Sunday 31 October 2010

gingergate

self, back view in the Baltic, 2008' it's all in the skintone, peeps/tr>

Oi!  Harriet!  No!  Being redheaded is genetic.  So you do not mock it.  That.  Is.  All.  Wrong.  And, er, it is in Scotland that you will find the highest concentration of redheads in the world.  I declare an interest of course as a redhead myself.  Similar colouring to Danny Alexander in fact.  There are many varieties and shades of redhead, but what we all have in common is not our hair colour but our skin.  Pale, freckled and we get sunburned if someone switches a light on.  I am naturally a dark-ish auburn, green eyes, fair skin and freckles.  This comes from my Scottish grandfather's side - his son, my father, was a bright redhead with blue eyes, which my sister inherited, my brother and I got the auburn as our mother is dark, though my brother's hair was carroty when he was a child and darkened as he grew up.  My daughter has brown hair with reddish lights in it, but she is still a redhead as she has the skin.  This is genetically compounded, as my son-in-law is a true redhead, so their daughter is of course a redhead too, with grey eyes like her mother.  Genetic. Fruit flies and all that.  And yes, there is serious prejudice against redheads.  It is even said that Judas Iscariot was a redhead, though I don't see how he could have been, coming from the Middle East and all.  You find redheads mostly in the Celtic fringe, there are a great many in north America, especially Canada because of the Scottish emigration there, but you also find them occasionally in parts of central Asia, and in the Caucasus and Afghanistan - green eyes and reddish lights in the hair are not that uncommon in Afghanistan, and women with that colouring are quite beautiful.  The gene is very strong.  Alexander the Great was a redhead - it is documented from contemporary sources that he had to cover up against the sun or his skin turned red, not something most Greeks and Macedonians have to worry about, then or now.  I was once on holiday in the Basque country of France and was taken for Basque and spoken to in that language.

We can't get suntanned.  So what?  Is that a reason to exterminate us?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is well known that Gingers are the very spawn of Satan!

Anonymous said...

Think she would have called him a black rodent? Hmmmmmm, can't see that somehow, how about calling him a slag? Nope.

Her excuse for an apology is pathetic too, don't apologise in case you've offended someone, apologise because what you did was wrong.

Anonymous said...

A bit strange - when I was at school 60 years ago anyone who wasn't white did attract comments because it was strange to see them.
But redheads, apart from perhaps being called Ginger, attracted no undue attention at all.
L9

Anonymous said...

Well - what about the bad press given to blondes?

Rarely a month goes by on a quiet press day when pages are not filled by tripe written by female journalists who have decided to see how life treats them if they go blonde. And they report that they are treated as if they have about half a brain cell and that men keep expecting them to take off bra and knickers instead of saying 'Hello'.
And how many times do we hear that stupid comment 'She was having a blonde moment'?

Hm - redheads regarded as satan's spawn. Or blondes being regarded as terminally thick.
Which would you choose?

Well, me, I'd go for Satan's spawn.

No-one ever accused the devil of being thick and I have had a lifetime of it.

Anonymous said...

09:50 Join up our freckles and they spell spawn of satan and we are all around you.

Alison said...

Back in September 2008 on QT David Dimbleby referred to Hazel Blears as a Ginger Chipmunk but got little flak for this. Chipmunks are rodents so why was that ok - was it intended affectionately?

Possibly Iain Dale originally used the phrase.

Anonymous said...

Dimbleby is a protected and cossetted person - Harriet is game for whatever flak can be thrown.
There are some rules for some people and some for others.

Incidentally, Theresa May's nickname used to be Badger-Head. I see she has now covered up the offending streak.
I just thought it was funny - not a slight on either badgers or people with a grey streak.

Anonymous said...

"Harriet is game for whatever flak can be thrown"

And rightly and deservedly so.

Anonymous said...

Oh. La di da.
Lets all get Harriet.

This is such a pathetic and silly game.

Why not find someone else to hate for a change?