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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To timidly suggest that Nigel Farage is not a racist

545 replies

Millyonthefloss · 10/06/2016 10:30

Can I just start by saying that I am not a racist. Thanks.

This is my AIBU.

Lots of people on mumsnet say Farage is a racist.

But this is what I think.

He is a geezer. He is a city boy. He smokes. He wears dodgy coats. He looks weird. He says non PC things, like my FIL does. He doesn't like overcrowding and change.

But I am beginning to think that he is not a racist.

What he is in fact is a man with an absolute obsession with British parliamentary democracy and an absolute hatred of EU waste, extravagance and unaccountability. He is totally obsessed with getting the UK out of the EU and independent again.

He is enraged and infuriated by the wasteful things the EU does like moving the EU Parliament from Strasbourg to Brussels all the time and wasting millions and millions of British taxpayers money that could be spent in his beloved UK.

I don't even think he is that interested in immigration.

But he is so obsessed with his aim of UK independence that he will work with anyone. So when free movement of labour became the big issue - years after he started his campaigns - he was willing to embrace it. And there have therefore been racists in UKIP. He is not choosy.

But I don't think Farage himself is a racist.

He seems to be genuinely delighted now that he can stand on a platform with Kwasi Kwateng or Frank Field.

He does his weird grin when he is with people like them.

All he wants is UK independence.

What do you think? AIBU?

OP posts:
JeanGenie23 · 10/06/2016 11:18

I think the absolutely beauty of this country is its multicultural. My child will grow up with friends whose families originate from many parts of the world and I think that's fantastic. I am actually jealous of the opportunities she has as opposed to me, who was brought up in a small south staffs village.

Immigration is not a bad thing. I understand we need to have controls on it. But if you support UKIP you are fools if you think they aren't predominately fueld by racism, cleverly masked so that they can operate as a real political party

Jelliedeels · 10/06/2016 11:20

As soon as anyone says immigration you are labelled xenophobic or racist.

Especially by pearl clutchers on mumsnet

SagaNorensLeatherTrousers · 10/06/2016 11:20

*The main thing for me is he incites each of us to look at our neighbour and assess them as "British enough" or "not British enough" to be worthy of basic human requirements; such as work, healthcare and housing. The implied main divisor is that individual's heritage - their race - and that is the first thing you asses in your judgement of them.

I appreciate Britain has limited resources, but Farage promotes an ideal that British people - by default - are likely more worthy of those resources. There is no scope for there being an Albanian or a Syrian or a Pole perhaps being more worthy of a particular job - for any reason, for example them being actually prepared to do that job - than a person of British heritage. And that, I feel, is racism.*

You've said what I've been thinking, but way better than I could have, eatsleep!

RestlessTraveller · 10/06/2016 11:22

This is one of the most ridiculous threads I've read on here for a while. But I want to play too!

Actually what really irks me about 'Nige' isn't his inherent racism or sexism, it's just that he's so thick.

Citizensmith1 · 10/06/2016 11:24

Everything squoosh and jeangenie have said! Thanks for articulating what i couldn't because whenever the statement comes up Nigel Farage/UKIP aren't racist I cant speak rationally as I'm trying to stop myself spontaneously combusting.

I'm off to lie down in quiet room.

Original poster
Millyonthefloss · 10/06/2016 11:24

This is one of the most ridiculous threads I've read on here for a while.

Sorry.

Thanks for all the responses. I have to get on now but I am very interested in the opinions. Will check back later.

OP posts:
GoblinLittleOwl · 10/06/2016 11:25

I agree with the OP; Nigel Farage is not a racist and he is obsessed with the failings of the EU, having personal experience of them.
He does occasionally say some stupid things (none of which I can recall at this moment) that allow people to accuse him of being a racist.
When he finally stops being a MEP I think he should be elected to the House of Lords, as he knows considerably more about the current political situation than many of the present members, and is never afraid to speak his mind.

FanFckingTastic · 10/06/2016 11:25

I think that it's a pretty lazy argument to refer to him (and other Brexiters) as racist. There are many things that he and others are, but I'm not convinced that racist is one of them - happy to be corrected on this but I've not personally seen the evidence.

Separate point but I think that it's sad that we cannot have a decent debate about issues such as immigration without the fear of being labelled racist. In my view the current policies and particularly the treatment of people in genuine need isn't working so we should be able to share points of view without being vilified for having an opinion.

SagaNorensLeatherTrousers · 10/06/2016 11:25

His "pulling out his passport" bit is really starting to irritate me. It's seems so rehearsed, like he whipped it out of his blazer pocket in front of the mirror 100 times to practice getting it right.

blindsider · 10/06/2016 11:25

Restless

it's just that he's so thick.

