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AIBU?

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Original poster

To wonder how the hell this country got so racist and narrowminded?

277 replies

smokinaces · 30/11/2011 21:49

There is a photo of a letter going round on FB. Basically showing that Aslyum Seekers are getting their gas and electric paid for over Christmas. My god. The comments people are coming out with.

to quote a few:

"What about ones that come over here and get new cars mobile phones etc and we get fuck all. They wouldn't do the same for us if we was that poor and froze we would have our kids taken off us we wouldn't get help to heat our houses up."

"Yeah but a lot of the asylum seekers r terriosts half of them are working for wants his name"

"every tom dick or Harry are allowed into our country to first take all our jobs for half the pay us English need to be paid to pay for our gas electric and every other bill we get thrown at us, secondly to take our placements from our first choice schools cause they got homed near a school of our choice, homed for free!"

"there are english children in this country that dont even have a warm winter coat to wear coz their parents or parent cant a ford to buy one coz most of their benifits go on tryin to heat damp houses and feed them with at least one hot meal a day even if it is only beans on toast.....ive yet to see an under feed immagrint whether asylum seeeker or not and as for designer clothes that under privalaged english child only dream of owning but u see them on the backs of people that dont deserve them (imagrants asylum seekers)"

"im sick to death of working my tits off 6days aweek when im off sick or unable to work and ask for help all i got was £26 a week what a load of bullshit im english born and bred worked from the age off 17 and pay tax all my live and people walk in to this country and get free this free that f##king crap an 90% of bristish people think this to blood sucks, think of the people that fought for this country all them years ago BORN AND BRED"

Seriously?? How the fucking hell did we get to the point where this is what people think? Honestly?? I dont even know what to say to the last two - I tried arguing constructively earlier in the day, but cant even be bothered to waste my breath on the last two. They called me a "goody two shoes" and seem determined to blame everything on "immigrants".

I'm actually ashamed to live in the same town as some of these people.

AIBU to wonder where this country goes from here when this is what crap they spout? Is it the media's fault? or education?

(the worst bit? at least 1 of these people quoted are a 3rd generation European "immigrant" but thats different of course Hmm)

OP posts:
VirgoGrr · 01/12/2011 05:17

By suggesting that all immigrants and asylum seekers are 'wandering around unchecked', one would sound a bit of a fuckwit, yes.

I am married to an 'immigrant' and I am not keen on the general finger pointing and casual slander. And I have been called a race traitor to my face.

While your uneducated masses are frothing about brown people, they are missing the point that it's an altogether whiter class of people (Cameron, Osborne & mates) that are doing them out of their opportunities in life.

I love to point out that my own immigrant has paid massive overseas student fees into our education system, is currently contributing massive amounts in income tax and has gone back to his country of birth for private medical treatment instead of using the NHS. And before anyone starts on the 'dey turk ur jerbs' thing, his job in Britain can only be done by a native speaker of his 1st language. He has paid hundreds of pounds in visa fees and hundreds more to the Home Office for indefinite leave to remain. He will be paying another £800+ to apply for citizenship shortly. It's not cheap, naturalising.

You would think that if this issue was something you felt strongly about, you'd have a look at the census stats on ethnic background to get some actual facts and put this argument into context, but it appears that the Daily Wail is much more appealing reading.

CountessMonteCristo · 01/12/2011 05:18

you cant deport someone from their own country, that's absurd.

@ the OP i dnt knw if its become more racist or not. from my own experience there are many instances of subtle racism (sometimes overt) towards me on a daily basis especially on public transport.

CountessMonteCristo · 01/12/2011 05:28

X posted with VirgoGrr. ditto everything about the costs

my classmates here on student visa have to pay about 36000£ for a 2 yr degree. I have had people call me "fucking immigrant in our hospital" where my DH has been a doctor.

there are many unprejudiced people of course but there is no denying the racism which is prevalent

dancingmustard · 01/12/2011 05:28

You're wrong Virgo.

These are government statistics not daily mail statistics.

Get your facts right.

I'm so pleased that you're that single minded biased you're defending every person who's come over here either on a false visa or on the back of a truck.

