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AIBU?

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Original poster

AIBU to find it disgusting that gypsies have taken over a school playground

808 replies

Adizzylass2014 · 04/04/2015 22:17

whilst attending my best friends wedding today in a little village I was horrified to see that gypsies had taken over the school playground. There was rubbish all over the floor, children and dogs running all over the place and scantily clad women puffing away.
why a school playground, these people have no morals. The poor caretaker is going to have his work cut out for him as there was at least 15 caravans! Angry

OP posts:
SoupDreggon · 05/04/2015 11:44

Calling non Gypsies gorgers is not an insult. It simply means non Gypsy

What's the derivation of it?

WindYourBobbinUp · 05/04/2015 11:47

Its from our language, it originally meant 'man' but specifically nowadays a non gypsy.

OnlyLovers · 05/04/2015 11:48

someone was talking about the Holocaust ... and then jokes started about how they should've finished the job with the gypsies.

I thought the Nazis actually started with gypsies before moving on to Jews? I guess once you've convinced the majority population that one minority is to blame for all social and economic woes, it becomes easier to persuade them that another minority could also be to blame.

Chilling.

Telephone, that is an excellent point about rubbish/sewage facilities. It's all too easy to take these things for granted and not be able to imagine what life would be like if we didn't have them.

Thanks to the gypsies/travellers on this thread for your insights.

99pokerface · 05/04/2015 11:49

Ii means the school will be closed until the can get rid

Kampeki · 05/04/2015 11:50

I'm really shocked and saddened by this thread. Lots of the comments here simply prove right the point that Kate made earlier in the thread - that prejudice against Roma and other travelling communities is truly the last bastion of socially acceptable racism.

Yes, you may well have had bad experiences, as have I, but to generalise those bad experiences to make assumptions about an entire community? I thought people would know better than that.

I have no problem with people discussing genuine issues in relation to travelling communities, and I don't think it's acceptable for any group to take over a school playground, but there is so much bile and hatred on this thread, it's impossible to have a reasonable discussion.

I agree with the person who suggested that this entire thread should be zapped.

Andrewofgg · 05/04/2015 11:52

OnlyLovers I think the Jews were higher up the Nazi agenda than the gypsies - because there were many Jews and very few gypsies in Germany itself. It was only after they overran Eastern Europe that they had any scope for wiping out gypsies too.

But you know what? Applying the planning laws and the law of trespass to every ethnic group is not genocide. It's the rule of law.

WindYourBobbinUp · 05/04/2015 11:53

OnlyLovers what they were saying was they should have killed all the gypsies, as in not left any remaining. I'm understandably still pissed off about it. I put in a complaint but nothing was done. People involved are still in senior management Angry

WorraLiberty · 05/04/2015 11:54

Telephone, that is an excellent point about rubbish/sewage facilities. It's all too easy to take these things for granted and not be able to imagine what life would be like if we didn't have them.

I thought it was the worst excuse ever for leaving rubbish and faeces strewn around an illegal site.

If you can't be bothered to go to the local dump (no-one has to go every single day), and of course they can get back onto the illegal site until everyone's evicted...why wouldn't you at least put the rubbish in bin bags and pile them up neatly?

There is no excuse for leaving rubbish strewn around everywhere for someone else to clean up. Even faeces can be bagged up.

OnlyLovers · 05/04/2015 11:54

Oh, I see, Wind, sorry, I misunderstood. That is shocking. I'd press the complaint if I were you.

MythicalKings · 05/04/2015 11:57

YANBU to be disgusted at anyone taking over a playgound.

AuntieDee · 05/04/2015 12:05

I have never once seen a site left in the state it was before the arrival of travellers, always worse...

PtolemysNeedle · 05/04/2015 12:06

I'm really shocked and saddened by this thread. Lots of the comments here simply prove right the point that Kate made earlier in the thread - that prejudice against Roma and other travelling communities is truly the last bastion of socially acceptable racism.

I disagree with this.

No one is saying it's ok to be racist. The Thread was started by someone who has had a horrible experience, and whether she'd used the word gypsies or not, it wouldn't have taken a lot of working out that the people who caused the problem at the school were from the traveller community.

