I don’t want to hear that
Posted by Maman Poulet on 22 Nov 2006 at 11:03 pm | Tagged as: Podcasting
I really hope that the students taking the Multimedia Degree in Tipperary Institute are getting some guidance on diversity and incitement to hatred.
Output from these students taking the PR module part of this degree can be heard in podcasts from podcasting.ie
I listen to most of these podcasts, (Entitled Educasts) they are a trial at times to listen to but improve as students ‘get with the programme’ and production and content improves. There is still a long way to go!
However today I was listening to a podcast entitled Freedom and Safety – Educast 88. Niall O’Brien and Laura Keeley discuss some ‘funny’ things they found on Bebo (9 minutes and 30 Seconds into the ‘cast). The usage of the terms Itinerant and Knacker caught my ears and my breath – in particular they were flagged as Bebo pages worth checking out whilst the presenters were laughing. Padraig Nally killed a man, a Traveller – not an itinerant – that language left us many many years ago.
Possibly it might have been worth looking at the net/new media/social networks and racism? Or mentioning that Travellers have long rejected the usage of those terms and organisations like the NUJ, the NCCRI, and probably the PRII would also advise against using the terms in a journalistic/media exercise. And indeed a discussion on freedom of speech would also be useful and defining hatred and incitement and whether legislation is the right way to go about limiting speech and promoting diversity.
These students are supposed to be learning about PR – and indeed do analysis of PR in reference to the FG Councillor Michael Fitzgerald and his views on Drink Driving. However they need to know about other rules of PR – and the power of language and laughter and inferences that can be taken from how things are said.
*The title of this post comes from the podsafe music used at the beginning of the piece.
itinerant You can’t use itinerant anymore. Never knew that I always thought that was polite and traveler not. My bad I suppose. Wikipedia says the term means a person who moves from place to place. As does websters dictionary.
http://m-w.com/dictionary/itinerant
By the way where I come the term knacker is more generally used instead of scumbag.
I think this thread is worth considerable discussion and wonder if you would like to join in a recorded phone conversation to exchange views and educate unformed opinions.
If anything, the audio clip you heard illustrates the lack of PC-conformity inside the student’s studio space. Most of the recorded conversations you hear from podcasting.ie occur in unmonitored space. And since they’re unaccompanied by license to broadcast, there’s little more than community censure to constrain their content.
A short phone call, comment to MobaTalk on the website or text message to the commentator would go a long way.
PC-conformity? Political Correctness as a term has been effectively turned into a negative phrase. This is not about being PC, it is about basic respect for others.
And surely it shouldn’t be up to an outsider to challenge your students and their views?
Surely ethics and cultural awareness should be on the syllabus for multimedia students before they go into a studio? This is pretty dire – and it only makes it worse to suggest that the students have “unformed” opinions, as if there is no harm done and this show unformed awareness of PR as an industry and the role of media generally in late modernity.
Sadly Maman Poulet, its not the only instance of bad talk on live media, as I heard two student types on TCD student radio talking about ‘knackers’ a couple of weeks back and was stunned to hear that too.
It can be difficult for some people at times to be PC, but as Damien points out, it is about respect.
I was a student of TI (Tipperary Institute) and although I did have some problems with the place, I never saw those terms being used to describe anyone.
I have not listened to the podcast you mentioned, but it does reflect badly on the college if these terms are being used in everyday language, and indeed on podcasts which claim to repesent the college.
You don’t need an iPod to hear this episode. It’s called “Freedom and Irish Road Safety” and it plays on any computer with a sound card when selected from the pop-up player. These episodes do not represent any funded body or higher education establishment.
The segment in question is a rehash of things uncovered on Bebo. I believe the words used are pulled directly from the Bebo sites. Bebo is fueling the problem and student commentary, verbatim or rephrased, gives the issue more oxygen.
The whole issue of terminology (e.g., knacker and tinker) falls into disputed territory on Wikipedia when researched by students following the episode. In fact, most of the incoming students under my supervision–more than a majority–do not consider the term “knacker” as a reference to a specific group in Irish society. In hallways and in social settings, I hear college students calling each other “knackers” based on clothing choice or personal hygiene.
I wonder if that’s wrong. To my American ears there is no problem with the term being used in a collegial environment. The same students call each other muppets. If I’m to restrict one term, I need to develop an extensive listing of acceptable terms of endearment.
I appreciate this discussion and still remain interested in knowing whether anyone commenting here would consider having their voices recorded in addition to the student voices that sparked this posting.
When I lived in Ireland (waay back in the 20th Century) “Itinerant” was considered the correct term for a member of the travelling community.That was a time when it was considered fine to call these people Tinkers,Pahvees (sp?) or Gypsies and I often wondered why they had so many names.Turns out that what was the settled community labeled them as.The travellers had no say in what they were called.
Now I’m with Bernie on the ‘knacker’ thing .It’s use it’s so broad that it can’t be tagged as an insult directed at any one group.Sort of like ‘asshole’ here in the US.It doesn’t mean I want to hear it but I concede the point that the students here were making knacker = traveller.
In my workplace I have had to discipline many an officer for racist,homophobic and sexist remarks made in my hearing.As a transwoman I have enough on my plate as it is but I am unrelenting when it comes to this sort of thing.One morning recently I DID compile a list of words I never wanted to hear in my workspace.Turns out I wasn’t being all Bolshie or activist .I was simply enforcing the federal regs that were already in place. That list probably will get longer as time goes on and people find more things to be offended by.That’s fine….I’ve got tons of abusive terms that don’t make mention of religion,gender,race,sexual orientation,national origin or ethnicity.
….Oh..I did all that without thanking you for your excellent work Suzy.Thank you very much.
I would have liked to hear from the students themselves here. It seems a little off for Bernie to have to act as their flak-catcher, when they’re studying PR.
[...] Goddess forbid that any of the students who made the podcast that I wrote about here would actually talk about or respond to the issues made in the post or comments. And of course actually talking to Travellers might be too much of a good idea also. Ah no just read out the most patronising rant on Travellers which totally misunderstands and wrongly interprets Traveller culture, ethnicity and identity. The rant in question by Brenda Power, of course is couched in the ‘even if I say this I’m being accused of racism’ (taken from Ian O’Doherty) whine to cover up it’s bigotry. And from my experience Travellers are so tired of dealing with racism institutionally and otherwise and trying to live their lives to mount any sort of response. [...]
i dont want to hear that