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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

About "friend's" racist Facebook post

128 replies

laurzj82 · 11/01/2017 10:07

A friend of mine has form for posting anti Muslim crap on her Facebook feed. A few arguments about it. Really annoys me but we've know each other for years and years and offline the subject doesn't come up and we get on really well. I'm going to just unfollow her but we will still be "friends" if that makes sense.

Anyway she posted a picture of a bacon sandwich saying this shouldn't be allowed to be offensive, share if you agree.

AIBU or is this complete crap? I don't have a Muslim friend I could ask but surely no one is going to be offended by that any more than I would be of a picture of their halal dinner?? Sorry if I am wrong and if I have offended anyone I apologise. I genuinely want to know if it is offensive or if it's just one of those stupid Britain First posts that make up that muslims are offended by such and such and then post it everywhere.

Sorry for typos; on a new phone.

TIA

OP posts:
EnglebertSlaptyback · 11/01/2017 10:10

My uncle was posting similar stuff on fb and I Un-friended him. Didn't invite him to my wedding either. He's a racist and I don't need that kind of crap on my newsfeed, no matter who it's from.
When she has a keyboard to hide behind she's happy to be racist, but in person she isn't. I'd extricate myself from the friendship tbh.

paxillin · 11/01/2017 10:11

She wouldn't be my friend any longer. It sometimes takes ages to realise really old friends have unsavoury views, but racism means time to let go.

WellErrr · 11/01/2017 10:14

She sounds like a fucking dumbass. I wouldn't be able to be friends on that basis alone.

x2boys · 11/01/2017 10:16

people post such crap i have friends and ex work collegues that are muslim they are not offended by the sight of a bacon sandwich most celebrate xmas too .

user892 · 11/01/2017 10:16

Yep. Unfriend. If you get questions about it say "it's because you're a massive bellend racist"

Justme3 · 11/01/2017 10:16

A bacon sandwich in itself no probably not offensive. But racist friend . Nope no way. Wouldn't matter if she is nice IRL . No way would I have anything to do with her!

LemonRedwood · 11/01/2017 10:16

Exactly what WellErr said.

MrsDustyBusty · 11/01/2017 10:17

"This shouldn't be allowed to be offensive" is one of the oddest ideas I've ever heard. Who's going to pc gone mad police that one?

user892 · 11/01/2017 10:17

Why exactly do you like hanging out with a bigot?

ThatUsernameIsTaken · 11/01/2017 10:18

Hahaha I'm muslim and i am not offended by a picture of a bacon butty, a Christmas tree, a pig or anything that i am 'supposed' to be offended by. When i see things like that i feel sorry for the other person as they obviously lack an education or brain cells.

HannahSmithson45 · 11/01/2017 10:18

Can't you hide the stuff, personally I wouldn't unfriend someone for posting such stuff. It's not up to me to censor my friends have their views and that's their opinions of which they are entitled to share.

SalemSaberhagen · 11/01/2017 10:18

People like that want the sandwich to be seen as offensive, so they can bubble and froth. But really nobody gives a shit.

I would defriend. I don't deal with racists.

Purpleprickles · 11/01/2017 10:18

I'd unfriend and report to FB.

Fuckityhi · 11/01/2017 10:20

Call her out. I really do think we need to call out this racism hate bullshit whenever we see it. Don't let fuckwits like your "friend" or anyone, normalise it.

And unfriend her!

StillMaidOfStars · 11/01/2017 10:22

I'd just respond: Good job nobody considers it offensive then Hmm

Dulra · 11/01/2017 10:22

I've had to unfollow people for similar reasons and definitely pulled back from socialising with them IRL. I don't mind people having different views/ opinions to me and enjoy debating with people but blatant racism and bigotry is a no no and not people I would want to associate with at all.

RhodaBorrocks · 11/01/2017 10:24

My UKIP supporting Uncle has form for this sort of thing. Tbh my Muslim and Jewish friends get more offended being told they find those memes offensive than they are by the memes themselves.

It's not the bacon sandwich that's offensive, it's labelling a whole group of people as being 'wrong' because they are supposedly 'offended'. And who made the meme? Some racist who has an agenda to paint other cultures or religions as 'wrong' or 'unreasonable'.

I don't get offended when friends post pictures of freshly baked Challah or modelling their new hijab. I doubt bacon sandwiches in and of themselves cause massive offence.

KayTee87 · 11/01/2017 10:24

No Muslim person I've ever met would be offended by a picture of a bacon sandwich. These pictures / memes are created to rile people up against Muslim people and imo have no place on social media. Personally I wouldn't be friends with someone who thought like her.

OpalTree · 11/01/2017 10:26

I couldn't be friends with someone like that. I'd feel that they were too much of a twat for me to be able to relate to them. I would respond with Stillmaid's comment and drop her.

KayTee87 · 11/01/2017 10:27

Also it's not racist as Islam isn't a race, it's islamaphobic or just plain old bigotry.

alsmutko · 11/01/2017 10:28

Def unfollow at the very least. I had to do that with a friend who kept posting Britain First posts - usually the 'share if you agree this animal abuser should get a prison sentence' variety, but the one that really did it was the argument we had on FB about whether foreign criminals could or could not be deported after their prison sentence. It was just after that case of the Aussie who'd disrupted the Boat Race and was under threat of being deported, so yeah, it is possible to deport foreign criminals, we only get to hear about the ones we cannot for whatever reason (and not because they have a cat!).
However, talk to this friend in person, and I hear her complain about her boss at work who is victimising a work friend and she thinks it's because her friend wears a hijab. She can't get that BF are a bunch of racist fascist idiots but believes some of the tabloids, and more particularly, her racist friend, who, when I posted a link to an article about what BF are really like asking her to 'read this', her friend responded with 'no, don't read that!'
Unfollowed!

TenaciousOne · 11/01/2017 10:29

Don't bother reporting to facebook they aren't interested in overtly racist messages that one they'll ignore as well. Get rid of your friend and be done. Brexit has made it easier to find the 'hidden' racist which I'm a little bit thankful for no more wasting time on bigots.

SpotTheDuck · 11/01/2017 10:29

I think it's better to politely engage (at least a little) - otherwise these idiots will keep sharing their memes unchallenged because everybody with a brain has decided to unfollow them instead of making a fuss.

So in that instance, id post underneath saying "I don't believe anybody does find a picture of a bacon sandwich offensive. Muslims and Jewish people do not usually eat pig (although some do, depends on how strict they are), but I have never heard of anybody being offended or angry about other people choosing to eat pig."

stumblymonkey · 11/01/2017 10:29

Have Muslim friends, they couldn't care less about a picture of a bacon sandwich. They don't care if I eat bacon sandwiches. They don't care if I eat a bacon sandwich in front of them. They just don't eat it themselves.

In fact they're much less offended than vegetarians and vegans are. What is her policy on them? Hmm

DontTouchTheMoustache · 11/01/2017 10:31

She is a twat. Unfriend.