To wonder if a lot of people secretly hold views that are abhorrent (some offensive content)

[onlythedaze]

I have been wondering about this off and on over the weekend.

I was in a quiet part of an airport lounge on Friday night, some children were running around and a couple near me made a comment that was mildly acerbic but nonetheless pleasant enough - along the lines of, thank goodness they aren't ours, and then in a very low voice, the wife said to her husband something offensive about the race of some of the children. They both laughed in a conspiratorial way.

They looked perfectly ordinary, well dressed, well presented, smiling, professional. Not BNP members or skinheads or whatever the stereotype is.

Now before anybody leaps on me for saying that I sound naive, I don't think I am - I think a lot of people are actually secretly very racist, sexist, homophobic but don't voice these views because they are considered taboo.

Or am I being dramatic?

[Usernameusername2016]

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[Usernameusername2016]

But racism has ALWAYS existed under a veil of 'respectibility'. Maybe the fact that, in times gone by, racism was actually ingrained in the law. It was widely accepted, even if people thought it was morally wrong (in my opinion).

I have a mixed-raced child (I am black). My ex-partner, who loved us both very much, used to come out with a few outlandish statements about black people. He clearly wasn't racist, just very musguided & a bit ignorant. One example: he'd bought his dd a skipping rope because "those mixed-raced girls all love to skip"

When I explained to him that most girls love to skip, the penny started to drop.

I haven't had any overt racism directed at me for years, but my male family members get it all the time. How awful

[Me2017]

It's very sad when people have thoughts like that which are not true. Obvoiusly thruths like XYZ religion is sexist or homophobic or white boys do worse in English schools than any other group however are perfectly reasonable and true comments to make and not racist so it rather depends on what is said.

I live in a very very mixed area of London so we dont' tend to have the same racism issues as other places, whites are in a minority, children all mix with children of all kinds of faces and no one grouo is the majority so I think we don't tend to get the racism of others areas and we're all fairly well off too which probably helps a bit.

I never once heard my parents make a racist statement and I hope that is the case with me and my own children too. However we should all be on guard, and ditto regarding sexism. I would never tolerate a sexist comment and even if someone's religion says women come second to men I would disagree as the moral rightness of feminism should always trump the crass sexism of most of the main religions - a huge moral wrong.

[Fauchelevent]

I'm black and I can say that whilst I've experienced a lot of overt racism - called a wog in a bar, told to get to the back of the bus, called the n word on many occasions, and typically when abroad I am gawped at, there's a hell of a lot of racism said by people who wouldn't typically be considered racists or think they have racist views.

What i'd really appreciate though, is if people stopped bending over backwards to deny racism ever happens. If we accepted racism has just been silenced instead of tackled, if when people talk about racism it wasn't just called being sensitive or pulling a race card, we might actually get somewhere in dealing with it.

[SleepFreeZone]

Yep that's right. What a horrible intolerant, racist, bigoted country we are. Hideous frothing people, off you pop to somewhere much better.

[weresquirrel]

I think the UK is a pretty tolerant place. Of course some people have racist/homophobic views but compared to countries where racism/homophobia is government sanctioned and widespread (try being Jewish in the Arab Middle East, black in China or Chinese in Malaysia where there are specific racist laws against these minorities) in comparison, the UK is a beacon of tolerance!

[weresquirrel]

I've also witnessed a lot of reverse racism, for example Muslims being prejudice against Hindus, Sikhs and Jews, black people referring to white people as "honkeys" and other pejorative terms and a whole spectrum of whites/blacks/Asians being openly homophobic. I think many people can be racist or prejudice but again, as a whole the UK is very tolerant.

[whataboutbob]

Why is that reverse racism? Surely it's just plain old racism/ prejudice/ bigotry. Having grown up in an Arab country I am never surprised that other races/ religions can be intolerant.

[ILoveSeverusSnape]

weresquirrel try being ... Chinese in Malaysia

I used to be aquainted with a Chinese Malay guy - housemate of a friend. First met him when he came home bleeding and in a calm resigned way said he'd better call the police as he'd been beaten up again, apparently due to his race (by other UK immigrants of a different race).
We chatted a bit about Malaysia (I'd recently visited) and he commented that he was surprised at the racism problem in England. He reckoned back home the laws were racist, but the people mainly got on day-to-day, whilst here the laws are all about equal rights but face-to-face people loathe each other.
Of course this is only one person's opinion (as a tourist, even with Malay friends, you don't really see what is going on) but it made me think.

[IPityThePontipines]

Yep that's right. What a horrible intolerant, racist, bigoted country we are. Hideous frothing people, off you pop to somewhere much better.

Why should it be people who object to racism who have to go anywhere?

What is this obsession with a race to the bottom?

Tell me SleepFree, do you come on all threads where people are discussing problems in the UK and tell them to leave the country?

[tofutti]

Op were the couple that made this comment both white? Do you think they weren't sure of the correct term when they said half breads? Do you think maybe they were laughing as 2 white people generally do not have dual heritage children/shared heritage children.

Can anyone translate Buster 's post?

[DollyBarton]

I think bigoted people LOVE to have their views confirmed by other bigots. Hearing racists and homophobes and transphobic people all agreeing with each other like they know something....makes me sick to the stomach.