An interview with Linford Christie

Subject: An interview with Linford Christie.

I was watching a program on television a couple of days ago in which the 100m sprinter Linford Christie was being interviewed about his past and, via footage of TV shows shown in the 60s and 70s which had a strong racial bias, his opinion on race issues  today. These early TV shows reflected the opinion of the time towards racial stereotyping, the assumption of white racial supremacy and the comedy built around a "them and us" philosophy which invariably placed the white person in the ascendancy.

A great deal of work has been done in this country to banish this sense of racial prejudice and in a growing multi cultural environment is seen as  vitally important to calm the publics sense of living in a two tier society. 

In one sense it has been done by suppression. The use of  'Political Correctness', an often quite savage embargo of subject matter deemed racially oppressive, with strong deterrents  for people in the workspace if they hold views which were deemed anti PC.

Over time this indoctrination of public perception has meant that people now-a-days instinctively shy away from discussing subjects that could be deemed to flow against the PC tide. Their participation in open debate on critical aspects of racial mixing and the effects which flow from that mixing is seen to legitimise prejudice and therefore must be shut down. People brought up in this era of Political Correctness often have a blind spot when it comes to the reality of issues arising when trying to blend diverse cultures.  It is said that they are blind to the differences and accept unhesitatingly the story of white oppression seen through colonialism and the inevitable guilt the white man must carry for events which happened many generations ago.

Linford Christie in his day was the epitome of the black man as seen through his physical strength and natural physiology. He was was, for a while the fastest man on Earth.  His deep brooding eyes and his piercing gaze as he concentrated on the job in hand the race, were synonymous with that terrifying imagery we remembered as children from the story's of tribal savagery in darkest Africa.  Linford was the man we were not.  His explosive power was saturated in myth, a myth about latent sexual strength, of a physicality with which no white man could compete, with huge muscles virtually bursting through the skin as he swayed and prowled around the starting block.

Today he is a jovial, contented man who, when asked, having seen a clip of a risky 1970s comedy what he felt about it only laughs that it was funny. The programs 'white presenter'  seemed abashed and quite put out by this lack of current day opprobrium on all matters racial, his tinder having failed to ignite a man comfortable in his black skin, comfortable living in this country, comfortable to see the stereotype humour of the 70s for what it was, comedy, could only stutter his own reverse prejudice for which modern society had trained him well.  The healthy enactment through comedy, reflected by the society of the day, a society learning to assimilate the situation in the best way it could, by poking fun through an enlarged humour based characterisation of that prejudice. 

The frigid, ultra sensitive, politically correct individuals represented by the 'presenter' miss the opportunity which used to present itself as working class humour to take the edge off potentially contentious issues by laughing at them, and would rather "insist" it doesn't happen by legal injunction  and punitive punishment.