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Am I a racist ?

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Butts

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I have lived in Scotland , Wales and England at various points during my life.

Have just watched the program on Channel Four about Bradford and the endemic race problems it seems to have.

Prior to moving up to Falkirk I lived in The West Midlands which had a heavy concentration of ethnic minorities.

Falkirk by contrast is almost "pure white" as is Alloa where I attend College. Going into Edinburgh or Glasgow is obviously different. Even Stirling has very few non caucasians.

I prefer living in an almost exclusively white area - does that make me a rascist :oops:
 
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SS4

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Not in my opinion, especially if it's due to factors other than race. Too many people like to play the race card for anything they don't like these days IMO
 

Butts

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It depends on the reasons why you prefer to live there.

Well I have lived in both mixed and exclusively white areas, and I prefer to live in the latter.

I do not live in a "posh" area by any means, indeed the dogs have crash helmets and there are rear gunners on the milkfloats.:lol:

I just feel more comfortable walking around an exclusively white area , and I am trying to figure out why.
 

Eagle

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I just feel more comfortable walking around an exclusively white area , and I am trying to figure out why.

Flip the question. Why do you feel less comfortable in an area with more black and Asian people? Do the people specifically make you uncomfortable?
 

Butts

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No...

Being comfortable round the enviroment you grew up in isn't racist...

[youtube]iheZM6VBJfE[/youtube]

Well I spent most of my childhood Eastleigh and went to school in Chandlers Ford. There was one non-white pupil in the whole school.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Flip the question. Why do you feel less comfortable in an area with more black and Asian people? Do the people specifically make you uncomfortable?

I spent nearly twenty years in The West Midlands - Dudley and surrounding areas. I don't feel any particular animosity to a mixed area, but given the choice prefer to live in an all white one. I can't explain why as I have nothing against individuals from different races. :p
 

scotsman

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Is it nothing to do with the area you're currently in being much better than Dudley etc. - a bit of a craphole?

Given the choice of your former home in the West Midlands and your current home, but with the ethnic mixes swapped, where would you rather live?
 

AlterEgo

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People misunderstand the term "racist":


n.
1. The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.
2. Discrimination or prejudice based on race.


Racism has utterly lost it's meaning in today's world. Racism is actually quite rare - but xenophobia is rife.
 

Butts

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Is it nothing to do with the area you're currently in being much better than Dudley etc. - a bit of a craphole?

Given the choice of your former home in the West Midlands and your current home, but with the ethnic mixes swapped, where would you rather live?

A good question - I would almost certainly prefer to live in Scotland whatever the racial mix.

Eventually I hope to get up to Thurso or the Hebrides.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
not necessarily, but you could learn to spell, it's racist

Sorry :oops:
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
People misunderstand the term "racist":


n.
1. The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.
2. Discrimination or prejudice based on race.


Racism has utterly lost it's meaning in today's world. Racism is actually quite rare - but xenophobia is rife.

Perhaps I am a xenophobe then ?
 

chris89

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Its not that bad, I got married there/

Don't forget The zoo, Black Country Museum and Merry Hill Centre :p

Agree Dudley ain't that bad. But considering been in the Midlands for 8 years now never been to the Black Country Museum though, and been many years since been to Merry Hill.

But to me you are not at all racist though.

And haha 185 :P My brother has Red hair and i have ginger highlights in mine :D

Chris
 

Badger

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I think, yes, you may be a xenophobe, and I do think that is a bad thing, sorry. If you have to ask you probably are to some extent. I don't mean you're a bad person, not at all, but it is a bad "thing".

If the ethnicities of the areas were swapped would you still feel the same? I.e. if the West Midlands was "entirely white" and if Alloa was "not entirely white" would your choice still be the same?

Personally, and I know it sounds egotistical, I never tend to notice these things. I mean, maybe it's where I was brought up as a kid, but I grew up with friends who (I later "realised") were white, black, Indian, asylum seekers from Kosovo - and it wasn't until I went to High School and other people started bringing things up that I stood back and thought "oh, x friend, they were Indian?" or "oh, Will Smith, he's Black, should have noticed that haha..."

Maybe I was a weird kid :s

Noticing people are different isn't a bad thing. But:

- basing any decisions on it is being racist
- being afraid because of it is xenophobia
- these are bad things
- they don't make a person a bad person

My sister is currently dating a... a... oh my god, I don't even know. He's Indian, I think? I've never stopped to ask him. It's never been an issue. All I do know is his parents really aren't happy that he is dating a white person, so much so that he isn't allowed to sleep over even after a few years.

