Reality television programmes such as Big Brother exploit the fact that for all the great cultural advances most humans remain emotionally retarded. All kinds of people whether well educated or not gain value from watching others living out a very base level of relationship dynamic. The Big Brother environment reduces people to squabbling children. It positively encourages them to expose their raw and damaged psychological state and their lacking in relationship skills and then presents it as a form of entertainment. This is comparable to the Victorian freak-shows which paraded the physically malformed as visual spectacle, something that for contemporary values would be thought abhorrent. The recent debacle in the Big Brother house over Jade Goody's apparently racist outburst against Shilpa Shetti can be seen in this context.

I say everybody is racist to some degree consistent with their emotional and intellectual deficiencies. I think racism is better understood as tribalism. People feel safer as part of a group. They are safer from the external dangers that lurk in every corner including from other humans. Though there is much to be gained from being in a community there is a dark side. Identifying with one group means not identifying with the other which is a step away from considering the other less preferable and even inferior. Scots have their own brand of this in the phrase "wha's like us".

Tribalism is found in most forms of competition and sporting activity. No better example is fifty thousand gathered in a stadium on a Saturday afternoon to watch young men kicking a ball around amidst mass shouting and jeering. This is easily argued as being harmless, as being about participation and healthy competition while still adhering to strict rules of conduct. I believe its roots are in something more sinister, something which encourages division and dislike of difference. Essentially that is what racism is: seeing the other as alien and inferior. I think this kind of behaviour in both its acceptable and its unacceptable forms comes from damaged make-up. I also think it is something that can be addressed.

The artless Jade with her monumental lack of intellect does not have the guile to watch her mouth. She opens up and defecates whatever is in there. The greater majority are probably just as racist as she is but even the tiniest restraint allows them to mind their language and keep their thoughts under wraps. One of the adverse developments of the past thirty years is how racist language has been sent underground where it was once a normal part of discourse. The real issues have only just been addressed superficially leaving the wedge still deeply submerged. The tribal emotions have remained in a cesspit that lies at the base of humanity. It is in dire need of opening up. In some convoluted way Jade Goody does society a favour by exemplifying it publicly.