The Political Thread

[Professor Bear]

Enlightened beings that we are here in NI, we eschew such backwards thinking as "ignoring" racists and instead prefer to elect them to public office.  Here's some choice electioneering from the newest member of Belfast City Council:





Because racist bigots are a section of the community, too.  We have to be inclusive.

[Richmond Clements]

Just watching that moron of a Pastor on the Nolan Show... bloody hell...

[JayzusB.Christ]

Funnily enough, I was just about to post something about racism.  I've been absolutely shocked to discover recently just how many otherwise nice people don't like black people.
I have a very lovely friend from China. She doesn't like blacks, though; nor do the majority of Asian people with whom I have discussed the matter of race.
My housemate from Poland hates black people.  She is unwavering in this.  My friend's Polish girlfriend sees them as 'dirty'.  I have another Polish friend - a lesbian who came here largely to escape the intolerance of her own people - who I found out yesterday doesn't like black people.  (Apart from black children, who according to her are cute because they're 'like little monkeys').
I've also heard a Spanish secondary school teacher compare black children to monkeys.
One of my Russian students told me that most Russians don't like Obama, partly because he's American but also because he's black.
None of this is to let Irish people off the hook, mind you.  Yesterday I saw a huge gang of youths throwing chips at an (I think) Indian couple, and shouting 'gyppo' at a Romanian.  (I'd like to have been a hero, but seven large teenagers are too many for me).  I've seen a van driver shout 'nigger' out the window at a black person in Dublin.  These are just a few of many, many racist incidents I've heard of happening here.
I'm beginning to think most people in the world are racist, Grud help us all. No wonder UKIP did so well.

[Spikes]

....because he's American...

No he's not! He's Kenyan, and a Muslim, to boot.
Why wont he show us all his birth certificate, eh?   


But we are definitely living in strange times. And UKIP's recent success is the cherry on the top.
Racists are now be free to be racists, it seems.

[The Legendary Shark]

We all have our irrational dislikes. Personally, I hate white trillionaires and think they should all be put into concentration camps. Mind you, I don't actually know any white trillionaires so I guess some of them might be very similar to decent human beings - but I doubt it.
.
I think it's fine to hate anyone you like so long as you don't actually harm them and are prepared to put up with them hating you back for no good reason.
.
The late Bernard Manning, wrongfully demonized in my view, had the right idea about racism - his jokes (especially in his later years) pointed out how stupid a thing it is but the media chose only to look to the surface of his act.  He used to open with, "before we start, can we have a big round of applause for two young lads who've been fighting in Afghanistan, over here at the back (...rapturous, jingoistic applause...) ...their names are Hamed and Faizal and they've been putting their lives on the line for the Taliban for months..."
.
Racist? Sure - but from what direction?

[paddykafka]

Yesterday I saw a huge gang of youths throwing chips at an (I think) Indian couple, and shouting 'gyppo' at a Romanian.  (I'd like to have been a hero, but seven large teenagers are too many for me). 

Aye, 'tis a pity Slaine wasn't with you at the time. He wouldn't have thought them too many, lol. 

Of the list of things that annoy me the most - and being a cranky, middle-aged git, that's a long list ! - racist behaviour is up there at the top of it. That said, as a believer in free speech, I think that if people want to hold or express bigoted opinions - however stupid or wrong I might personally think them to be - then they should have the right to do so: the proviso being, that they do not use those beliefs to incite hatred or commit criminal acts against whatever ethnic group or nationality they have a problem with. I also think that holding up the "You're-a-racist" card anytime someone expresses misgivings about, or opposition to immigrants is counterproductive. By stifling debate on the subject in such a manner, you are only adding to the suspicions of people who might simply hold genuine concerns - to them - about what is happening within their communities. But of equal importance, you are also letting the out-and-out racists off the hook when it comes to trying to justify their frankly ludicrous world-view.

There is, of course, a fine line to be drawn within society between following Voltaire's ideas, while at the same time respecting and protecting the rights of other people to exist, regardless of where they are from. Alas, human nature being what it is, achieving that balance is something that has so far eluded us and, I suspect, will continue to do so.

[JayzusB.Christ]

We all have our irrational dislikes. Personally, I hate white trillionaires and think they should all be put into concentration camps...
The late Bernard Manning, wrongfully demonized in my view, had the right idea about racism

Disagree on both counts.  I don't hate rich people automatically - Ghandi was minted, for example; he just chose to direct his money towards a cause he believed in rather than buy things.  I know he wasn't white, but I'm just saying I don't think people with money are automatically bad - they just know how to make money.  Sure, the world would be a better place without money, but as (I think) Abraham Lincoln said, 'you can't help the poor by being one of them'.

And Bernard Manning was racist.  He had to tone it down a bit when the times caught up with him, but shouting the n-word and sneering at the people in question is racist in my book.

[M.I.K.]

And some people with money aren't good at making money, they're just born into it, which means it's not even their fault. Nobody should be judged by what they are, only what they do.

Talking of which,  I can remember watching that awkward, cringey Bernard Manning interview on the Mrs. Merton Show when he said he wouldn't give black people a lift in his car. He didn't appear to be kidding.

[The Legendary Shark]

"Rich white trillionaires to concentration camps" was irony to demonstrate the foolishness of hating people you've never met.
.
I was serious about Bernard Manning, though. Having seen him live at the Embassy club when I was a coach driver I can appreciate that his racist jokes actually poked fun at racism instead of glorifying it. I wouldn't base my opinions about him on The Mrs Merton Show, which was basically Caroline Ahern playing an old lady in front of a partisan audience with the express purpose of making her "guests" look like idiots. There was a programme about Bernard shown (on C4, I think) shortly after his death that's worth watching, which puts his views across quite well. Laughing at something is a good way to disempower it - and can you think of anything that needs disempowering more than racism?
.
An unpopular view, perhaps, but I don't choose my views on how I think other people will react to them.

[Dandontdare]

I agree with The Shark - I wouldn't call Manning a campaigner for multiculturalism, but I don't think he deserves his reputation.

My favourite "subvert the racist joke formula" gag:
Paddy goes for a job on a building site, and the foreman asks him "Do you know the difference between a girder and a joist?"
"To be sure" answers Paddy, "Goethe wrote Faust and Joyce wrote Ulysses"

[johnnystress]

"Girder" rhymes with "Goethe"?  Not in any Irish accent I know

Watching the various videos of Northern Irish racist eejits today..stunning stuff

"Go back to Britain" coming form a shouting Loyalist  was pretty good

[ZenArcade]

Going through the local papers...boy do we do being backward, intolerant f**ks well. Although to be fair only about 50% of NI voters go in for enfranchising the real divisive scum. Enough to make a man proud!

[Eric Plumrose]

I was serious about Bernard Manning, though. Having seen him live at the Embassy club when I was a coach driver I can appreciate that his racist jokes actually poked fun at racism instead of glorifying it.

Be as that maybe true, Shark, d'you think it's something the majority of Manning fans would have recognized and appreciated?

[Jim_Campbell]

Be as that maybe true, Shark, d'you think it's something the majority of Manning fans would have recognized and appreciated?

I've seen several interviews with Manning that do nothing to give the impression his intent was to undermine or deflate racism and any attempt to suggest otherwise seems either delusional or disingenuous to me.

Jim

[johnnystress]

Jim Davidson said more or less the same thing. I don't believe him.