Crossing Lines

One particularly nasty and distasteful element that has become a trademark in a Michael Moore film is his constant mocking of the working class as it goes about the business of working though it is a criticism that seems to be rarely voiced. Perhaps, it is because modern society seems so very tolerant on the use of appallingly bad manners in everyday situations. So I read this story from the Times of India and felt there might be a place in this new age for myself after all.

Two US radio jockeys who abused an Indian call centre agent in a comedy skit on outsourcing went off the air for a day, suspended by the radio station and its parent company in response to a firestorm of protests from Indian community activists.

The station, Philadelphia's Power 99 FM that road broadcasts mainly hip-hop music, also apologised for their excess. "The Star & Buc Wild Show prides itself on walking on the edge. On December 15th, we crossed it. We know the pain racial slurs cause and apologize that this comedy segment went too far," a statement posted on the station's website said.

In the segment, Star, whose real name is Troi Torain, phones a call centre taking mail orders from the US for hair beads and gratuitously abuses a female agent named Steena, calling her a "bitch" and using a four-letter word. He then hangs up, hooting with laughter.

I would imagine that working at a call centre and dealing with the general public can be stressful at the best of times, and while I am no fan of outsourcing, call centres or telephone marketers, to be subjected to verbal abuse and humiliation for doing no more than one’s job by answering the phone all for the sake of a cheap laugh is unconscionable. Oh, and that parent company, Clear Channel Communications.