Baffled post BAFTA
When social media outrage divides nations.
I didn’t actually watch the BAFTA ceremony this year.
I watched the rolling reactions on social media instead.
Because that’s what we do in this day and age, right?
I saw Alia Bhatt flex her multilingualism when she came on stage to present the Best Film not in the English Language.
She started off in Hindi and then continued in English.
It was a beautiful moment because I could understand both.
And her comments on the language of cinema hit the mark so well:
‘Namaskar.
While films speak in countless voices, what we celebrate is the language of cinema. And that one, we all speak fluently’.
I’m unsure but I think it felt more special because of the debate we’re having in Britain about the basic necessity to speak English and that no other language should be given priority.
But it gave a nod to a language I understand and that is from beyond the European border.
And then it happened.
The John Davidson incident.
And all these days later, the debate on social media hasn’t stopped.
It has left me quite baffled.
I’ve been looking into whether the word baffled is the right one to use.
The word comes from the Old French word bafouer meaning ‘to mock’, ‘to ridicule’ or ‘disgrace’.
It evolved into the Middle English (through Scotland) as baffle meaning ‘to publicly disgrace’ and then to the Early Modern English in the 17th Century where the meaning broadened to mean ‘defeat’ ‘thwart’ or ‘frustrate’.
And it is here when this word starts to become justified to use in this context.
It was in the 18th Century where the figurative sense developed, and it is described more as a mental obstruction rather than what it meant previously.
And it’s true.
I still cannot get my head around some of the responses on social media.
Some went as far as calling for segregation of people like John.
That he shouldn’t be at such events.
Ableism in reaction to perceived racism towards someone who cannot control what he says because of his condition.
And hearing about pro segregation arguments from America was frankly, shocking.
Most of the visceral reactions online are coming from Americans who don’t seem to know about Tourette’s Syndrome.
Or are being told what it is, and still cannot hold space to understand Tourette’s Syndrome.
Now, admittedly, I’ve not known about John Davidson’s lifelong advocacy for a condition that has made his life more difficult than mine.
But I have known about and understood Tourette’s Syndrome.
I’m pleased to say, especially after watching the last few days, Britain seems to be much more clued up on this. We have been able to have John’s back in the face of relentless (what I can only call) bullying since.
I know the word he used has a very specific connotation, and I am not oblivious to the harm it causes.
However, the part I am still struggling to accept is how people, who are reacting badly to him, cannot hold two concepts at once.
We’re asking for him to be given the space so people can understand his condition.
The film he was being honoured at the Ceremony for was a film based on his life story.
That has all he has ever wanted.
To be understood.
I’ve been mulling around how I would have felt had he said the P**i word.
Something that, with the wrong intent, is harmful to hear as a brown person.
But knowing he had Tourette’s I would not hold it against him at all.
Even when he went to receive his honour from the late Queen he shouted expletives at her and her staff said she understood and didn’t mind.
This is how society handles a condition like this - from the Monarch to the fellow citizen.
His condition has left him struggling to adapt to a society that had not been created for him, but has slowly moulded itself so that he can live a life of dignity with people around him that understand him.
He has given others in his position the validation and voice to be able to handle what life throws.
Since the incident, he has sought to apologise, and at the event itself he left the auditorium as soon as it happened.
I am baffled though.
I have full faith in our country here, and this faith has been reaffirmed through what I have seen on social media in the last few days.
But I cannot get my head around those comments from people who need to learn to hold two truths at the same time.