Rastamouse... the childrens show we love (it's not racist!)

Although I don’t have a child under 5, I did take the time to watch an episode of Rasta mouse.

This was after reading up about the complaints and allegations of it being racist, stereotyping, and offensive…

Rastamouse provokes complaints of racism and teaching bad language...

Now my honest opinion…I loved it!  

Sure there were something’s particularly around the dress of the characters and the mannerisms that I thought were a bit iffy (for lack of a better word).

However overall I think it is great to have a superhero of which young British children of African-Caribbean heritage can relate to (as well as other none African –Caribbean children).

Also to have African-Caribbean culture represented on mainstream TV; and in a positive light is bloody brilliant. So I say bravo to the authors of the book, the BBC, Reggie Yates and crew for bringing it all together!

I mean the story line was wonderful (cheese went missing, Rasta mouse and crew set up an operation to catch the theft, the theft repented and made good); it was not only about solving a mystery, it had forgiveness and redemption, plus reggae music all wrapped up into one cosy 15 minute (or so) episode, and I can’t see anything wrong with that.

Now if you did not know, the Rasta Mouse books have been around for years; so why no one complained then is a mystery. It’s probably because in book form it only appealed to a certain demographic; however now it is on mainstream TV people has a problem with it!

Now to address the problems which I have read about in the many articles:

1) Levi Roots (of reggae reggae sauce fame) took a not so good view of the Rasta being portrayed as a mouse; as a Rasta man he would have preferred a Lion.

2) There was a mother on mumsnet who was afraid that if her white child was to call a ‘none white’ child a ‘Rasta’ that it might be taken as an insult.

3) There are conspiracy theorists who think that the cheese is a reference for marijuana;

4) Some parents are afraid of the use of patois or slang in the programme…

Well I say Pish Posh!

The show is true to its premise: ‘a bad thing turned good’ and on the Rasta Mouse website it does not say its going to represent true Rasta culture, fight racism, prejudice or fight stereotypes. It’s a children’s programme focused on being educational and fun; whilst staying true to the Rasta Mouse books it has been adapted from.

Now address the so- called problems…

1) I would rather have a positive, crime fighting, uplifting, peace-loving Rasta Mouse than no Rasta at all portrayed on mainstream TV; and I think Levi Roots did concede it is better than nothing.

2) I would rather my own black child be called a ‘Rasta’ in reference to Rasta mouse (a positive character) rather than being called any of the other names he has been called by random white children over the years.

Also I think it boils down to you as a parent and what you teach your child about other races/cultures, because to be called a ‘Rasta’ (or any other minority non white group name/reference) is not an insult unless you think it is, and intend to use it as such.

3) Regarding the complaints about the patois or ‘slang’ there are people in the world who actually speak in Patois and use the ‘slang’, which is why it is important that the show does not dumb down for the sake of a few.

Also you only have to read some of the comments after the articles about Rasta Mouse to know that people are not ignorant to Patois and ‘Slang’.

There’s a plethora of patois and slang in the comments section.

 So lets be realistic unless your child lives in a bubble with no contact with other races/cultures etc… they will know and use slang at some point; even if only to use as an insult!

4) As for the conspiracy theorist- I think that possibly they themselves must be smoking too much marijuana!

So anyways BDSS’ers what do you think? Rasta Mouse Racist, stereotypical and offensive?

Yah Man... speak your peace!

Happy Valentines Day BDSS'ers... A Valentines Gift for you!

Happy valentines day all you lovers out there!

Apologies that I am coming to you so late with this, I was busy working and just getting on with my day. You see this year valentines day has been called off! No point in fussing over today if you're single like moi!

But for all of you loved up couples out there I thought I'd give you a mixtape with some sexy reggae tunes to bring in your valentines day evening/night with a bang courtesy of mixtapepage.com:

Ruan Legend - Valentine's Day Cure

and another from Ruan Legend

Reggae Valentine Mix Number 2

Enjoy... <3

Fakery and Fu*kery ...Is honesty the best policy?

The other day my son was on the laptop chatting to his friends on good old Face book. Being the caring responsible and darn right nosey parent that I am, I looked over his shoulder and read his messages. He was looking a little worried, and I wanted to know what was wrong. He then went on to tell me he had called his best friends girlfriend ‘honey’ by accident (I’m not sure how you do that, but he’s 9 so I’ll let him off). He then proceeded to tell his friend what he had done. I was just about to say “No son, don’t make matters worse” when I stopped myself. My son was being honest, an honest young boy of 9 going on 10, and I should be proud. I then got to checking myself, my own instinct was to lie, but what good did lying do? Then it dawned on me my son was teaching me a lesson that “Honesty is the best policy”. The next day at a mutual friends party, nothing was even mentioned about his little indiscretion.

I got to thinking about some of the men I’ve met, some of them must have been like my son all innocent and sweet, and then it happened – they turned into men! Now I know not all men lie, just like not all women tell the truth – cough cough ;) But I’ve run into some men that could talk a tail of a donkey- literally. The labrish as rolled off their tongue like another language, and in some instances I’ve believed him. “I will support you and the baby” is one major lie that the same man as managed to chat four other times with three other women and still hasn’t got a job to show for his hard biologically work. There was one particular guy I was seeing and I got the dreading ‘other woman’ call, fortunately for me I wasn’t taking this brother too seriously, so wasn’t surprised to get the fu*kery call when I was about to go raving with my girlies. The ‘other woman’ went on to tell me that she was pregnant with said mans baby, already had a son with him (I met this son two weeks prior) and she had seen his texts too me. Having learnt a rough lesson at 14 ( I will tell you at a later date) I have learned that if that man isn’t your husband, and you really don’t give a fu*k, denial is the best policy, so I proceeded to deny that he was my deep south llover and just said we were friends. Now if said man had been honest, yea he wouldn’t have got moi, but still we are all adults and I’m sure there would have been plenty of other women that didn’t care. Of course he denied it and gave me the typically “she’s crazy” speech but once he realised that I wasn’t having it, like a thief in the night he was gone. 

I’m guessing I’ve been that “crazy woman” to other women too, but hey as I said men lie. It’s interesting how some men tell you some sort of negative crap about their ex’s but then slowly but surely you realise what crap she had to deal with and that she probably wasn’t crazy at all, in fact you are for dealing with his crap after her. Just like the other women at the top of this post that went on to have 4 more children for a man that hasn’t worked in years, but hey these liars are good. They suck you in, and then when you wake up from your slumber, either they have gone or you want them gone. 

My favourite lie was from a man that was supposed to be taking me out for dinner, 9pm came and went, so I took myself in a vex mood to bed. At 4am I heard a knock on the door, and low and behold “G” was standing there panting like the dog he was. “I’ve been kidnapped and just managed to escape” WTF? “Yeah me and my bredrin went to shot some car, and we were just about to pay and the guy robbed us" pardon? "He locked us up for a few hours” urgh? “Yeah we escaped by jumping out the window”. Now there’s some men that you could believe, but G? If the name liar was actually a first name he should have been called it. To this day I don’t even know if his name was a popular name beginning with G.

So ladies, have you been told some whoppers? Please do tell!