BS: 'Racism' a catch-all accusation?

Subject: RE: BS: 'Racism' a catch-all accusation?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 02 Mar 11 - 07:01 AM

. ..... While the words may be over used, they are definitely valid in many cases, but it seems that so-called believers in free speech want them banned.

Oxymoron anyone?

Don T. ...,.,...

You mean, Don, like all the opponents of any form of censorship [apart, natch, from that contained in the Race Relations Acts], I take it?

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: 'Racism' a catch-all accusation?
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 02 Mar 11 - 07:15 AM

No Eliza!!

I mean like all of those who try to establish an absolute position in either direction.

Life isn't like that. Everything comes in shades of grey.

Words have meanings, and the fact that some people misinterpret those meanings does not make the words invalid.

For the PC brigade who would ban the word "Black" in school or workplace, what do you say when you are asked why "black" is an insult while "white" is not?

For the anti PC brigade, what would you like us to call a genuine Racist?

Both sides attempt to go too far because they have been at opposite extremes for so long that they have forgotten that there is a middle.

Don T

Subject: RE: BS: 'Racism' a catch-all accusation?
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 02 Mar 11 - 07:18 AM

Sorry, it was Mike not Eliza whose comment I responded to.

Don T

Subject: RE: BS: 'Racism' a catch-all accusation?
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 02 Mar 11 - 09:21 AM

I'd be interested to hear, Jon, what follows after "I'm not a racist but..."

There are bits I suppose you could put down to "immigration concerns" but there seems to be a fair bit of "they can't rule themselves", etc. - a general picture of a socially and intellectually inferior race.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Racism' a catch-all accusation?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 03 Mar 11 - 03:39 AM

Sorry, Eliza, didn't have time to answer your posting.
"And I admire you for not going along with any of it"
Nothing to admire, my life would have been pretty uncomfortable if I had gone home spouting racism, my family, particularly my father, was pretty firm on the subject.
"...that we as a nation haven't changed at all, and haven't learned to be more tolerant and kind?"
I think it comes and goes. Most racism, as I have encountered it, is passive, the suspicion and sometimes fear of anybody different. It is only at the times of social pressure (high unemployment being a major feature) that it becomes a material threat. The East London dockers support for Enoch Powell is, IMO, a classic example of this.
I believe that in Britain passive racism is the result of unfamiliarity and ignorance coupled with our 'Rule Brittania' Empire legacy, which has left us with a national superiority complex.   
The main problem is that there are always militant groups with political agendas waiting in the wings to exploit these 'eccentricities', BNP being the most influential, but plenty of others lurking out there.
Jim Caroll

Subject: RE: BS: 'Racism' a catch-all accusation?
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 03 Mar 11 - 05:31 AM

Jim, then your father too was admirable in his stance. I'm afraid my father was racist, and had, as you suggest, inherited the 'Glorious British Empire' mindset. His dentist was a black Goan, and I remember being bemused by my father's statement "He's quite a good dentist in spite of the fact he's black." (As if most black men would be more likely to be swinging from trees eating bananas.)

I agree also that in times of shortage and unemployment etc racism thrives as we seek someone to blame. I take heart in the fact that the majority of the British people see the BNP as dangerous and abhorrent. Their Fascism, Nationalism and Racism are redolent of Hitler's Third Reich, and I think WW2 is still there in our collective memory to awake distaste and disgust.

I also agree that unfamiliarity and ignorance play a part in passive racism. On a personal level, the Brits are very pleasant and kind, as my husband has found. At the mosque he attends, the other worshippers, a selection of many races and colours, all agree that the English are extraordinarily friendly and tolerant. I suspect that, had my father lived to meet my husband, they'd have become best mates and gone everywhere together. I do value your point of view, Jim, as you have a more hard-headed and realistic perspective than I, and modify my slightly rose-tinted opinions!

Subject: RE: BS: 'Racism' a catch-all accusation?
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 03 Mar 11 - 05:51 AM

Good luck to you both Eliza, and thanks for sharing your experiences.
keith.