On what are you judging that?, as whether you agree with what he is saying or not, he is always erudite and unflustered by the endless attacks. He seems pretty well informed too.

Citizensmith1 · 10/06/2016 11:26

but before i go, jelliedeels I'm no pearl clutcher. But Nigel and Farage and UKIP ARE racist, and dangerous and I fear people will only realise this when it's too late :-( :-(

Original poster
Millyonthefloss · 10/06/2016 11:26

By the way I just want to say again that I do think there have been racists in UKIP. I'm not denying that at all.

OP posts:
YvaineStormhold · 10/06/2016 11:27

You can tentatively suggest that Farage isn't a racist.

I can tentatively suggest that bears don't shit in the woods.

Doesn't mean either are true though.

Boomingmarvellous · 10/06/2016 11:29

I guess that makes the Duke of Edinburgh a racist too because he referred to 'slitty eyed' Chinese?

NF does say what many people think and it is the people who don't live next to a Romanian family who regularly shit in the street calling him a racist.

My mother used to collect gollywog badges. Does that make her a racist, even though her second husband was from the West Indies?

NF doesn't advocate sending all the polish workers back to Poland. That would be racist. Or any other workers for that matter. No one on the leave side object to legitimate workers.

It's just so easy to scream racist at people because it's a great way of drowning out their views on regaining government of our own country, establishing trade links which better suit us, securing our borders to keep out criminals and terrorists and people who don't want to work.

Yes, NF has used some regrettable language in earlier years, but how many people have used the word 'retard' with no thought? Are they disableist? I'm sure most would be horrified at the suggestion.

More important to look at the greater message than some non PC words, but of course the people who shout racist don't want to do that.

SwedishEdith · 10/06/2016 11:30

From that Guardian article,

"But those changes alone don't make 2014 Ukip racist, do they? "The de facto leader of Ukip since 1999 has been a racist political failure," Sked counters. He means, of course, Nigel Farage. But even if Farage's recent statements about not wanting to live next door to Romanians suggest he is xenophobic, is there any proof he was racist when he and Sked worked together in the mid-1990s? Sked laughs at the question and recalls an incident from 1997 when the two men were arguing over the kind of candidates that Ukip should have standing at the looming general election. "He wanted ex-National Front candidates to run and I said, 'I'm not sure about that,' and he said, 'There's no need to worry about the nigger vote. The nig-nogs will never vote for us.'"

blackbirdmilkshake · 10/06/2016 11:31

I guess that makes the Duke of Edinburgh a racist too because he referred to 'slitty eyed' Chinese?

uh yes...yes it does

Kelandry · 10/06/2016 11:31

People who 'feel' he is racist, based on statements made about people from different countries but same skin n colour need to get a grip. Racism is a very easy thing to define, it's not about a man who has a very different idea about how our country should address its population therefore must be racist because I don't like him Hmm

BranTriLlygaid · 10/06/2016 11:31

So just a not-so-stealthy 'vote out' thread. I don't think Farage is a racist, I think he (and many of his mindset) have a Little Empire idea about Britain. Still thinks we're top dog on the world stage, I find that sort of attitude pitiful more than anything. UKIP members vary from this, to all out racist, xenophobic, bigoted morons (then again, all parties have their unsavoury members). They all act like being British somehow translates to being better and more worthy than the rest of Europe. It's quite embarrassing to be honest (I think this whole vote is a shambles, but there we go).

BertrandRussell · 10/06/2016 11:32

"guess that makes the Duke of Edinburgh a racist too because he referred to 'slitty eyed' Chinese?"

That- and many similar remarks over the years, yes, it does.

Draylon · 10/06/2016 11:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

squoosh · 10/06/2016 11:32

And sexists, and disablists.......

squoosh · 10/06/2016 11:33

I guess that makes the Duke of Edinburgh a racist too because he referred to 'slitty eyed' Chinese?

You guess correctly.

Lottielou7 · 10/06/2016 11:35

'I guess that makes the Duke of Edinburgh a racist too because he referred to 'slitty eyed' Chinese?'

The Duke of Edinburgh is absolutely vile. And yes, that does make him a racist. You have to ask?

BertrandRussell · 10/06/2016 11:36

"but how many people have used the word 'retard' with no thought? Are they disableist? I'm sure most would be horrified at the suggestion."

They might be horrified- but they are still disablist if the continue to use the word once it was explained to them.

Oh, and if your mother existed, rather than being an Internet meme, yes, she would be racist too.