From kat:

"Those of you who are relating this to what you consider silly nicknames, etc. in your own lives, don't get it. Regardless of whether Harry and friends are used to using such "banter" he IS a public figure and held to higher standards of conduct, or should be, for the example he sets. Also, the things you have all cited, could be changed. A person's skin colour cannot be changed and what one is called applies to the whole community of whichever minority is being denigrated."


No-one's disputing that racism isn't vile, kat. It is.

Many people are simply saying that Harry is not a racist.

There's a big difference.   

This was a private time between friends, in an airport, with a somewhat daft Prince of the Realm shooting an even dafter video. He wasn't going up to strangers in the airport and yelling racist abuse at them. It happened 3 years ago, and his friend sought no legal action against Harry, probably because he wasn't bothered and who knows, maybe he calls Harry by his own choice of nickname.

I'm sure Harry gets more than his fair share of 'names' for being a Prince and I'm also sure that he comes in for a fair amount of unfair hostility from some in the army, simply because he was born into the Royal Family, not something he ever asked to happen.

Racism is vile. Absolutely.

Name calling is vile. Yes, if done with the intent to deliberately cause upset and harm.

Belittling is also vile, yet there are those on this thread who choose very often to belittle, yet think nothing of it whatsoever, feeling it is 'their right' to do so. It ain't. To me, it harbours the same kind of malicious intent that racism does, and that is to hurt. It matters not whether the hurt is aimed at an individual, or an entire race. Deliberately choosing to try and hurt others is wrong.

Harry has many enemies, as do the rest of his family. It was an enemy who sold this to the pathetic, greedy paper concerned. Don't get me wrong, the Royals leave me cold, other than The Duchess of Kent, who's spent so much of her life helping others, but to stir something that didn't need stirring, simply to bash the Royals, Harry in particular, and to make loadsa money, is pretty shameful. But The News of the World doesn't feel shame.

Tell me, if it had been a regular soldier, would the newspaper concerned have made the same fuss? Would they have put a regular soldier on the front page, paid a fortune for the video, splashed it across their pages?

No.

And you know why? Because they're really not *that* interested in racism.

However, they're damned interested in kicking Harry and his family and they're even more interested in making money.

And **THAT** (for me) is the real story behind this story.