To ask you to help me come up with a good response to this (Facebook related).

[ChunkysMum]

A family member has posted the below:

BRITISH OLD AGED PENSIONER TOTAL YEARLY BENEFIT £6,000
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS / REFUGEES LIVING IN BRITAIN TOTAL YEARLY BENEFIT £29,900
The average pensioner has paid taxes and contribute d to the growth of this country for the last 40 to 60 years.
Sad isn't it?
Got the guts to copy & paste this?
I Just Did

This was posted by a close, well-loved, family member but I feel the need to post a reply as I believe the post to be uninformed and prejudice.

Any ideas?

Illegal immigrants don't get anything - they are illegal and therefore not in the system.

Refugees get something like £35 a week or food vouchers.

You could tell them they are wrong.

Whoever reposts such a thing is not 'Brave' but is clearly uneducated.

I see this all the time on facebook, hate it!

I usually just ignore it.

My OH came here as a refugee, like a previous poster said they get vouchers; vouchers for food vouchers for clothes. He lived in hostels/b&b's.
I appreciate this still costs money but that post is ridiculous.

Whenever I see people spreading this sort of thing I'm always reminded of the saying "An empty vessel makes the loudest noise".

Just say - that is wrong. If you say its correct, please identify the type of benefit you are talking about. Illegal immigrants are excluded from state benefits.

Well I would have thought the news story about the child of illegal immigrants not being offered free medical care on the NHS would be one bit of proof that these "revelations" are in fact false.

Also, refugees are not allowed to work here until their status is decided. So not sure how anyone would expect people that have been through hell, possibly seen family and friends killed, turned heir lives upside down to avoid persecution or death to be able to support themselves when just arriving in a new country.

But maybe I'm just naïve

My dad sent a round-robin email to me with some shite someone had made up. I sent a terse response, asking him not to send ill-informed nonsense to me again. Unfortunately sent it to everyone on his extensive mailing list.

Embarrassed me and him

Whoever reposts such a thing is not 'Brave' but is clearly uneducated. There's your reply right there

I see it all the time too, reported by people I consider good friends. Since I'm an immigrant ( of the legal sort), it's particularly hurtful.

I usually reply to say that the information is false

Can't believe stuff people repost without thinking

Thank you,

I knew the post was factually incorrect, but didn't know the facts and if I'd just written 'this is not true' it would not have been believed by my family member or the many people who have 'liked' the post.

I have written: "Illegal immigrants don't get anything - they are illegal and therefore not in the system.
Refugees (who by definition are here because they're facing persecution in their home country) get something like £35 a week in food and clothing vouchers. I'm afraid this post is factually untrue so please, anyone reading it, don't repost."

Am just waiting for the repercussions now.

Thank you again.

You could direct them to the Hoax slayer page: www.hoax-slayer.com/uk-pensioners-asylum-seekers-protest.shtml

I hate it when people post stuff like this. My cousin recently posted an awful rant by some ignorant bloke about the faff of getting a passport, which culminated in him effing and blinding about having to get his photo signed by his Pakistani GP. I desperately wanted to say something, but didn't as I didn't fancy a fight with my cousin on Facebook. Plus I think it can be very difficult to change the mindset of people who think like this, especially if you make them defensive by commenting. I would just hide it, forget about it and congratulate yourself for not being ignorant.

Good on you Chunky

It is surprising what people will repost

Good for you, OP.

I posted a tirade on some similar crap a few weeks ago. Left it long enough for it to be read. Then blocked the person.

I got a really offensive, racist email comparing the achievements of the jewish race to muslims from a friend's DH. I sent a reply to him pointing out some obvious inaccuracies and asking to please not send me any racist stuff in future and got a reply saying "I expected you to have a good sense of humour"!

I guess what I'm trying to say is that people who send these things on often don't want to know the truth, they want to believe the Daily Mail, etc

Well done OP. So many people post this shite everywhere.

I've received both of those, and in each case pointed out the factual inaccuracies, before going on to state that since 2/3 of the benefits budget supports working people, the poster's ire could be more appropriately channelled towards big companies who pay less than a living wage.

I also pointed out that, since using lies to stir up hatred against foreigners can be seen as incitement to cause racial hatred, sharing perhaps wasn't such a great idea.

Not sure whether my dimwit cousin who had posted it in the first place really understood, but I couldn't let it go.

You could post this photo :)

I saw some nonsense comparing (Completely false) benefit incomes of asylum seekers vs army veterans. Apparently a single mother asylum seeker with about 13 children lived in a mansion and got millions of pounds a year in benefits

Well done OP! I will put the same on next one that pops up on my newsfeed it pisses me off too.

My cousin posted the passport one the day after I had applied for my children's one. Racist claptrap and totally untrue especially for a renewal.

My Mum has posted this one, along with a BNP and Proud to be British status.

It seems lost on her she lived abroad until recently

I'm glad this is on my 'only for Mum' F/B

or you could just point out that an 20 year old immigrant once given right to work in uk has 40-60 years to pay tax, just like the pensioner, or a woman with children will bring the uk her tax income, and the tax income of her children, and since stats show children of immigrants do better (depending on what country etc of course) then the tax they will pay in is likely to be more than the tax of a british born person.

How about 'I've got the guts to see this for the bigoted, lying nonsense it is'...