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April 29 2024 11.23am

Is Britain a racist country?

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View npn's Profile npn Flag Crowborough 04 Jun 15 12.02pm Send a Private Message to npn Add npn as a friend

Quote serial thriller at 04 Jun 2015 11.53am

Quote npn at 04 Jun 2015 11.32am

Quote serial thriller at 04 Jun 2015 11.23am

Quote Stirlingsays at 04 Jun 2015 1.56am

Quote serial thriller at 03 Jun 2015 10.40pm

I'm not saying that racism is the sole reason for anything. There are many, many forms of discrimination which are embroiled within society, and all of them should be tackled. What I'm saying is that racism remains prevalent within British society, and leads us to tolerate unimaginable harm and suffering to people in the poorest of conditions. I wouldn't even say that racism is the issue itself: it is the justification for us turning a blind eye to, for example, slavery in China, mass-murder in the middle east or even incarceration in Britain.

The beautiful thing about politics is it gives you an avenue to help people who for one reason or other can't help themselves. That could be a disabled person who can't work being provided for by the state so they can lead a dignified life, or a child in a third world country being given a decent education. That's why when I see those people drowning in the mediterranean and our society's primary concern being ourselves I despair, because if we were in their position, we would be desperate for help.

People die in horrible ways everyday unseen or seen from a camera....Are they helped? Seeing dead children in the Mediterranean is no doubt a disaster as is a child unseen starving to death....But it is by no means the responsibility of anyone here. Most people only feel responsible for what is in their sphere of influence.


Then why do people feel so passionately about immigration, or global warming, considering that both things are outside of their sphere of influence?

The anniversary of 9/11 is still a day of significant commemoration, not just in America but in Britain too. Yet more people have died in the Mediterranean already this year than died that day. So why is one seen as so more relevant and personal than the other? You're far more likely to drown than be killed by a terrorist, so the argument that it represents more of a threat to individual security is nonsense. Of course race plays a role in how people regard tragedy.


Edited by serial thriller (04 Jun 2015 11.25am)


Possibly, but I'd say nationality is more important.
A lot of brits died on 9/11, to my knowledge none have drowned this week crossing the med.

It's like reports of plane crashes : "235 killed, including least 2 britons" - I think it's far less to do with race than nationality and derived local interest.


But why should nationality even play a role in tragedy? Is it sadder if a British stranger dies than a Libyan one?


On a global scale, no. To me personally, of course, because I have some sort of connection with that person, arbitrary as it may be. If one of those boat people turns out to have been the cousin of a bloke I know from the chip shop, then that instantly becomes a sadder event to me, personally, because I have a connection. Race has nothing to do with it

 

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View serial thriller's Profile serial thriller Flag The Promised Land 04 Jun 15 12.04pm Send a Private Message to serial thriller Add serial thriller as a friend

Quote Stirlingsays at 04 Jun 2015 11.57am

Quote serial thriller at 04 Jun 2015 11.53am

But why should nationality even play a role in tragedy? Is it sadder if a British stranger dies than a Libyan one?


Of course it is.

Ok, lets test your logic. Is it sadder to you if your mother or father or child dies rather than a Libyan?

If so why?

Edited by Stirlingsays (04 Jun 2015 11.58am)


But why does nationality come in to it? There are British citizens who go out to fight for ISIS, do I feel sympathy when they die, or am I only meant to be feeling pity for those British people who have those wonderful British values which no one seems to be able to identify objectively?

We sympathise with British deaths more than Libyan/Chinese deaths because we regard them as culturally similar to us. We therefore see their deaths as more tragic because we regard ourselves as culturally superior to people from other parts of the world.

 


If punk ever happened I'd be preaching the law, instead of listenin to Lydon lecture BBC4

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View npn's Profile npn Flag Crowborough 04 Jun 15 12.06pm Send a Private Message to npn Add npn as a friend

Quote serial thriller at 04 Jun 2015 12.04pm

Quote Stirlingsays at 04 Jun 2015 11.57am

Quote serial thriller at 04 Jun 2015 11.53am

But why should nationality even play a role in tragedy? Is it sadder if a British stranger dies than a Libyan one?


