older people with racist and ignorant views

[x2boys]

Aibu in thinking age is not an excuse to racist and ignorant?
I was on the bus this afternoon and there was a man who appeared white but was dressed in traditional Muslim clothing and wearing a royal mail coat so presumably a postman,I,m sure like any other race religion Islam doesn't discriminate and anyone should they wish can convert to Islam
Anyway a couple got on the bus who were probably in their 70,s and started shouting very loudly that this man was white and why was he wearing clothes like that!
They continued to talk very loudly about it and then they man in in 70,s said the Muslim postman better not deliver mail to his house!! A second older lady joined in and said the postman was a white man is this a generational thing ?
My parents who are also in their 70,s have made if not racist comments certainly ignorant comments which I have told them off for?

There is a boy in my ds's class who thinks all Muslims are terrorists.

Which must mean that all 13 year olds are racist, surely?

fifi IMO I don't think your aunt was being ignorant or rude. DP and I are of Indian race, but born in London. Perhaps we don't look typically Indian as we often get asked where we are from. My response is that I am Indian as that is usually the answer the person is looking for. DP on the other hand will always say sarf laandan

Sorry xpost fifi. She was being rude and ignorant about the name!

My Gran is 90 this year. Brought up in a fairly middle class, predominantly white area.

My Hindu (Asian) and Christian (black) friends wanted to marry - their families were both against it and very upset. I remember chatting to my Gran about it - she was sad for them and expressed how they should be able to be together.

In the end my friends parents did come to the wedding and hugged her after - I remember telling my Gran how happy I was and she was delighted for them. I love my Gran!

When I am old I shall be as brilliant as I am now - which is very brilliant indeed.

That particular man may actually have been a white Anglo convert but there are plenty of Muslims, especially if they come from Turkey, Lebanon or Syria who appear completely white - with fair hair, skin and light eyes. Islam is a religion, not a race. I think they were just being bigots rather than racist and a lot of elderly people, of any race, can be like that as can younger people. A lot aren't as well.

People currently in their 70s were not born in the early 50s.... born in 51 would make them 63.

Anyway despicable way for these people on the bus to behave.

I don, t think racism is age-related, it often sadly is related to upbringing

My gran is almost 90 she isn't racist but is hugely sectarian
Whatyagonnado?

They're not always a lost cause, Ronald :) I've managed to rid my 83yo mother of rape myths and assorted other sexist baloney - with help from her 89yo boyfriend! She's never been racist; we're working on his anti-Roma prejudice. And I'm "old" myself

I think the only problem with some older folk is that they want the world to stay as it was when they were young, so then they blame the immigrants for the change they see all around them. I say that as an older woman who has noticed this way of thinking in some people.

Some people are racist/sexist of any age.

Age had nowt to do with it.

How silly.

And it's extremely ignorant to generalise too.

Montegomongoose yes I would slam someone as ignornant and racist if they made offensive comments because they "hadn't travelled much" or "hadn't been exposed to multi-cultural Britain". By definition that's what they would be.

You would 'slam' them? Anyone, anywhere in the world, who was unused to seeing people if different ethnicity and commented on it?

Do you teach your children to 'slam' people with different views? Different life experiences? Different culture? Upbringing?

In my very humble opinion, it is 'slamming,' not listening, not conversing, that sets up one side as moral arbiter and the other as 'ignorant' that strangles meaningful dialogue at birth.

I have lived all over the world and encountered good and bad in people of all ages and colours.

I have lots of friendships which began with a discussion if differences and beliefs. Some changed over time, some did not, some are so deeply held that we choose to leave them put if our relationships (I think of a friend here whose homophobic views are, he says, a religious belief. I disagree. There is no 'slamming').

My great grandmother, on meeting my DH. For the first time, talked of 'white people' and what she thought of them. She came to love him. In your world, he would have 'slammed' her. They would both have missed put on a lovely relationship.

Is this thread a wind-up?

Person says: I think these people (insert random group here - e.g. 'old' people; Muslims; black people; Christians; women; immigrants; blue-eyed people; left-handed people; Chinese people; lorry drivers; gay people are XXXXXX (sweeping statement about that group as a whole that clearly can't apply to every individual within it).

Responses: No, no, I'm one of those OR I know one of those OR I'm related to one of those OR some of my best friends are those and I/they don't conform to your stereotype.

Do people not see the silliness of this? A sweeping statement about a group can't ever be true in EVERY case, nor is it meant to be. Generalisations are just that - general. They are no less valid for this but nor are they a basis for any serious discussion about anything at all, frankly.

My mum was born in 1938, and is terribly racist. You'd think, having grown up in WWII, she'd know a lot about the consequences of anti-Semitism and Nazism. Unfortunately, for her WWII was all about Blitz spirit, jingoism and "the good old days", not about millions of people dying needlessly. Sigh.

In my experience, older people are not more likely to be racist, but they might be more likely to seem racist.

The example I always think of is the word 'coloured'. I have known several older people who are convinced that it is polite to refer to people as 'coloured' and somewhat rude to say 'black'. This is because 50 years ago, it was! If they live in an area that is not very diverse, it may not come up often, so they may not have learned the more modern usage. So these older people, trying to be polite, come across as racially insensitive.

Genuine racism is a very different thing.

(Also, in addition to the converts and Mediterranean Muslims mentioned by mimishimmi, there are also 'white' Muslims from central Asia, as well as Europeans from the Balkans)

I think the point is you can have any opinion you want but to be that rude to express that opinion out loud in public towards a stranger..it just beggars belief. My nan is 94 and a bit inappropriate but she wouldn't say something inflammatory out loud like that. My Nan's not too keen on Somalians and that's up to her bit she wouldn't say anything to them. She's a bit mad but still knows not to

No the thread is not a wind up I genuinely did see a couple being horrifically rude about a man who appeared white but was dressed in Muslim clothes he could have converted maybe he was mixed race but he appeared white he also had a royal mail coat on so presumably a postman .

Nah, she isn't going to change. She likes her sectarian ways.

The youngest of the people who led the Civil Rights Movement and are still alive are in their 70s.

I remember when my daughter was about nine years old, we met an old man who was having trouble walking so we pitched in to help him. Then some young black fellas went past and he said an incredibly racist comment and we wanted to chuck him.

Now I'm getting old, I certainly don't think I am suddenly going to become racist.

Most of the extreme racists are not elderly. The popular image of the shaven headed bully boy in a Union Jack tshirt is a fair representation of BNP etc supporters.
You will find some bigots in every age group. Honestly there is too much ageism on here recently. Yesterday we were accused of not wearing flipflops and today we are racist. Last month we were refusing to give up our homes so younger folk could have them.
You will all be old one day, if you are lucky.

My mother comes out with some shockers but I'm not sure it's her age. I'm ashamed of her tbh

Apparently, black people shouldn't marry into the royal family, Muslims come over to the UK to scrounge off the benefits system and people from Indian call centres annoy her and make her "feel quite racist",

She reads and agrees with the Daily Mail.

My mother is horrible like this. In fact both ds and I had a real go at her last week over an incident.
Her gas match was empty so I'd asked ds to nip down the shop and get me some lighter gas. I was explaining to him what it was when my 78 year old mother piped up "they won't know what it is, they are pa##s!" Ds and I were stunned. I pointed out that firstly, the shop owner is of Turkish descent and why would he not know what lighter fuel was?
"Well they probably don't have it where they come from". I told get that in all probability they were born here and that she was racist and downright bloody nasty.

she's 78, I don't take her out with me,I don't trust her one iota which is sad really.