To Think That Everyone Of Pakistani/South Asian Descent Should Be Outraged At This Racist Daily Mail Story.

[CarolPatell1967]

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3162989/The-brave-woman-dares-shatter-toxic-taboo.html

As a Pakistani (with no inbreeding as far as i know) with a disabled child this racism sickens me.

The daily mail have used a brown south asian lady to be racist to her own people.

A google search shows Daily Mail have an obsession with this topic.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1392217/Muslim-outrage-professor-Steve-Jones-warns-inbreeding-risks.html

Their are a few more articles all saying the same thing.

Im used to the Daily Mail smearing/hating muslims (particularly Pakistani muslims) but to mention genetics feels a bit Hitlerish.

Don't read DM but family member told me of article.

Sorry if people make unfair presumptions about your child OP but I don't think this is racism and YABU.

Interestingly a member of my family is a Beta Thalassemia carrier and my DH and I had to be screened before TTC.
I had only ever been told that it affected the Chinese and Greek communities, not the Pakistani.

The article in the Daily Fail is cleverly structured & crafted though:
Paragraph 1: Tolerant Britain
Paragraph 2: Dangers of tolerance = cowardice
Paragraph 3: Disgraceful sex grooming scandal + Pakistani men
Paragraph 4: Radical extremism, mosques stirring racial hatred
PARAGRAPH 5: Muslims marrying close relatives
Paragraph 6: Migrant families from Pakistan

Whilst the issue is a serious one, this is a nasty article, crafted to draw the reader to a negative viewpoint before the issue of the article is even addressed.
What made me snurf is para 4 when they write about mosques stirring racial hatred.

What kind of disabilities do they tend to have? Mental/physical or both? I am not Jewish but I have a lot of Jewish friends and I know that in the Jewish community there are diseases which are really prevalent like Tay Sachs and I know many Jewish couples who have been tested before they get married to see if they are carriers. Could the Pakistani community not do the same?

This is a serious issue within the Pakistani community in the UK. It is not racist to highlight this. The DM however, is not all that concerned about the issue as such, it just wants its readers to look down their noses at Pakistanis and this is their latest 'cause'.

The original article was in the Telegraph as well as other newspapers the same day it was in The Mail

Steiner I've known a few Pakistanis who have got genetic testing before marriage, though it's perhaps worth mentioning that these particular couples viewed "first cousin marriage" with disgust ... the reason for choosing the tests was said to be that the practice was common among their elders and they had concerns about what, if anything, had been passed down to them

Having worked in palliative care with children who had genetic disorders I saw a disproportionately large number of people from the Pakistani community. Often more than one child within a family.

That's not racist. That is a fact about who I worked with.

I don't like the tone of the article either. But I think some of the points are valid even if they are raised in an unpleasant way.

If the OP is sincere () then I think she plays into exactly the stereotype this article represents by screaming that to discuss issues which relate toa particular community is racist and use that to shut down discussion.

Sometimes things do apply only to a particular group but they're important so they need to be discussed. The fallout from the Stephen Lawrence case only concentrated on the attitudes of white people, sex tourism the in SE Asia almost exclusively involves white men. Other issues like belief in witchcraft and the fallout from that only involve African people. FGM also involves certain groups.

I think there is a pretty strong indication that under the previous Labour governments is issues like this were brushed under the carpet in the name of 'tolerance'.

I don't think now the question is whether they should be discussed or not, but how they should be discussed. That Mail article is the wrong way of discussing it, but it does need to be discussed.

If you have not read the article for yourself OP, I don't see how you can comment on it based on someone elses interpretation

It is not actually racist - it raises a valid point that needs discussing and addressing. As others have said the article has appeared in other newspapers.

We have a child who regularly attends Manchester children's hospital. The very high proportion of Asian, (no idea if they are Pakistani Muslim) and orthodox Jewish children in the waiting room is quite obvious.

If anything, health organisations should be doing much more to discourage people from marrying blood relatives.