Of course it is.

Ok, lets test your logic. Is it sadder to you if your mother or father or child dies rather than a Libyan?

If so why?

Edited by Stirlingsays (04 Jun 2015 11.58am)


But why does nationality come in to it? There are British citizens who go out to fight for ISIS, do I feel sympathy when they die, or am I only meant to be feeling pity for those British people who have those wonderful British values which no one seems to be able to identify objectively?

We sympathise with British deaths more than Libyan/Chinese deaths because we regard them as culturally similar to us. We therefore see their deaths as more tragic because we regard ourselves as culturally superior to people from other parts of the world.


No - I'd say because it is easier to empathise with them.
In the example of ISIS - if one of those fighters is killed, it's deemed more newsworthy than if it's an ISIS fighter from, say, Turkey.

 

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View serial thriller's Profile serial thriller Flag The Promised Land 04 Jun 15 12.08pm Send a Private Message to serial thriller Add serial thriller as a friend

Quote npn at 04 Jun 2015 12.06pm

Quote serial thriller at 04 Jun 2015 12.04pm

Quote Stirlingsays at 04 Jun 2015 11.57am

Quote serial thriller at 04 Jun 2015 11.53am

But why should nationality even play a role in tragedy? Is it sadder if a British stranger dies than a Libyan one?


Of course it is.

Ok, lets test your logic. Is it sadder to you if your mother or father or child dies rather than a Libyan?

If so why?

Edited by Stirlingsays (04 Jun 2015 11.58am)


But why does nationality come in to it? There are British citizens who go out to fight for ISIS, do I feel sympathy when they die, or am I only meant to be feeling pity for those British people who have those wonderful British values which no one seems to be able to identify objectively?

We sympathise with British deaths more than Libyan/Chinese deaths because we regard them as culturally similar to us. We therefore see their deaths as more tragic because we regard ourselves as culturally superior to people from other parts of the world.


No - I'd say because it is easier to empathise with them.
In the example of ISIS - if one of those fighters is killed, it's deemed more newsworthy than if it's an ISIS fighter from, say, Turkey.

Are you saying we empathise with British ISIS fighters? Then how come we don't let them back in to the country, even when they have realised that they're fighting for a bunch of c*nts?

 


If punk ever happened I'd be preaching the law, instead of listenin to Lydon lecture BBC4

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TheJudge Flag 04 Jun 15 12.08pm

Quote serial thriller at 04 Jun 2015 12.04pm

Quote Stirlingsays at 04 Jun 2015 11.57am

Quote serial thriller at 04 Jun 2015 11.53am

But why should nationality even play a role in tragedy? Is it sadder if a British stranger dies than a Libyan one?


Of course it is.

Ok, lets test your logic. Is it sadder to you if your mother or father or child dies rather than a Libyan?

If so why?

Edited by Stirlingsays (04 Jun 2015 11.58am)


But why does nationality come in to it? There are British citizens who go out to fight for ISIS, do I feel sympathy when they die, or am I only meant to be feeling pity for those British people who have those wonderful British values which no one seems to be able to identify objectively?

We sympathise with British deaths more than Libyan/Chinese deaths because we regard them as culturally similar to us. We therefore see their deaths as more tragic because we regard ourselves as culturally superior to people from other parts of the world.

I think this sort of question is better aimed at someone like Stephen Dawkins. Human behavior generally serves the gene directly or indirectly he would probably say.

 

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View npn's Profile npn Flag Crowborough 04 Jun 15 12.11pm Send a Private Message to npn Add npn as a friend

Quote serial thriller at 04 Jun 2015 12.08pm

Quote npn at 04 Jun 2015 12.06pm

Quote serial thriller at 04 Jun 2015 12.04pm

Quote Stirlingsays at 04 Jun 2015 11.57am

Quote serial thriller at 04 Jun 2015 11.53am

But why should nationality even play a role in tragedy? Is it sadder if a British stranger dies than a Libyan one?


Of course it is.

