A Reform Party MP has been suspended from the Welsh assembly, by a vote of assembly members, after she “used a racial slur in a WhatsApp group”. This is the Guardian’s telling of the story. Apparently, the MP “posted a racial slur in an office WhatsApp group”. One political opponent referred to the “vile” racial slur.
As is not unusual in such cases, the mainstream media won’t even print the slur, meaning that no one is able to assess for themselves how “vile” it was and whether, in their opinion, she was fairly suspended – all of which, one would have thought, were key aspects of a democracy. This often happens. It is a sign of the policed nature of our society that it is enough just to report the verdict of the court/assembly/tribunal – and people are supposed to accept that. It is the decision of the authorities which makes the crime a crime, not the substance of the crime itself. I finally found out what she said. It seems that in the context of alleged Chinese state spying in the UK via TikTok, she said: “No chinky spies for me,”. [1]
How offensive is “chinky”? The BBC says it is “highly offensive”. [2] I am struck by the mainstream reaction. Indeed, for most of the mainstream press this slur is too offensive even to report on. This is like the Victorians not being able to talk about certain parts of the anatomy. It is an excessive prurience. It is worth noting the context too; the MP, a Ms Laura Anne Jones, was not talking about Chinese people in the UK, but about a state, which is almost, (I think not quite), an official enemy of the UK. We are constantly being told about the threat from China – by the authorities, but to use an old-fashioned and, (I would say offensive, but not highly so), slur about their spies is regarded as completely beyond the pale. I find that odd.
I wouldn’t use ‘chinky’. It is a slur. It is offensive. And it’s dated. Even if we were at war with China I still wouldn’t use it. I don’t think I could vote for a politician who used it. But, nonetheless, I am struck by the way the matter is reported. In the eyes of the mainstream media, at least the liberal sections of it, she seems to have committed a serious crime. It seems to me that the crime may not so much be the actual racial slur itself, as the simple fact that she broke the rules and stepped outside of the policed speech limits. Basically; there is something fishy about the reaction. It goes overboard. This is again, like a cult.