Episode 6 – Insulting and Offending and Defining Racism

Along with our usual banter and a look at recent news stories, our Free Speech topic on the right to ‘insult and offend’ looks at discriminatory language and, in particular, racism. It’s a different tone to the show’s opening this week as Morgan’s humour is quite literally of the toilet variety. NotMorgan reflects on his long, confusing rambles and attribution errors from last week, before looking at some varied and weird news stories. Jellyfish nappies and Toblerone-wielding ‘terrorists’ abound, and we take a tangential path into consciousness-altering organ donations and the ‘entangled’ properties of blood. Then, two white guys, whose only real personal experience of racism is having French youths shout the names of English food dishes at one of them, start to look at racially-offensive language and whether being insulting and offensive should make you a criminal. We look at what happens when we’re told “you can’t say that”, whatever ‘that’ may be, and aren’t allowed to question or challenge what we’re told. We then look at crimes where an offence was apparently ‘racially-driven’, some of which may surprise. From English cows to Welsh sheep and much in-between, we try to distinguish what, in our eyes, is racist and what might not be. Then, when Jeremy Clarkson and Katy Perry are vilified as 'high profile' apparent racists, we wonder whether the history and horrors of ‘true’ racism are being diluted and forgotten in today's ‘social media society'. Is stereotyping racist? Is it possible to use racist language without actually being a racist? NotMorgan recounts when he was unknowingly, and certainly not intentionally, racist about people he's always had massive respect for, Australia’s Aboriginals. Our usual request for people to get involved turns into an anti-advertising piece, before creative commons music plays us out. We enjoyed recording the show and hope that you will enjoy listening.