Farage’s racism

[CuriousKangaroo]

I haven’t yet seen a post about this story: Twenty people allege he has a racist past. He denies it. Who’s telling the truth about Farage’s schooldays? | Nigel Farage | The Guardian

Farage no longer categorically denies these incidents, and is now trying to fudge things by saying he didn’t mean any harm and it was a long time ago - presumably because he knows it is true and realises that 20 separate people saying it means only the truly deluded wouldn’t believe he was a racist.

But what I am interested in is does this actually assist his election chances? We already know that many of his supporters are racists - does it actually work for him that this blatant racism from him shores up their support? Are they secretly (or perhaps not so secretly in some cases) pleased?

And what do those of you who are Reform supporters but believe yourself not be racist think? Does it make you change your mind about him or Reform?

I don't know why people think only old people are racist. Young people are too, and they have better access to vile social media and fake news.

When the Air India flight went down, I was amazed at the number of people on social media with anon accounts who seemed to think it was funny to make jokes about curries, or say that the sole survivor was a terrorist, or say things like " Great, fewer of them now". It was a reminder that it now seems ok for people of all ages to laugh at children dying terribly.

Fewer and fewer people identifying as Christian’s every year.

No the trend has shifted. Gen Z are more like the silent generation.

What are you on about? Are you one of Musk's Twitter bots? 😂

Would I tell Jews or Hindus they can't have what? We have a strong, functioning court system in this country which is nothing to do with Christianity, beyond being a nominally Christian nation (but actually incredibly secular in reality).

Yes of course he still believes what he said, what makes you think otherwise?

Yet the supreme Court judgement hasn't been implemented, it's not much of a post Christian state if you have a media and government that are too scared of biological facts.

Are you still oblivious to what the thread is about ?

Tragically, @CuriousKangarooI think you have your answer. The number of people dismissing it because he was young, because of what they think about The Guardian, or any other reason is devastating to me. I knew racist jokes were racist in the 70s as well.
I hope the media keeps up the pressure on Farage. It’s about time he was called out.
i am sorry you and your family are experiencing this now.

Yes, sadly I think you are correct. And thank you for your kind words.

I wouldn't take it personally OP, the world has changed and people have been over loaded with demands on their empathy. The direction of travel is away from sensibility and towards sense.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5448540-to-think-that-contestants-should-be-banned-from-telling-us-their-sob-stories-on-game-shows?page=8&reply=148755337

This is not the same bloody thing as racism.

I’m nearly 70. Yes there was racism in the 60’s when I was a child but by the time I was a teenage it was dying out I moved to another less diverse city in the mid 90s and was shocked at some of the attitudes displayed but as that city has become more diverse thing had improved. I worry we are going back to a mythical past - racism is always wrong and Reform just stir up hated and division. They have no place in the 21st century and should not be let anywhere near government

Singing 'gas 'em all' to Jews would have had my somewhat less than PC Dad who trained as a fighter pilot and was ready to ship out when the war got called off lining up to give the obnoxious arrogant little teenaged shit of a bully to give him an absolute thrashing that he would never forget. And I would have held his coat. Don't tell me 'it's an age thing'. That was, if anything, even less forgivable and acceptable then.

There is racism, and there is unmitigated evil. This is both. If you in any way, shape or form, seek to excuse or condone this, in a person of ANY age, I wonder just how far down those paths you are slipping.

I can understand why some don't want to return to the pre WW2 UK Christian past.

There was space, young people don't realise that you don't have to live like sardines and how there was trust, it was lovely.

Jane Austin captured in Sense and sensibly a madness that occurred at a time the over emotional period and how it was replaced with common sense and I guess some are not happy about a return to that time either.

Most people did not. Some did but don't tar the entire demographic with that particular shit stick.

This scene is so what the English are, it's their character of the stiff upper lip finally breaking and it's rare, not sob story after sob story.

The racists will be even more emboldened when Reform is in government, which is now an almost certainty.

I can understand why some don't want to return to the pre WW2 UK Christian past.
There was space, young people don't realise that you don't have to live like sardines and how there was trust, it was lovely.

I'm very impressed at your grasp of tech @FluffAndBrush considering that you'd have to be at least 100 to remember the pre WW2 period so clearly.

Not that it was at all lovely for huge numbers of people of course, what with unemployment, hunger marches, the General Strike, etc.

ETA Entirely certain you weren't around when Jane Austen was, though.

You think reliving past racism and bigotry are sob stories there is generations of people who live in the uk who have lived through cycle upon cycle of abuse and you eqate it to sobstories! My god !

What a sad and simplistic way to live.

one man does not equal the whole party

I think Farage represents the Reform party perfectly.

Let me guess you’re white? You have never experienced racism so you have absolutely zero idea what it feels like to be on the receiving end of it. I can see you’ve not changed much if you’re just so blithely labelling it as “woke” and saying people are “obsessed” with racism. If you were the victim of constant abuse and violence, had opportunities taken away, were constantly made to feel unwelcome in your own country (and yes, it is MY country as much as it is anyone else’s) then you’d soon be “obsessed” and “woke” too.

Did you do and say this?
“It was habitual, you know, it happened all the time. He would often be doing Nazi salutes and saying ‘Sieg heil’ and, you know, strutting around the classroom.... He was saying really, really unpleasant things, really things that you just knew were wrong. You can’t really defend it as being a joke, or that he was too young to know any better. We were 18.”

My gran and grandad FOUGHT the fucking Nazis. They weren't going around in the sixties, seventies - or ever for that matter - doing Zeig Heils and saying Hitler was right. They were never racists.

I spent my teenage years living on an estate in North West London hat was filled with people who were openly racist and fully paid up members of the National Front and British Movement, swastika tats too. They also used to Zeig Heil and tell people (including me and my family because we were Scottish) to go back home. It is fucking horrendous that people feel more emboldened to be openly racist and Farage has a lot to do with why that's happened. Odious, grifting creep.

I don't think there will be any impact. The racism is already priced in.

Those who support Farage won't give a toss about the allegations. Those who care about racism enough for it to make a difference to their vote would never have considered supporting him anyway.

It's a non-story.

😆 haha well then you know that I mean that I am not 30 and remember what life was like before some youngsters on this site. It was much better when it wasn't sob story after sob story and we had organic fun with music and fashion.

We laughed or didn't at jokes too, without someone telling off jokes being scared they will have laws created that may put their head on a spike, they just got nobody laughing unless they were the company CEO who got fake laughs at their dreadful jokes.