Within Blackburn in Lancashire there is a huge incidence of children born with disabilities attributed to congenital anomalies. Within the medical profession, research is done at Blackburn hospital due to the high incidence and doctors travel across the globe to study these cases. As it is well known and causing issues for many families, they have also been proactive in putting forward approaches to help families. They have a regional genetics service which is aimed at supporting the community with genetic counselling to aim to reduce incidents prior to birth and they also offer this to siblings so once one couple has been tested, their siblings can be too. It is not worth burying our heads in the sand to pretend this doesn't happen. If this community can be proactive in dealing with this then why can it not be spoken about?

Amothersplaceisinthewrong I don't dispute the fact that inter-family marriages cause genetic problems, not at all, and I'm all in favour of the issue being raised if it helps our children.
However, if you read my breakdown of the DM article, paragraph by paragraph, the real issue is not mentioned until paragraph 5. Before then we read about tolerance, how bad tolerance is, sexual abuse by Pakistani males, radicalisation & mosques before we get to the real issue of the article. This is very cleverly crafted writing, taking the reader through a plethora of anti-Muslim jingoism before the real issue.
To me, that is worrying & actually takes the reader away from the serious message of the article.

Yabu to be offended by just the one Mail article. When really you wouldn't bu to be offended by the mail in general. Yabu to take it personally, the mail do their best to insult as many people as possible about as much as possible. They aren't actually even racist because they hate most people equally.
I've not read the article, but I have heard similar thoughts on Pakistani inbreeding from more reliable sources i.e not tabloids and agree there is a problem. All the mail will have done is the usual method of making out the problem is more widespread and common than it is and cited the most damning examples they can find. And I bet there's a reference somewhere to what it costs the taxpayer. Yabu to find this method anything but expected for the mail. And yabu not to realise there is a problem with inbreeding even though it's smaller than the mail no doubt implies

Yabu. Should we ignore the risks of cousins and close relatives marrying and having children for fear of racism?! The fact is that this is accepted in some communities and not others, the sooner it's stopped in all communities the better imo.

Where are you OP? Still hiding under the bridge?
Marriage of cousins is wrong, regardless of the race of the partners.

Isn't there a case for this to be taught in schools, in PSHE?

I think it is an important issue that should be discussed. My fil ( who is Turkish) has two first cousins who married and they have had children and grandchildren born with life limiting disabilities. Marriage amongst first cousins is almost unheard of in ethnically white British families but is quite common amongst other communities and it is very frustrating to hear people cry racist to dismiss discussion of this.

It's an issue that needs addressing. Have worked in schools with very large numbers of Pakistani children and was shocked by the sheer number of kids with conditions ranging from autism through to brittle bones, impaired vision and learning disabilities. Very sad.

I'm Jewish and have an inherited condition - luckily not one of the big 5 that include Tay Sachs. My cousins child has familial dysautonomia, which is a very distressing syndrome that has had a huge impact on the family. My dd went for genetic testing before ttc to rule out the main Jewish inherited diseases.

First cousin marriages leads to a lot of heartache and suffering and at the very least genetic counselling/testing needs promoting within communities where first cousin marriages are common.

op is clearly not asian if she thinks

intermarriage is widespread in pakistani communities, which in my opinion it is not" when in reality " in people of Pakistani origin, about two in every three marriages are between first cousins."

most Pakistanis are married to their own cousins, more than 50% any asian would notice that most of their family and friends are marrying be their own family

Its racist because it is saying that intermarriage is widespread in pakistani communities, which in my opinion it is not.

is your opinion backed up by stats? because the article does have some statistics backing up that claim.

I feel sorry for the kids to be honest. Many born with deformities, deaf , blind or mentally retarded. It's irresponsible to deny this is an issue. Not to think of the lifelong costs to the NHS.

I won't click the link - I have no doubt that the DM have managed to take a serious issue and turn it into a head tilting gawk fest. But discussing these issues is important and it's absurd to screech racism about a well known problem in certain communities. It needs addressed urgently, not ignored.