Instead of people coming on and condemning the actions of the filthy people that have left rubbish all over school grounds and decided to use that land however they like despite having no right to, we have people defending an entire community that weren't even under attack.

It is absolutely right to hammer home the point that not all travellers behave in a destructive and anti social way, but let's not do that at the expense of acknowledging that some people from this community behave despicably. It is entirely fair to complain about it when your local fields have been taken over by people who leave rubbish and human waste everywhere.

It is not the people complaining about valid issues that are generalising, it's the ones that are assuming racism based on valid complaints that are generalising.

TelephoneEggGnawingMachine · 05/04/2015 12:07

Then the way forward is clear, isn't it. There needs to be proper provision for traveller sites with proper facilities, like there used to be. It's only since they were mostly closed, that travellers have been seen as such a problem in this way.

Coconutty · 05/04/2015 12:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

expatinscotland · 05/04/2015 12:09

'There needs to be proper provision for traveller sites with proper facilities, like there used to be.'

And paid for by the users.

WorraLiberty · 05/04/2015 12:10

I agree Telephone

WindYourBobbinUp · 05/04/2015 12:10

I was about to say the same as Coconutty the horrible posts have been removed.

PtolemysNeedle · 05/04/2015 12:16

Yes, and those posts were a minority on a thread that has quickly reached ten pages.

I just don't think it's fair to criticise people for having a negative opinion of a certain group of people when their only experiences of those people have been very very negative.

Of course it is important to be mindful of the fact that not everyone from that group will behave in a negative way, but it doesn't help the issue if there isn't acknowledgement from all directions that certain people from the group being discussed do behave very badly.

If they didn't, there wouldn't be a discussion in the first place.

Sandiacre · 05/04/2015 12:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Andrewofgg · 05/04/2015 12:19

Not only that, expat - where there is a site anyone trying to set up an illegal site nearby "while waiting for a pitch" must be evicted without delay.

WindYourBobbinUp · 05/04/2015 12:23

I should really step away and give up. Of course as I've already said if someone is causing a problem that is unacceptable whatever their origin. The original discussion was fine. It was the posts that got deleted e.g. we're rats and the like that were unacceptable.
I've also said you've probably met loads of gypsies that you've liked but have no idea e.g. I work with 3, not that the rest of the office know that. If someone in RL starts on how dirty we are and should be exterminated I'm obviously not going to reveal myself as you can imagine!

Sallyingforth · 05/04/2015 12:25

There needs to be proper provision for traveller sites with proper facilities
Yes, travellers deserve the same facilities of living space, education and healthcare as everyone else.
But they have the same responsibilities as everyone else too. That means paying the same council tax and where appropriate income tax for the services they receive. Being a traveller should not excuse anyone from being a decent, responsible citizen.

Andrewofgg · 05/04/2015 12:28

Sallyingforth

Yes, travellers deserve the same facilities of living space, education and healthcare as everyone else.

Yes, but that does not mean that those facilities have to be provided on one site by a public authority (read: the taxpayers) where they can be with others of the same culture, ethnicity, call it what you will.

WorraLiberty · 05/04/2015 12:29

Sallyingforth, if travellers use legal sites of course they'll be paying council tax and rent etc.

Unless they're on a low income, in which case they can apply for housing benefit to cover their pitch fees/council tax.

Psipsina · 05/04/2015 12:31

AFAIK, at least part of the reason why travellers are seen as dirty & that they leave ruubish everywhere, is that a lot of the places they pitch up, have no rubbish collection & no facilities. It's a lot of work to take all your trash to the tip daily, if you are concerned that you may not be able to get back onto your site when you return due to police etc - so you don't leave. A lot of travellers may not have a large enough caravan to allow them to cook, so they live mostly off takeaways etc - lots of rubbish generated.

So...this is why a lot of people decided it was a good idea to live in one place, so that they could have access to these facilities.

One thing I really don't get about the whole issue, is why it is seen as so blooming awful to live in a house, or at least a static caravan or similar, with facilities.

Why are these things steadfastly rejected? And then to use that and say 'Oh we make a mess because we have no facilities' - er - ?

I really hate to judge before I know the facts, so if anyone can enlighten me about this I'd be interested to know. I usually want to like everyone in the world, but it's difficult not to become prejudiced when you hear stuff like this.

So educate us.