I think (?) that social media is a problem in its own right, as there be trolls. Trolls don't necessarily believe in what they say either. For them the 'pleasure' is in the reaction. I bet some of the racist comments weren't from racists but just from some idiots who like the headlines it creates. Their 15 minutes of fame.
Unless you're posting through some inhibitive set up, you (or at least where 'you' are) can be known on the web anyway irrespective of what name(s) you use online. In general people can be anonymous only to an extent.
It's true that people CAN be identified but they aren't. Their names are protected so that I am free to threaten my MP or abuse a footballer without fear of exposure. I agree @steveTu that racism takes complex and difficult forms but the sort of response we are talking about here is pretty straightforward. Incidentally, I am a retired teacher and educating away racism or any other prejudice is by no means easy.
Whew! Both my hubby and I have experienced "racism" at work,by different countries people. Him the Indian chaps,hating the black. Me,we had a very nasty Mauritiun Muslim,he hated others people of colour,black,etc,and white. Unfortunately,he was on charge,I attempted to complain about his bullying,was poo poo down. He was suspended several times,got solicitor involved,and guess what used the race card. He threatened a friend of mine,saying his brother in law was the chief of police in Mauritius,she was terrified,I told him my hubby was related to the "Cray's". Funnily enough,a couple of years later,my oldest son had a lovely girlfriend whose uncle was,yup, the chief of police in Mauritius!!
Yes. in my experience, seeing racism as a societal taboo and as a vile or at least undesirable personality trait is mostly limited to Western European cultures and the Americas. Outside of these regions (including much of Eastern Europe, but also the Middle East and Africa) I have found people often go unchallenged when expressing racist views. Over here on the other hand, the attention it gets when it rears its ugly head, and the subsequent torrent of outrage that follows, can give the impression that we live in a more racist society than others. We don't, we just happen to call it out and challenge it a lot more readily.
Totally - and I know I have a weird brain and views - but you have to look at all this in perspective. The world has shrunk in the past 100 years to an alarming degree. I bet my grandparents never saw a person who wasn't 'white' (ignoring my grandad's army service) until after the war.
Then you have an issue as to what I think people perceive as racism, isn't. The UK had a shortage of manpower, so encouraged immigration. Fine. But in the areas where the immigrants settled, the locals saw it more as an invasion. Their jobs, their homes, their 'culture' were at risk. They didn't 'dislike' the colour. They disliked the effect which could be expressed then in colour. Does that make sense? If the immigrants had been Greek or German (if that's where our empire had been) it would have been the same but against them. Is it 'ist' as 'ist' is accepted? I'm not so sure. It was the perceived effect that was being railed against.
As an aside, the issue didn't threaten the classes in the same way. The majority of immigrants were poor and searching for a better life, so settled where they were told in poor areas. It's fine to argue against this form of 'ism' when you are not threatened by it. (I live on the south coast and we did not have large scale immigration down here).The class boundaries created artificial walls that naturally protected certain parts of society from those perceived effects.
How do you educate people? I don't honestly know. I think drumming home the images in these maps (https://www.abroadintheyard.com/maps-britain-ireland-ancient-tribes-kingdoms-dna/) and getting kids to realise what we ALL are. A hotch-potch of DNA caused my millenia of migrations and interbreeding. DNA maps. Scotland for the Scottish? Look at those maps and tell me what that means - in which millenia, in which century? We are ALL coloured. Coloured is good. Inter-breeding is good, in-breeding is not. But does that stop isms? No. Not in my mind. Isms have been used from the beginning of time - as power = ism. And power likes control as that is what power is. Power will create isms.
PS from those maps I thought the difference between the Viking and Saxon invasions fascinating. But still, I bet back then that the Saxons were taking all the jobs and good farm land and were the nasty gits. They were white (weren't they?), but I bet isms existed around them. We all cheer for Boudicca, but was Wallace good or bad? Were they both just terrorists? All perspective and timing eh?
You make some very interesting points @steveTu. I'm not completely aligned with all your views but I think that the whole idea of racism really is a nonsense when you analyse it.
However, it is also complex enough (because mankind has made it so) to not have an easy answer. You can educate children but they still have the influence of their family and community when out of school (and after they've left education).
I'm largely in favour of doing something rather than nothing. However, I do object to being told that I'm part of the problem if I don't do anything at any given time. The counter argument being that, if everyone did as I did, there isn't a problem in the first place
You dont have to be black to suffer racial abuse,a certain country we lived in,we were often referred to as English B*****ds. At the moment my black grandaughter has been going through hell at school,and not all the abuse has come from white kids. The schools are useless and dont, or cant know how to deal with it. This is in a small market town in Dorset.
The whole truth is an instrument that can only be played by an expert.
So what about the time, not so long ago, when my daughter was walking with her stepdaughter to the local shops, that a man in a car yelled out of the window 'Get your f****n n****r brat out of my way!' ... or the time we were in a restaurant, my daughter and I sat down at a table and the family at the neighbouring table smiled in a friendly way ... until my son in law joined us ... this 'friendly' family made their protesting children leave their half eaten meal and left the restaurant, the man refusing to pay because he was '... not prepared to let my family eat with those people'.
Does that need education ... or does it need for the rest of the population to stop looking the other way?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
That's just awful @Dovefromabove .... you just wonder how people like that can justify their actions. A dreadful example to their children.
I worked in Toxteth during the time of the riots in Liverpool (now that was a humdinger of a night on call!). These issues are always complex ... no right or wrong, but I had huge sympathy for the young black lads who were angry at the hopelessness of no jobs and the heavy-handed policing. I also had huge sympathy for the policemen and women injured just trying to do their jobs. The response of the politicians was to plant some trees in Lime Street. I suppose someone got a job for a few weeks planting the trees.
One of my favourite footballers from my team, John Barnes, talks an awful lot of sense on this issue. He had some dreadful abuse as a player. He contends that there is racism throughout society ... not just in football.
@Dovefromabove is spot on ... we must call it out whenever we come across it.
Bee x
Gardener and beekeeper in beautiful Scottish Borders
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
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YES.
However, it is also complex enough (because mankind has made it so) to not have an easy answer. You can educate children but they still have the influence of their family and community when out of school (and after they've left education).
I'm largely in favour of doing something rather than nothing. However, I do object to being told that I'm part of the problem if I don't do anything at any given time. The counter argument being that, if everyone did as I did, there isn't a problem in the first place
At the moment my black grandaughter has been going through hell at school,and not all the abuse has come from white kids. The schools are useless and dont, or cant know how to deal with it. This is in a small market town in Dorset.
Does that need education ... or does it need for the rest of the population to stop looking the other way?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I worked in Toxteth during the time of the riots in Liverpool (now that was a humdinger of a night on call!).
These issues are always complex ... no right or wrong, but I had huge sympathy for the young black lads who were angry at the hopelessness of no jobs and the heavy-handed policing. I also had huge sympathy for the policemen and women injured just trying to do their jobs.
The response of the politicians was to plant some trees in Lime Street.
I suppose someone got a job for a few weeks planting the trees.
One of my favourite footballers from my team, John Barnes, talks an awful lot of sense on this issue. He had some dreadful abuse as a player. He contends that there is racism throughout society ... not just in football.
@Dovefromabove is spot on ... we must call it out whenever we come across it.
Bee x
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime