Anyone like to reconsider what they posted about the train attack on Saturday night?

I once saw MN described as the para military wing of the Daily Mail, it certainly lives up to that on some of the threads about news items. I go on the Mail website at times to see how the wind is blowing over there and because I don't like staying in my own bubble but my god, some of the sutff on there is horrific. They are currently in a lather about someone on Loose Women choosing not to wear a poppy, they are all but calling for her her to be publicly executed. Strange when they also get so wound up about free speech

This amused me. Muslim sounding name.

You are using a mass stereotype of the sort that would gather screams of racism if used in any other way. This is looking like a one way street.

What on earth ‘nuance’ would make supporting 9/11, the worst terrorist track the world has ever seen acceptable to you? 9/11 was an attack on the West which includes the UK.

67 British citizens were killed in 9/11. Your mental gymnastics to try and justify people who clearly hate the West and our culture is impressive.

Yes. These girls and their families have literally been to hell and back and are still being failed by those supposed to protect them. They have been silenced by people calling them racist for literally reporting what happened to them and PP is worried that describing these female children as little girls is unnecessarily inflammatory!

This mind blowing claim has been bothering me all morning. What has happened to the humanity of people?

I request that anyone with an opinion on the ‘inflammatory’ nature of calling a female child age 10+ a little girl should read some of the survivor accounts from these girls and then come back to us and consider how they have contributed to the atmosphere that allowed those crimes to happen.

And already the mental gymnastics have been started by those whose brains have been scrambled by this news. 😂

I was posting on some parts of those threads on Saturday and yes some of the posters were being racist in their assumptions.

But others were not racist but yet were accused of it.

At least one poster on here thinks it is racist to connect terrorism with the muslim faith at all. This is spite of the fact that the majority of terrorism on UK soil since 2000 was carried out by Islamist extremists.

One of the students on my course at university was killed on 7/7 my mind will automatically assume that it is terrorism when 2 people are reported to have been involved in attacks on public transport. I don't think that that either amounts to unreasonable bias or racism.

The problem on these threads is that if you call everyone racist even for reasonable thought processes, (and to be clear I am not accusing you of this directly), then you dilute the meaning of the term.

Posters assuming that it was a terrorist attack before any facts were confirmed does not justify the hate filled posts on MN over the weekend.

People do tend to assume “terror attack” because of past events. But that pattern of assumption is exactly part of the problem, as it shows how easily we’ve normalised linking violence to certain groups before facts are known. Recognising that bias and challenging it is reasonable.

The posts over the weekend were so depressing and so disturbing in showing how people think that I couldn’t read the full threads. And I will challenge them.

And I do find it funny that racists and those who hate Muslims have conveniently gone quiet and the threads on Huntington died down once more information was shared, showing that they had no real concern about the victims but rather tried to manipulate an event to further their narrative. They must be fuming that the train worker is not a white “native” Englishman but actually a Muslim and potentially one not even born here.

It’s not about who actually did it, or that they could have been any race or religion. The problem with the threads on the night was that people were jumping to the conclusion that the perpetrators had to be ‘boat people’ and saying that we need to crack down on small boat crossings etc. This was based on nothing but the first scraps of information.

But why?

When I was a child growing up if there was a terrorist attack it was assumed to be the IRA.

Most terrorist attacks on UK soil since 2000 have been carried out by Islamic extremists.

Recognising that is not the same as thinking that all Muslims are terrorists or that white people or non muslim people are not capable of carrying out evil acts or that Muslims can't be good/ heros.

mbosnz
"It could just as likely have been carried out by a far right perpetrator, likely a non-Muslim"

It could have been - but it wasn't.

Now that made me laugh out loud. How frustrating that must be for them!

To assume that the feared terrorist attack was therefore likely to have been carried out by a Muslim, would be racist.

It could just as likely have been carried out by a far right perpetrator, likely a non-Muslim.

The racists are likely to be very annoyed that the hero rail worker who was left fighting for his life after trying to protect passengers has a very Muslim sounding name.
https://news.sky.com/story/train-company-lner-extremely-proud-of-rail-worker-in-critical-condition-after-mass-stabbing-as-family-call-him-hero-13463705

You seem to be thinking in very binary terms.

This man is a hero.

That doesn't mean that people were racist for assuming from the news coming out on Saturday that this could be a terrorist attack.

Some people may well have a racist agenda but many people on those threads on Saturday were not being racist, just making an assumption that a random attack on a transport system, seemingly by two people (that later turned out to be wrong), was a terrorist attack.

Based on the fact that many terrorist attacks have occurred on transport systems or to pedestrians going about their business, that assumption is neither unreasonable or racist.

If the reports had been "a 6ft ginger man" and there had been 2 men matching that description would you have rather they quickly apprehended both and worked out who was responsible after, or that they let one leave and then have to hope they can trace him down after when they realise he was the perpetrator?
The man who was tasered was shouting "kill me" repeatedly, so presumably he was the perpetrator. The other man arrested wasn't tasered.

I agree.

I actually meant I read valid points but no one appears to be listening to each other.

Those damn Muslims, always trying to harm and kills us!

Yet the train worker who tried to save others and was left fighting for his life has a Muslim sounding name.

The racists and Muslim haters must be losing their minds. Not only was the attacker not a Muslim immigrant, it was a Muslim who risked himself to save other passengers.

It was more than 20 years ago. I can't remember exact words.

She told me her brothers were prepared to fight. She told me how they felt about British/ Western culture.

She did not specifically say they hated the UK but they clearly hated aspects of British culture and felt Jihad is an appropriate response. Given the fact that we've had British born terrorists commit acts in the UK it is clear that SOME people feel this way.

This ought to be able to be discussed. It's not all Muslims, it's not all immigrants. It is not racist to want to understand why some people feel this way.

While I think supporting the terrorists who committed 9/11 is abhorrent (although I would be interested to here the nuance in what she said) is not indicative of hating the UK.

How do you know the UK “took in” his parents?

Why do you assume his parents were asylum seekers or why do you even assume his parents are from elsewhere?

What does the fact his parents / grandparents / great-grandparents may have been born overseas have to do with an ill man carrying out a brutal attack. How are those unrelated facts linked in your mind?

It’s not shouting racism it’s just accurately classifying your post as racism.

These people are born and raised in Britain. They are a product of Britain not a random foreign country. (assuming Williams was born here.)

HARD agree!

As we saw with this attack - people could not wait to reach for racism. It’s not just “illegal immigrants” they take issue with or “Islamists”.

It’s anybody non-white. And being three / four generations deep in the UK won’t change how they see you / us.

Exactly.
It's ridiculous.

Don’t forget all the cocaine at Wembley because only football is played at Wembley
oh wait …..

Yes, I couldn’t believe the desperation to lay the blame on football fans! I have been going to matches for 40 years and back in the day there were a few violent clashes (but between those keen to participate mostly) but supporters indiscriminately stabbing members of the public? Yeah, right.