knows what is and isn't acceptable.

Unfortunately, racism still exists in this country and just because comments are presented as 'banter' rather than explicit abuse makes little difference. It isn't acceptable in any walk of life, especially not from those who are in the public eye.
 
I think I agree with scotch. People, especially “personalities” seem to forget that posting on twitter isn’t the same as cracking a joke with your mates. Before publishing something TO THE WHOLE WORLD, maybe you should have a think about how it might be received.
 
Well, someone with that amount of Twitter followers might have guessed that *someone* might have seen it and made a comment! :)
 
There is something to be said for education and forgiveness, but in the world we live, it's off to the career gallows forever more instead.

In some respects, what he posted was, in the context of the real struggles we have in the world, not that awful, just naive and full of ego and hubris. After all. No one got hurt, no one died, nothing materially negative happened nor any large financial disaster in place (except in Baker's wallet). It just happened on social media.
 
Some fool has made a complaint to the police about it. It is not as though the Police have loads of spare resources to waste on something so trivial, especially as he has already lost his job.
 
Ricky Otto said:
Or don’t cast someone as a bigoted fool when they’re not, condemning their livelihood for eternity, so that you can pitch yourself as a moral arbiter?

Because then you become the real enemy of the fight against bigotry by debasing legitimate efforts to prevent it.
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I didn't cast him as a bigoted fool I said he acted like one. Whether this was stupidity or not, the BBC had to act in my opinion because the fool did not see the connotations of what he was posting.

I also don't feel dealing with low level bigotry debases any efforts to deal with legitimate bigotry.
 
Robie said:
I didn't cast him as a bigoted fool I said he acted like one. Whether this was stupidity or not, the BBC had to act in my opinion because the fool did not see the connotations of what he was posting.

I also don't feel dealing with low level bigotry debases any efforts to deal with legitimate bigotry.
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He apologised and deleted the post almost immediately. I’m pretty sure that suggests he subsequently realized the connotations.

I can understand your view. My concern is society now takes great joy in bandwagon reaction to moral superiority and allows no inch for genuine human error. The reaction is disproportionate to the action and often includes what I would consider bad faith understanding of the original intent.

Everyone makes mistakes and if we no longer allow that in society then we’re all going to become very static and unevolved because everyone will be scared to do or say anything.

It’s how we react to those errors of judgment that’s important in my opinion.
 
It is about being careful these days. There are a few things which I keep to myself and only share verbally with my nearest and dearest.
Incidentally, I wonder if Baker could have kept his job if H and M had given him a royal pardon or something, with Baker giving an enormous pile of cash to one of Harry's charities...??
 
This is another example of what I’d call a reaction not matching the original action.

www.bbc.com

US author loses book deal for tweet-shaming

Natasha Tynes was accused online of racism, and a publisher called her tweet "truly horrible".
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com

A woman tweets, rather pointlessly and obnoxiously I may add (even if she is correct about the rule), about a driver eating against the rules whilst driving a train.

She’s a minority writer but she is accused of racism, and a social media bandwagon / witch hunt ensues and she loses a book deal.

Let’s just take a step back there. A woman posted an opinion many would agree with. It was pretty minor on a minor platform (based on her media presence at the time) and her career is now shattered and a humongous personal piece of work that most likely a long time is discarded to the waste bin.

And she’s also a racist for life according to the residual internet imprint even though there’s no obvious sign this was anything about race.

Unfortunately this is not unusual. The internet has created a mob mentality of 1984 styled thought police. Who knew Orwell was so wrong about it being the government
 
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