To think there should be a site called "Racist Mumsnet"

[GothAnneGeddes]

That way, all the bigots who've been cluttering up Mumsnet of late could post there and spare the rest of us from reading their biogoted stupidity.

AIBU?

I understand MrsDV.
We'll have to use pigs trotters instead.

Oh bugger - now I'm a racist too!

Are we deporting them then?

Good point mrsdv! If someone called me racist, it wouldn't bother me one bit, because I know I'm not

However, if lots of people called me racist, is be having a long hard look at myself

I know silver she likes to think that he is white anglo Saxon which she is erm clearly nt

Sallying with respect to English, I wish people were more understanding of how difficult it is for people especially adults to become fluent in another language.

I don't like the fact that people assume some immigrants are refusing to speak English when really they are probably still learning, it takes years to become comfortable and well-spoken in a language.

I live now in a country where I don't speak the language. Yes, I am trying to learn, but I can't fit classes around work and childcare and I'm not very good at languages.

Am I not respecting the culture of this country, because I don't speak the language? I guess some people might think so, but really it's just a practical thing.

It's a total pain in the arse btw. I'm sure the vast majority of immigrants at least try to learn enough English to get by, because it really is incredibly annoying to have to depend on other people for lots of things.

I think it's reasonable enough to expect immigrants to learn basic English but some people seem upset that they even have to hear other languages spoken in their shops and streets, or that they have to make allowances for people sometimes. I just don't understand why it bothers people.

That's interesting bohemian because you can talk from an unusual position.

Hopefully this 'not learning English' business will fade out as the younger generations are educated here. Language is such a serious barrier to understanding between communities.

Yes, that's very true Sallying.

It will probably also change as English becomes more and more the global language, so that people already know a lot before they even come to the UK.

And, I think more and more British people are learning other languages. That can't hurt either.

There are nasty racists and bigots in every corner of every faith and non faith the world over. It doesn't really matter to these types what the truth is, they just hate.

However I do think that it is very dangerous to dismiss people's strongly held views on any type of issue from immigration, education opportunities and unemployment and poverty..

If we do this we can strengthen resentment and festering hate that leads to issues like the Irish conflict, the riots of the 80s, pole tax riots etc.

Tottenham is not new, I remember the riots in Handsworth in the 80s because i I lived there, race was a huge issue.

If we don't let people speak then we don't hear them...we can't challenge or listen or attempt to change attitudes.

I would also like to see less anti-disabled, anti-SN attitudes on Mumsnet.

I would live to think the British are learning other languages - where did you learn this and do you know which ones?

I have always tried to learn the language of the country I live in but I do appreciate that many can't or won't. I do think it creates a barrier between you and the indigenous population, and o have seen that lead to real resentment, both here and abroad.

*love. Oh dear.

If we don't let people speak then we don't hear them...we can't challenge or listen or attempt to change attitudes.

The body, well said. It's often uncomfortable and frequently unfair and upsetting but shouting down people's opinions and labelling them as unacceptable without listening is, as we have seen too many times, simplistic and dangerous.

I have often found that people just want their fears to be heard. I dont think that's unreasonable if they are expressed appropriately.

The word racist on all of these threads is used to shut genuine people up which is very sad

The argument that people becoming upset by being called one means they are is very offensive.

It also makes me feel sad when posters use blatantly passive aggressive techniques to belittle others.

Some opinions are unacceptable though.

I don't think anyone is duty bound to listen to racist statements.

I think it's important not to promote this kind of false equivalency, where everyone's opinions are equally valid and should be listened to and respected. Statements that are racist, homophobic, bigoted, misogynist, etc., do not deserve respect.

Now obviously, people may differ on whether statements are racist or not. If someone comes back to me and says, 'But I don't think I'm being racist', then yes I would engage with them and explain why I think it is actually racist.

I honestly don't think, in most cases, people say something is racist in order to shut people up. They say something is racist because they genuinely believe it is offensive.

The main problem, it seems to me, is that many white people not just in Britain but everywhere have very outdated views on what racism is.

steady on there MrsDeVere, I am developing a minor crush on you

Multiculturalism isn't difficult, as long as nobody behaves like a stupid cunt.

Dreaming, not sure I think though that all opinions are acceptable unless we live in a totalitarian world. BUT actions must be subject to the law and can defiantly be deemed to be 'unacceptable'.

Well obviously I'm not talking about opinions becoming legally unacceptable -- although in the UK, unlike in the States, obviously there are laws against hate speech and all that.

But racist opinions should be socially unacceptable -- and increasingly, they are so.

I fear that promoting the idea that all opinions are equal is kind of going backwards, to a time when people would say all kinds of crazy racist shit and that was no big deal.

Clipped, coming from the person who said "So please fuck to fuck off and beyond with the racist comments" (after going on for several pages about how immigrants are to blame for taking all the jobs away), earlier tonight, I'm not really sure you have much of a leg to stand on complaining about passive aggressive rantings to shut other people up.

Its quite amusing.

I didn' say it was the immigrants i said it was the sheer infux of people, ie immigrants which is the correct terminology. I was not passive aggressive in the slightest. I said as you quoted.

I said it was the sheer number of people in a very short space of time. If you read my posts correctly then this is what you would have gleened. Instead you chose to jump on the word immigrant and call me racist for stating my case.

"Some opinions are unacceptable though."
Who decides this? What happens to people who have those opinions?