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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
SagaNorensLeatherTrousers · 10/06/2016 11:36

live next to a Romanian family who regularly shit in the street

What...the...fuck?!

eatsleephockeyrepeat · 10/06/2016 11:37

CitizenSmith I'm with you.

It IS possible to discuss immigration in non-racist terms, but Farage and UKIP have framed it in such a way that race is very much a crucial factor. They've set up a divisive and pernicious "us and them" attitude within the populace under the guise of a reasoned debate on a critical issue.

MaudGonneMad · 10/06/2016 11:38

What a vile post, BoomingMarvellous

IrishDad79 · 10/06/2016 11:38

Isn't the whole "control immigration" argument a completely false narrative in this debate when you consider that a fair proportion (what is it, about half?) of immigrants to the UK are from non-EU countries anyway? And many of the non-EU immigrants tend to be poorer, less well-educated and less-skilled than EU immigrants. Why hasn't the UK, if it were so concerned about unfettered immigration, taken steps to control the immigration over which the EU has no influence? Why is the EU now being portrayed as the bogeyman now allowing the UK to control her borders?

Motheroffourdragons · 10/06/2016 11:38

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ on behalf of the poster.

Lottielou7 · 10/06/2016 11:39

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

Oh, that old chestnut 'I have black friends, was married to someone black so I can't be racist'. Ridiculous.

When we went on holiday to Devon, my dd who was 9 at the time was very upset when she saw those badges in a shop. I had never mentioned them to her and yet she could see how abhorrent they clearly are.

SagaNorensLeatherTrousers · 10/06/2016 11:40

Nigel's regular supporters have opinions like Booming's...so, I guess that might be where he and his party get their reputation from...

Boomingmarvellous · 10/06/2016 11:41

The word racist obviously has very minimal qualifying criteria. Therefore it's easy to label someone a racist.

I suppose under this light criteria Andy Murray is a racist too as he has made some avidly anti English statements?

JeanGenie23 · 10/06/2016 11:41

Booming- yes he is racist. I find a lot of your post belwildering. NF says what a lot of people think...I truly hope those people are in the minorioty otherwise we would be living in an economically failing, desperately sad country. For the record if I was living in the same street as him, I would leave. It's all so convenient to scapegoat migrants for all the issues we have in this country. But I am far more concerned about the ignorant racists.

RestlessTraveller · 10/06/2016 11:41

Well there was the whole breastfeeding should not be ostentatious thing.

Then there was the time he said "working mother are worth less than men"

I mean really, even if that's what you really, really think surely there's a little voice in your head stopping you from saying it in public?

Don't even get me started on other UKIP members, oooh and the time they mis-translated themselves on their Welsh site and re-named themselves The Black Independence Party.

dragonsarebest · 10/06/2016 11:42

I think he is racist. The immigration issues that I've read him talk about aren't about limiting nice, white immigrants from eg Sweden or Germany (like his wife or Gisela Stuart on last night's debate), but the dangerous, scrounging, darker-skinned ones - eastern Europeans, Turkish, Albanians, etc. That's clearly discrimination on the grounds of skin colour in my book. I also think he is xenophobic, sexist, hypocritical and unpleasant.

As an aside, I loved his statement after the last council elections, in response to the UKIP wins in Wales, that the party did well there because Wales has a democratic voting system that enables people to actually get what they vote for (PR basically). Exactly the same as Europe then, but the EU is apparently undemocratic..? Hmm The only time I have had a representative that I have actually voted for is in Europe.

squoosh · 10/06/2016 11:42

It IS possible to discuss immigration in non-racist terms, but Farage and UKIP have framed it in such a way that race is very much a crucial factor. They've set up a divisive and pernicious "us and them" attitude within the populace under the guise of a reasoned debate on a critical issue.

Abso-bloody-lutely

RosesareSublime · 10/06/2016 11:43

well he said he loves Europe, his wife is European and he wants to do business with the rest of the world frequently sighting India and China. He wants workers from those countries with skills we need to come here.

So no, I have never understood his race accusations.

Motheroffourdragons · 10/06/2016 11:43

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This has been withdrawn by MNHQ on behalf of the poster.

BertrandRussell · 10/06/2016 11:43

A Scot saying he supports Scotland against England at football is not being racist. Grin

JeanGenie23 · 10/06/2016 11:44

UKIP are very clever. It's disgusting the way they operate and it's frightening that people agree.

Sighing · 10/06/2016 11:45

I was told in a discussion about privilege that if you're not black you're racist. I understand the need to make space and stfu in discussions of race, I am struggling to accept that I am racist (but I can accept that my opinion on race relations is perhaps best kept to myself because I am literally white noise and not adding much). I do note Nigel Farage, however, is a white middle age man who thinks everyone should listen to his point of view. As a white woman i think he should stfu about gender issues, so i can extend that.