Ok, lets test your logic. Is it sadder to you if your mother or father or child dies rather than a Libyan?

If so why?

Edited by Stirlingsays (04 Jun 2015 11.58am)


But why does nationality come in to it? There are British citizens who go out to fight for ISIS, do I feel sympathy when they die, or am I only meant to be feeling pity for those British people who have those wonderful British values which no one seems to be able to identify objectively?

We sympathise with British deaths more than Libyan/Chinese deaths because we regard them as culturally similar to us. We therefore see their deaths as more tragic because we regard ourselves as culturally superior to people from other parts of the world.


No - I'd say because it is easier to empathise with them.
In the example of ISIS - if one of those fighters is killed, it's deemed more newsworthy than if it's an ISIS fighter from, say, Turkey.

Are you saying we empathise with British ISIS fighters? Then how come we don't let them back in to the country, even when they have realised that they're fighting for a bunch of c*nts?


Yes, absolutely.
Note: empathise, NOT sympathise.

A story of a bloke from Hackney travelling to Syria is worthy of news because we can understand the person - went to the same sort of school, had the same sort of upbringing, how the f**k did he end up making that crazy decision?

We don't let them back into the country because they are murderous scumbags - doesn't mean they cease to be interesting to us.

 

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View Stirlingsays's Profile Stirlingsays Online Flag 04 Jun 15 12.17pm Send a Private Message to Stirlingsays Holmesdale Online Elite Member Add Stirlingsays as a friend

Quote serial thriller at 04 Jun 2015 12.04pm

But why does nationality come in to it? There are British citizens who go out to fight for ISIS, do I feel sympathy when they die, or am I only meant to be feeling pity for those British people who have those wonderful British values which no one seems to be able to identify objectively?

We sympathise with British deaths more than Libyan/Chinese deaths because we regard them as culturally similar to us. We therefore see their deaths as more tragic because we regard ourselves as culturally superior to people from other parts of the world.


Correct.....though I wouldn't use the word 'superior' because it suggests that we ourselves have some input into the situation....whereas we are just lucky to have been born into a society that generally provides us with more opportunities and advantages than many others....Definitely not all countries though some other cultures have certain advantages over us as well....The Nordic ones for example.

Edited by Stirlingsays (04 Jun 2015 12.18pm)

 


'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

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View Johnny Eagles's Profile Johnny Eagles Flag berlin 04 Jun 15 12.28pm Send a Private Message to Johnny Eagles Add Johnny Eagles as a friend

You seem determined to oversimplify the world.

Quote serial thriller at 03 Jun 2015 10.40pm

Were Chinese workers paid a living wage, our iPhones would triple in price,

Or Apple would make a smaller margin.
Or they'd be made somewhere cheaper.
Or they'd find cheaper components.
Or any number of other possible outcomes.


Quote serial thriller at 03 Jun 2015 10.40pm

while our bombing of Libya has resulted in the falling of the price of oil.

Or is that more because of the shale revolution in the US?
Or because Saudi Arabia wants to maintain its market share by maintaining high levels of production?
Or because demand has gone down because of economic slowdown in China?
Or any number of other possible reasons.

Quote serial thriller at 03 Jun 2015 10.40pm

from a typical Briton's perspective, the result of Syrian or Chinese deaths is a more comfortable life for us.

Agreed. But why is this necessarily racism? There are many other factors. History, culture, human nature.


Quote serial thriller at 03 Jun 2015 10.40pm

So where does race fit in? When I say race is the justification for our tolerating these issues I mean this: Evidently we as a society tolerate circumstances abroad which involve intolerable oppression, violence and humiliation, because if we didn't tolerate them they wouldn't be occurring. We as a society have the collective economic and political power to reject these realities.

But to tolerate something we must have a justification for doing so, and that's where racism, I believe, plays a part. In terms of the Middle East, the national perception of Muslims as being radical zealots immediately opposes them to our perception of white westerners as being more rational, less superstitious and therefore more worthy of life. The example of the Chinese workers is a more insidious, implicit example of how we as a society denigrates the oriental as being culturally inferior to the west. Edward Said has done a lot of really interesting work on it, but all I'd say is this: were there slaves working in this country, or France, or even Poland, would our reaction to them be as ambivalent as it is towards Chinese workers? Clearly not.

I can’t DISAGREE with any of this exactly. It’s just that it broadens “racism” to include pretty much every problem the world has which is remotely related to differences between people.

The fact that we have different cultures and histories and are born in different parts of the world isn't "racism". It’s not “racist” to care less about a person in a Chinese factory. It’s not because they’re Chinese, but because they’re very far away and because we’re all occupied with our day to day lives. That doesn’t make us “racist.”

Sorry about the multiple quotes but it would have turned into an essay otherwise.

 


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jamiemartin721 Flag Reading 04 Jun 15 12.52pm

Quote serial thriller at 04 Jun 2015 12.04pm

Quote Stirlingsays at 04 Jun 2015 11.57am

Quote serial thriller at 04 Jun 2015 11.53am

But why should nationality even play a role in tragedy? Is it sadder if a British stranger dies than a Libyan one?


Of course it is.

Ok, lets test your logic. Is it sadder to you if your mother or father or child dies rather than a Libyan?

If so why?

Edited by Stirlingsays (04 Jun 2015 11.58am)


But why does nationality come in to it? There are British citizens who go out to fight for ISIS, do I feel sympathy when they die, or am I only meant to be feeling pity for those British people who have those wonderful British values which no one seems to be able to identify objectively?

No but you also probably feel a greater anger.

Its generally because we 'share' something with those people and that in turn makes the event more relevant to us and our attention. This occurs apriori, as we look at the world in relation to ourselves and our experiences, and so pay attention when factors we relate to ourselves are present in stories. Its how we understand the world and our place in it, is through relationships in the external world and our internal being.

Its a maladaptation (a beneficial evolutionary trait that has begun to outlive its benefit, but still remains present in a species because its not detrimental).

Value doesn't really come into it. These events are more real, because they're more relevant.


 


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View madcap_v2's Profile madcap_v2 Flag SE25 / Ibiza 04 Jun 15 1.27pm Send a Private Message to madcap_v2 Add madcap_v2 as a friend

Quote Stuk at 03 Jun 2015 1.13pm

No, it's not.

A saw a story earlier with some black men (including someone from The Voice that i've never watched, but that somehow lends credibility to the assumption) complaining about being refused entry to nightclubs because, in their opinion, of their skin colour.

I must've looked black a few times when I was younger if that's the case...


I've worked as a nightclub promoter in the West End, this actually happens.

 


La la la your mum

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View dannyh's Profile dannyh Flag wherever I lay my hat....... 04 Jun 15 1.32pm Send a Private Message to dannyh Add dannyh as a friend

I dont think it's soley because of skin colour Mad old buddy, more a case of if you've come to a club looking like a memeber of the Crips, then chances are you will get "jog on sunshine".

Its hard not to stereo type people when they constantly play up to that stereo type, and indeed in some cases try to emmulate the Gangsta look, and then are totally gobsmacked/surprised/outraged when they get pulled over/refused entry.

I know all about dont read a book by its cover, but when so very many books have the same content as covers it's hard not to assume they are all the same.

Edited by dannyh (04 Jun 2015 1.33pm)

 


"It's not the bullet that's got my name on it that concerns me; it's all them other ones flyin' around marked 'To Whom It May Concern.'"

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suicideatselhurst Flag crawley 04 Jun 15 1.37pm

Quote madcap_v2 at 04 Jun 2015 1.27pm

Quote Stuk at 03 Jun 2015 1.13pm

No, it's not.

A saw a story earlier with some black men (including someone from The Voice that i've never watched, but that somehow lends credibility to the assumption) complaining about being refused entry to nightclubs because, in their opinion, of their skin colour.

I must've looked black a few times when I was younger if that's the case...


I've worked as a nightclub promoter in the West End, this actually happens.


having worked the doors in a few clubs, your damm right it happens, espcially when their pissed up, w***ered on drugs or looking for a fight, black or white, however if your black its easy to throw the race card in your face

 


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