Stop insulting the electorates intelligence with useless unfounded rhetoric and check those facts regarding the missing asylum seekers and immigrants in this country.

Left wingers are going to send us all to purgatory.

dancingmustard · 01/12/2011 05:32

The committee looked at what had happened to a backlog of approximately 450,000 unresolved asylum cases inside the UKBA.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15581877

That's not an insignificant number and the subject needs addressing even if it means upsetting people who don't want it discussed.

troisgarcons · 01/12/2011 05:41

Especially in areas of high unemployment where whites are outnumbered (and there are some ghetto-eque places) it is very easy to blame someone else for your own misfortune. This is why the BNP is gaining popularity. It plays on peoples fears. More than that, it plays on peoples ignorance. And we do have a whole section of society that is poorly educated.

Some people have difficultly distinguishing between asylum seekers, illegal immigrants and genuine immigrants.

VirgoGrr · 01/12/2011 05:43

I'd love to know exactly what I'm wrong about. I've merely pointed out that massively generalising about the number and legal status of every 'immigrant' to the UK is wrong and insulting to those who are here legally, obey the law, work when they are entitled to, pay tax and contribute to society. I can't see anything in my post that implies that I defend illegal entrants.

I notice that you don't have any comment to make on the points I've raised about my DH's contribution to to UK economy? He has quite a few friends here who do likewise.

With a statement like "left wingers are going to send us all to purgatory" , have you considered applying to the Mail as a headline writer? Wink

CountessMonteCristo · 01/12/2011 05:52

Thanks VirgoGrr and a round of applause

dancingmustard · 01/12/2011 05:54

If he's one of the 450,00 can you pop off and get him registered :)

HarlotOTara · 01/12/2011 05:56

Fascism always rears its head in times of recession/depression. When there is not enought to go around then generosity goes out of the window - look at the thirties/

VirgoGrr · 01/12/2011 05:57

With regard to the BBC article, quite frankly, I agree that that seems to reflect a significant failing on behalf of UKBA.

In an ideal world, we'd have a load more money and resource to throw at UKBA and the police to effectively sort out issues like that. Unfortunately, it's not an ideal world.

So what's the solution? Grumble about every person living in the UK who wasn't born here and view them all with suspicion because they 'are probably illegal'? Throw our hands in the air and wail that 'all foreigners should just be turned around at the airport in case they overstay'? Not really going to happen.

VirgoGrr · 01/12/2011 05:59

Marvellous.

Attention everyone, Dancingmustard has just stooped and declared that my husband is an absconded asylum seeker.

Charming.

CountessMonteCristo · 01/12/2011 06:04

this racist hatred is not only directed at immigrants but also at british people who are any colour other than white.

VirgoGrr · 01/12/2011 06:09

Thanks for the Thanks Countess. Think DancingMustard has gone for a lie-down. Probably about time.

I hope no-one reports that post, I'd like it to stay there for posterity as an excellent example of a frothing right winger not listening and then resorting to insults.

Whatmeworry · 01/12/2011 07:21

There is am immigration/ access to resources issue in the UK and it's not racist to point it out (its not new news either, but it does surprise me how slow both labour and coalition have been to react)

It is also not racist to point out that not dealing with it is playing into the hands of extreme parties. These sorts of chain emails are not at all helpful, but they bare also inevitable if this is not sorted out. And in tough economic times this could be a real powderkeg.

TandB · 01/12/2011 07:42

Fortunately I don't often get these sort of chain statuses on my Facebook - there are a couple of people who will post anything though so I probably have this to look forward to.

I had a fairly entertaining experience on a bus when DS was small. Two elderly ladies seemed to jump to the conclusion that I was eastern european for some reason - I am relatively dark-skinned for a white british person and I had DS in a woven wrap on my back and was on a bus in an area with a reasonable population of eastern europeans.

They had a classic head-shaking conversation about how I was carrying DS and about all these immigrants coming into the country and making no attempt to fit in with "how we do things over here" and about immigration generally. I let them run on for a while and then turned round and said something (I can't remember exactly what) in my best plummy English accent, smiled sweetly and watched them squirm and mutter and try to pretend they hadn't been talking about me.

