Her behaviour has been the subject of comment by no lesser personages than the British prime minister and chancellor of the exchequer. She has prompted protests in India and been the subject of reams of reportage and comment everywhere from leading the BBC's news bulletins to the front pages of every British and Irish newspaper.

It is a long time since the words and actions of such a minor celebrity have provoked such intense debate.

Racism is a highly sensitive touchpaper to ignite. But the obnoxious behaviour of Goody and her underlings, two equally minor celebrities - former beauty queen Danielle Lloyd and former S Club 7 singer Jo O'Meara - towards their Big Brother housemate, Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty has left anyone watching aghast at the cruelty and aggression being played out.

The behaviour of these women has exposed how close to the surface and intertwined issues such as class conflict, racism and bullying are, particularly among the young and poorly educated.

The entire controversy has also raised questions about how closely involved the media - and not just Channel 4 - has now become in promoting those who hold these values and behave this way.

Big Brother is a show designed to make celebrities out of nobodies and Celebrity Big Brother is there to reinvent the careers of the formerly "famous".

Its wholly false claim to be a "social experiment" designed to hold a mirror to contemporary society, exploring psychological and social issues, has never been believed by anyone.

It is there to make money, for itself and for those who take part. Controversy is its biggest asset. Like all reality shows from Jerry Springer to I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, the freakier the participants, the better.

Big Brother actively promotes crass and bad behaviour - be it sex on TV, swearing, or homophobia - and then asks its audience to react, both as judge and jury.

As a result of programmes like these and the gossip magazines with which they have an almost cannibalistic symbiosis, the cult of celebrity and the behaviour that goes with it is all-pervasive.

For a huge number of younger people - and not-so-young either - the Jades, the Danielles and the Jos of this world are the role models from whom they learn their behaviour. For some, the aggressive, "I see it, I want it" behaviour they display is defined as "girl power" and "attitude".

Jade's ignorance may have been indulged before. "Is East Anglia another country?"

is vaguely amusing, but it has proven to be but a short step from such comments to the ignorance of other cultures that leads to the type of racism and bullying being broadcast all week.

Here, we may feel we can congratulate ourselves that we don't yet have Irish "role models" who plumb these sort of depths.

But Jade Goody's antics are as much discussed - and it has to be said sometimes admired and copied - among youngsters going to school on the Dart or Luas as they are on the London underground.

And the same sort of aggressive, abusive, bullying, girl-gang behaviour is as prevalent in some parts of our cities as it is in Essex.

As a society, we also need to confront questions far larger than just whether we approve of a TV programme. Are we tolerant of the diversity in our own population which is currently emerging thanks to mass immigration?

How far do we encourage, or at the very least, turn a blind eye to aggressive and bullying behaviour - not just in the workplace, or in schoolyards, but also in the words of music played on radio and the messages posted on internet sites.

You don't have to scratch very deep to see all the faults currently being played out in Britain also exist a little closer to home.