NuckyT · 10/06/2016 11:45

Farage's appeal reminds me of the advert for Fox News on The Simpsons:

"Not racist, but No. 1 with racists."

SagaNorensLeatherTrousers · 10/06/2016 11:46

"Not racist, but No. 1 with racists." Grin

RosesareSublime · 10/06/2016 11:46

dragons darker skin colour? Really? Spain, Italy? Surely both darker skins than Albania?

You do know the EU is seen by many minority groups as a racist white fortress that stops immigration from other countries?

juneau · 10/06/2016 11:46

Since immigrants from the EU are, for the most part, white I don't think you can really call him a racist. Xenophobic, possibly, but not racist.

squoosh · 10/06/2016 11:47

"Not racist, but No. 1 with racists."

Grin
BranTriLlygaid · 10/06/2016 11:47

I'm Welsh, I'll never support England during sporting events. Or France, Poland, Russia, Australia...... Oh good lord, I'm as big of a racist as Andy Murray Sad.

RedToothBrush · 10/06/2016 11:48

Just calm it down there a little bit, alright OP.

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.
Which he hates so much, he makes the point by sticking to the moral high ground, and refuses to be part of this waste and donates his income from the EU to British charities.

He is a city boy.
Well yes. He did work in the city. Merchant banking wasn't it?

He smokes.
Just how much does smoking cost the NHS again? Tut tut. All that waste.

He wears dodgy coats. He looks weird.
At least its a man being criticised for his appearance for once rather than a woman. Its a shame though, that you can be forgiving of what Farage wears when he can't be so accommodating himself:

The Ukip leader, who was sitting behind Mr Corbyn at the service, took aim at Mr Corbyn over how he dressed for the occasion, saying: "We all have different ideas of what is the correct attire for any event. I thought he was scruffy, I thought he was, frankly, on the edge of being slovenly."

Speaking on his LBC phone-in show, Mr Farage also compared the 66-year-old left-winger to a teenager refusing to do what he is told.

"He’s sort of aged about 17 isn’t he, and ‘No, shan’t’. You know, we’ve all done a bit of that in our time but generally we, sort of, get older and we grow up and maybe 30 years on the back benches without ever having had to be responsible for anything meant that he hasn’t quite matured."

How very anti-establishment.

Though perhaps if he is going to criticise others, he might want to look in the mirror at that dodgy coat.

Or is it a stage prop to conjure up deliberate comparisons with Del Boy? And distract from that public school education and merchant banking past?

He is a geezer.
Define 'geezer'. And see above.

He says non PC things, like my FIL does.
Does this mean that because your FIL does it, its ok?

He doesn't like overcrowding and change.
Lots of people don't like change. Unfortunately for them, changes happens whether you like it or not. See 'history of the UK'. Its called 'progress'.

What he is in fact is a man with an absolute obsession with
Himself and his ego

He is totally obsessed with
Power. And his reflection.

I don't even think he is that interested in immigration.
Well I guess not. Its fine now since his German wife won't be affected by any change.

So when free movement of labour became the big issue - years after he started his campaigns - he was willing to embrace it.
As fear of outsiders and 'other' has a proven track record as a successful propaganda tool to win support.

And there have therefore been racists in UKIP. He is not choosy.
Lets be charitable and say he's not a racist. I'm not sure that 'not being choosy' is an asset. It shows a lack of control or a weakness in his judgment of suitability of people for public office. Maybe they are ok because they wear the correct attire unlike Mr Corbyn.

He is enraged and infuriated by
Not being the centre of attention. People who don't agree with him. People who question him in tv debates.

that could be spent in his beloved UK.
Oh. I'm sorry. Silly me. There was me thinking it was OUR UK and we all got a share in it and what we believe.

But I don't think Farage himself is a racist.
How about a sexist prick then?
Women should “perhaps sit in the corner” when they breastfeed and its a “fact of life” that women will earn less than men when they return to some jobs after having a child.

Or is he a poor little victim who is just being "demonised because I’ve taken on the establishment.”

Not that migrants or women make a particular big part of the establishment....

He seems to be genuinely delighted now that he can stand on a platform with Kwasi Kwateng or Frank Field.
I'm not sure that's because he shares his entire political beliefs somehow.
He does his weird grin when he is with people like them.
Grin or grimace?

All he wants is UK independence.
All? You sure about that?

What do you think? AIBU?

Well, OP.

Some times in life, what it says at the top of a newspaper page and what you've actually said can be different things.

This is because you can be very good at wording things in a particular way, and conveying the same message without having to spell it out explicitly.

But YA definitely NBU and have a point.

Mr Farage is lovely and fluffy and I could just kiss him.

How could I possibly resist all that smarm charm?

Motheroffourdragons · 10/06/2016 11:48

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