I suspect I would have found it less entertaining if I genuinely had been from overseas - I am not sure why they assumed that "foreign" = deaf or completely ignorant of English.

dancingmustard · 01/12/2011 07:54

Love the stock in trade retorts here.

You must be right wing.

You must read the daily mail.

Just because the govts slack immigration policy is questioned.

Questioning the immigration policy is not the act of a racist and those suggesting that need their heads testing banged together

AKMD · 01/12/2011 08:27

Italy is the posterboy for modern day tolerance in the EU and makes Britain look like the SS arm of Robert Mugabe's state sponsored land grab bureau.

You are having a laugh. Italy might rescue an awful lot of people from boats in the middle of the Med but they are in no way accepted into Italian life. Casual racism against anyone from Africa, esp. Nigeria, China, Romania is totally normal for all the Italians I know. Berlusconi had Roma camps bulldozered. It was considered shocking when one woman I was friends with married a Nigerian and had children with him. When my (mixed race Afro-Caribbean/Irish) DH and I visit friends over there people look at us very askance.

There is am immigration/ access to resources issue in the UK and it's not racist to point it out (its not new news either, but it does surprise me how slow both labour and coalition have been to react)

It is also not racist to point out that not dealing with it is playing into the hands of extreme parties. These sorts of chain emails are not at all helpful, but they bare also inevitable if this is not sorted out. And in tough economic times this could be a real powderkeg.

Absolutely agreed.

dancingmustard · 01/12/2011 08:32

AKMD

You missed the sarcasm in my post concerning Italy.

The point is that Britain is tolerant to the nth degree compared to many other countries.

Nobody seems to be willing to accept we have an immigration problem in this country.

That's madness.

Pendeen · 01/12/2011 09:06

OP, I'm not sure what point you are trying to make when you say " To wonder how the hell this country got so racist and narrowminded? "

It always has been.

If it wasn't for FB and the internet generally I'm sure many people would believe that racism had virtually vanished from 21st century society.

Iwishthestorkwouldbringmybaby · 01/12/2011 09:10

It's so sad because I don't think a lot of people realise what truly horrific circumstances many asylum seekers are escaping from - situations where they and their children are at risk of torture, gay men who face execution for their sexuality, women who have been abused and raped; then they come over here and are put in detention centres and treated like criminals, or treated disgustingly by other British people when they are in the community. Makes you feel ashamed to be British.

TroublesomeEx · 01/12/2011 09:25

Some people in this country are racist and narrowminded regardless of their race/colour/country of birth.

Some people are not.

Some people have occasional thoughts they acknowledge are not really right and keep it to themselves and opt to not act on it.

There is an issue with the immigration system in this country and the way asylum applications are handled. The situation isn't clear. It isn't fair when the government has failed to do it's job properly and then an amnesty of 100k people is announced, equally it isn't fair when a family arrived here as asylum seekers 10 years ago, have English speaking children who are settled in schools, have put down roots, made friends and established themselves in communities, and are still made to feel unwelcome and that they may be chucked out any day now....

There are facts and there are myths. It would be so easy for the government to allay people's fears and misconceptions by making these well known and stop all the scaremongering/fear/resentment like that . Even on websites/publications there are contradictions because there is bias in the presentation and reporting, and even the official organisations have bias.

TroublesomeEx · 01/12/2011 09:26

Iwish tbh a lot of things make me feel ashamed to be British.

It's largely why I identify myself as English (IME different cultural stereotypes to being British!) and don't travel abroad. Sad

Chundle · 01/12/2011 09:49

I hate how racist this country has become. My husband works alongaide several immigrants, he says they work very long hours doing jobs that no one else wants to do and they work damn hard.

TroublesomeEx · 01/12/2011 09:57

"I hate how racist this country has become".

But please don't generalise, Chundle!

I'm not racist, none of my friends are racist, I wouldn't associate with racist people and I resent the assumption by a lot of people that, because I am white and English, I am racist.

Some people are racist.

to make a generalisation about the inhabitants of an entire country is racist.