----

On the Dudley issue, it really isn't a bad area with respect to other areas. Compared to Birmingham for example, it has so much green space right next to the town centre, so many beautiful views, etc. I mean it's but a few miles and you're in Baggeridge Country Park, or Himley hall and woods, or even the Zoo, and yet you still have the convenience of a [future city] centre.
 

SS4

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Noticing people are different isn't a bad thing. But:

- basing any decisions on it is being racist
- being afraid because of it is xenophobia
- these are bad things
- they don't make a person a bad person

It only applies to negative decisions though.
 

Badger

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No, I think it applies to everything. Giving a certain race priorities over others due to past hardships for example is still racism.
 

SS4

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No, I think it applies to everything. Giving a certain race priorities over others due to past hardships for example is still racism.

I concur, the hypocrisy of "positive discrimination" is incredible yet it's deemed acceptable <(
 

Badger

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I posted this a while back on another forum but I think it's fitting to this discussion:

I remember sitting in assembley once at school. The teacher read out a list of names and asked them all to stay behind when everyone else left. There were murmors in the crowd, and as we went through the door it suddenly dawned on us that only and entirely black people were still seated. It was horrible, the way they said it was like they were being held behind for detention or something like that.

We found out afterwards it was for black history month, and that they were taking part in activities, watching films, making posters etc, to celebrate the month.

Non-black people were not allowed to take part.

It was the worst, most degrading, most horrible act of reverse raccism I've ever witnessed. It made the black people feel like they'd done something wrong and it made the "non-black people" feel like we were being singled out as different too, and not allowed to take part in the month. Why shouldn't we also have been given the opportunity to watch Roots and learn about MLK and Malcolm X and all that at such an age?

As such I have a bad opinion of the month.

The whole thing wreaks of raccism even if it's with "good intentions".

You see, if we want to celebrate black history, we should do so by including it in history lessons as if there were no black or "non-black". That's the way to get rid of the segregation, not by furthering it by seperating black history from non-black history. It's disgusting.

(In before "lol there's no black people in Britain". Out of say 160 people in the assembley probably 20-30 stayed behind.)

Although I wouldn't read any more of that thread. It's full of "ironic racism" which really isn't amusing. It's generally assumed nobody's serious about any of it, but from an outsider it probably looks awful.
 
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eastwestdivide

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Maybe it's not a simple yes/no thing (was going to say not a black-and-white question but maybe not the place for it), but a sliding scale all the way from "vaguely uncomfortable with the unfamiliar" to "out-and-out prejudice that all ___* are terrorists/dishonest/dirty/smelly** etc."
* insert chosen group of people "not like me"
**delete as appropriate
 

Oswyntail

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....
Noticing people are different isn't a bad thing. But:

- basing any decisions on it is being racist
- being afraid because of it is xenophobia
- these are bad things
- they don't make a person a bad person....
I agree. But what if those people are of the same culture and race as yourself. I am white British - I notice that some of the (White, British) people who live round here (particularly Keighley ;)) have a different attitude to a lot of things I hold dear: civic and personal responsibility; anti-violence; their interpretation of "British" culture. In short, they are "chavs". When I see "chavs" about, I decide to steer clear of them, and even do not give traders in Keighley my custom because of my feelings about the neighbourhood. I confess I am afraid of them.
I have good reasons to steer clear of them, that are nothing to do with race. If I have the same feelings towards others of a different race who exhibit the same behaviours that I dislike in this bunch, does that make me a racist?
 

Badger

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It depends how you decide they are a chav.

I usually call (in my head) someone a chav if they're specifically doing something antagonistic in the first place (it's common sense to be scared of someone being aggressive or antisocial on a bus, for example).
 

WestCoast

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It depends how you decide they are a chav.

I usually call (in my head) someone a chav if they're specifically doing something antagonistic in the first place (it's common sense to be scared of someone being aggressive or antisocial on a bus, for example).

It my opinion; 'Chav' covers many stereotypes, varying from "celebrities" (cough) like Katie Price to kids hanging outside a shop smoking.
 

scotsman

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To return to the OP's original question, given that you would prefer to live in Scotland regardless of the racial mix, I doubt it. The fact that you are conscientious enough to ask if you are also not of that mindset. If you worry that you are racist, then odds are that you aren't.
 
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