The Royal Jerk

A repeat offender, another one with a knack for shooting himself in the foot.

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Army investigates Prince's racist remark - Yahoo! News UK


Sunday, January 11 07:11 pm

Prince Harry's use of the word "Paki" about an Asian colleague is to be looked at by his commanding officer in line with "normal Army procedures", the Ministry of Defence has said.
The young royal was caught on film three years ago referring to a comrade as "our little Paki friend".
An Army spokesman said: "The Army does not tolerate inappropriate behaviour in any shape or form. The Army takes all allegations of inappropriate behaviour very seriously and all substantive allegations are investigated. This specific case will be dealt with in line with normal Army procedures."
The Army will not launch a formal investigation because no complaint has been made.
It is understood that the Prince's swift apology and the length of time since the offence will be taken into account and the Prince could face nothing worse than a dressing down.
But Harry has come under fire from politicians and race relations groups.
Tory Leader David Cameron said it was, "completely unacceptable" and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said the comment had caused "considerable offence".
Cabinet minister John Denham said: "This sort of language can be seen as offensive, is offensive, is gradually going out of use in our society, and he's apologised for it."
St James' Palace was quick to apologise when the footage was revealed on Saturday night and stressed that it was a "nickname about a very popular member of the platoon" used without malice.
But family of the young soldier who Harry is thought to be describing in the film said that he had never mentioned the phrase being used by his comrades.
Ahmed Raza Khan, a Pakistani, trained with Harry and won the Sword of Honour for the best overseas cadet at Sandhurst Military College.
His uncle, Iftakhar Raja, said: "At no time he told us that he was called Paki or he was a good friend of Prince Harry, I mean, although they served together, that is true.
"But I myself am a British subject, I am proud to be British and if someone called me Pakistani I would be proud to be called that, but Paki is definitely a derogatory remark."
"We expect better from our Royal Family on whom we spend millions and millions of pounds for training and schooling."
The footage - shot by the Prince - showed other cadets gathering at an airport for their flight to Cyprus.
As he filmed cadets snoozing on the departure lounge floor, Harry said: "How to admin yourself while waiting for the RAF to square you away. Now that is bad admin, bad admin."
He zoomed in on the face of an Asian cadet and said: "Ah, our little Paki friend ... Ahmed."
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said the comment had caused "considerable offence".
He said: "He shouldn't have used those words, it will have caused considerable offence and has obviously caused him a considerable amount of embarrassment.
"He has apologised, quite rightly, and I think we should now move on."

 

Fish in a barrel, storm in a teacup, etc.

 

Is this the same thoughtful young man who dressed up as a Nazi for a party at college? Or was that the other prince?

 

Same one.

Inappropriate? Yes. Surprising? No. Unusual in the army? No. Lets face it, forget the royal connection, that kind of behavior is inappropriate in an army officer full stop, it is however not unheard of. On the other hand, having just watched the rest of the video the papers start clutching at straws a bit, criticising him for making fun of an exercise and so on. Anyone who has experienced the pointless drudgery and meaningless tasks you encounter on any base/exercise will know that a good way of dealing with it is to take the mick and so whilst drawing attention to and rightly condemning racist comments is fair enough the articles do tend to become rather stupid towards the end.

In short, condemn him for making idiotic racist comments but don't damn him for having a laugh with his mates.

 

"It's not enough for Caesar's wife to be honest, she must seem so as well". C. Julius Caesar

 

To be honest I don't give a flying fart over Harry's remarks made three years ago. Stuff the gutter press who went out there way to buy the video so bloody what!

Round up those gutter snipes and put them in the front line. Just watch them sh*t themselves if that happen.

 

Goes in the family, doesn't it?

Royal heir farce! | News | News Of The World

It's your Royals and you are entitled to defend them, but it would be a good idea if they did something better other than looking like nitwits.

 

When you are in a position of command you have to edit yourself all day long, every day. In my last posting, I was Provost Marshal at the base. One day, referring to a conversation I overheard, I loosely said to some subordinates that people with very dark windows on their car have something to hide.

We were having trouble with the local Job Corps group. One day, at shift change, we were in formation outside our building. A car driven by Job Corps teen ran our gate and ran right into our formation. We descended on that car like sharks to a wounded dolphin. As one of my Corporals dragged a guy out, I heard him say:"The Captain says people with tinted windows have something to hide."

I hadn't realized the power of my words until then. In my present position as a Manager I have to edit myself all the time. When one of my employees does something really stupid, I have to keep myself from unloading my thoughts. Believe me, it's a struggle.

Harry was born into nobility. Even if he's in the Army there are words he should never use. The word "Paki" to some is as bad as the N word at a NAACP meeting (when used by a caucasian).

 

Just leave the Prince alone. The man is allowed to swear to drink and to be politicaly incorect. and don't use the work, "yank" , "limey", "frog", "kraut" or whatever or I'll put you in the Sun (on page 3 , but don't tell the puritans)

 

Well, could happen to anybody really....maybe you should just use the normal military term like sh**head or a**hole so nobody could call you a racist....

Anyway, I was wondering as I have been told all my life not to use the "n" word for black people how come these days the rappers keep saying you´re not a real **** ( the n word here ) to losers like it´s a good thing? I must say it´s a bit weird to me...

 

Indeed, it is all very well for us to sit and scoff but that is simply because no one actually cares that much what we think, say or do. Imagine living your life totally unable to relax for fear of some idiot passing it on to the papers, not my idea of living.

 

Fame has a price and whether they like it or not, those in the limelight have to deal with it. Now with the Royals, no choice there. They born into it and must accept the responsibilities that come with it. Is it an unrealistic expectation? I do not believe so when the people are paying for their lifestyle. They represent the whole of Great Britain and they should be held accountable for every action. If they don't like it, then renounce their title with everything the comes with it. Can't have it both ways.

 

Isn't this the kind of thing young royals are supposed to do though? I know I'd be playing silly buggers if I were to enjoy their level of wealth and opportunity.

If Murdoch did similar no one would bat an eyelid, the high moral tone of his papers reporting other people doing it is laughable, especially after all those fine words after Diana's death, about how they'd respect their privacy and not run sensationalist stories about them.

 

Actually there's a lame movie with Samuel Jackson where he's the coach to a public school basket ball team in which he mentions this. He says that should a white guy call them niga they'd be all riled up and ready to fight. But when hey call each other that, it's cool. Like he said, it was a word used to insult their grandfathers so why use it?



Cheers...

 

Of course the irony of certain newspapers (Sun, Mail, NOtW and so on) criticising anybody for making a racist comment has been lost in all this...

 

Gutter press indeed. Happened three years ago, and who is to say what the unit slang or humor is like.

I'll give an example
In my mates platoon there is a squaddie who is black. He refers to himself as the "platoon negro."

OR

In Sandnes (the next village) a family adopted a young black child who sported the nickname "the negro from Sandnes."

The PC madness keep people threading lightly around both these chaps and it irks them beyond explanation. So the nicks are their way of telling the PC to s*d off and get on with it.

The platoon negro is contacted ad nauseum by the press officer so the Army can show how multicultural the Home Guard is. The CO (a good friend of mine) told them to either write about the man's skills or clear off.

 

I'll grant you that one, Stefan, but consider it an exception

 

Jaeger, to some extent I agree. Banter in various units can be quite easy to miss-understand (I knew a chap who was universally known as 'token' which was short for 'token black feller,' he actually used to introduce himself as token on occaision, I am known as the 'token Jew' in my mess because I have some Jewish heritage and a Jewish name, doesn't bother me), they really should get the view of the guy involved before they start making a fuss.

That said, filming himself using racist terms is just plain stupid, whether in jest or whatever. I'd like to know who sold the clip to the papers.

 

Agreed, not to mention that I wouldn't even use those tabloids as toilet paper.

 

Too Rough?

One must make do it times of a recession like now. Pass me The Morning Star and Daily Star.