Let's make sure that throughout this blog, if we're reading it, we managed to keep our brains in gear. If you're going to get all knee jerk on me, then I don't really want, nor need your type in here, so perhaps it's best you stop here and go back to your tabloid as there's probably something in there that will incite the necessary anger you need to make it through your day.
Those of you who's IQ isn't measured in just tens, please feel free to carry on as I celebrate the first piece of common sense that has been unleashed on the nation since the news of Jade Goody's illness was broken.
I am of course going to have to qualify this whole article, as is the need these days, by saying that yes it was a tragic shame that someone my age should lose their life so early. God knows, I'd hate to find myself in her shoes. And I also stand up and applaud the way she went and made her illness public knowledge; there is no doubting that through that she has saved lives, but that is the one and only good thing she has ever done for anyone bar herself and her own.
Parkinson was shrewd in what he said. He both praised and slighted Jade in what he said, but he never once laid the blame at her feet. It wouldn't be possible too in fairness. Jade was a puppet of the media, as a large part of the British public also seem to be. Jade was everyone's favourite panto villain. "Kebab" brandishing thicko racist pig faced chav one minute, princess of Essex the next. The switch in her character as portrayed by the red tops was nothing short of Jekyll and Hyde-esque in it's schizophrenia.
The problem Parky will face, is that he is the first to have the minerals to say it, and it appears that being one of the most respected and well love broadcasters in British television history is scant defence when talking about someone who's best claim to fame was not winning a talent contest, before trying again and being a little bit racist. And being hated by everyone.
The backlash has begun. Those with memories shorter than their sleeves are chastising Parkinson for his "emotionally unintelligent" comments. And yes, I still don't quite know what that means. He has fallen in the estimation of others, which is even more worrying when you consider the high point of their estimation seems to be someone who publically racially bullied someone on national television. It's no wonder then, that the BNP seems to gain more and more popularity if people like Goody are held in high esteem.
There are even those who have said that at least "Goody went out at the top, unlike Parky." If being on Indian Big Brother was the top, as opposed to a forty year career in broadcasting, followed by a dignified retiremtnt, then God help anyone in the public eye. It once again shows that these people simply don't know what they're passing comment on, and that their knee jerk fiery reactions only serve to stoke the smiles of the faceless hacks who seek to build and destroy people at the tap of a keyboard.
There are of course voices of support for Parky which perhaps should restore some faith in the way people view the media, but it's clear to someone like me, who went into this area with wide eyed expectation that everyone was savvy enough to form their own opinions, that this isn't the case. A lot of people simply aren't smart enough to read between the lines, to form their own opinions. Forgive me for being a tad melodramatic, but it's all beginning to feel a little bit like Big Brother and newspeak controlling the Proles.
What we really need to remember however, is that never before has their been such a strong example of the way in which the British public are puppets for the media as Jade Goody. It should send shivers down the spines of all free thinking and intelligent people in this nation, it should also send us scampering for the exits.
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