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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:
HashiAsLarry · 11/01/2017 12:06

She's sharing stupid shit on FB though, maybe she isn't the sharpest tool in the box and hasn't thought it through? If she hasn't displayed rampant racism in 20 years other than sharing crap on FB...
I would think that most people who share shit like this on FB know precisely what they're doing - that privacy controls give them the illusion that they can safely air their real views when they couldn't publicly. The ones who aren't so sharp tend to learn when they're called out the first time.

qwerty232 · 11/01/2017 12:11

I think it's a bit off. I'm not an FB user, but from what I've seen it's an absolute sewer pit of this kind of thing.

Megatherium · 11/01/2017 12:16

I would be desperate to ask her publicly to produce evidence that ^anyone" within the Muslim community has ever said that a bacon sandwich is offensive.

Phantommanflinger · 11/01/2017 12:18

People who are Muslim don't give two shits if people who are not Muslim eat bacon. They just don't want to eat it themselves.

user892 · 11/01/2017 12:19

What about transgender? If your friend posted a Facebook meme about transgender people being in denial when they call themselves men (if they were born female sex)?

Or homophobic memes?

Woukd any of these impact on day-to-day in person dealings with a friend?

woesinwonderland · 11/01/2017 12:21

I knew someone who was constantly posting these supposedly offensive posts. By all means challenge them, ask for the source/citation of the research study etc. Hopefully she will be mortified I doubt it though.

My DM posts the "like and share if you don't want Merry Christmas/nativity plays to be banned in schools, because lots of people do" all year round Hmm She is usually open minded so this is really quite embarrassing.

Servicesupportforall · 11/01/2017 12:22

Why don't you just write 'no one is petal where are you getting this crap from?'

ShotsFired · 11/01/2017 12:23

if you can be arsed, you could play the uber-naive "Why? Why would a bacon sandwich be offesive to a Muslim".

Make her spell it out for you and then say "oh I didn't know you found a picture of halal meat on a computer screen offensive to look at? Why on earth would you think that?"

When she says she doesn't, point out the logical fallacy in her OP.

Continue ad nauseum with thew wide-eyed innocent act and hopefully she'll get so pissed off she'll pack it in.

Raheesmyboy · 11/01/2017 12:25

Im a Muslim and i would never be offended by a picture of a bacon sandwich 😕 I dont understand why she think anyone would offended by it...

RockinHippy · 11/01/2017 12:28

She's thick as shit for believing that bollocks & is also too scared to voice her opinions face to face, but is clearly much braver hidden behind keyboard. She is telling you who she is - believe her.

I would be unfriending her ass faster than you could type delete & have done with a few people myself. I also would be educating her & if that doesn't work, keep a wide berth in RL too

Purplebluebird · 11/01/2017 12:29

Instead of ditching and unfriending a friend of 20 years, I would try to educate first. I had a friend from Latvia, who thought gay men were disgusting. She would only focus on the sex part of it, but when I (many times over a period of time) explained how it's more to do with who you love in a romantic way, rather than just "anal sex", she eventually grew an understanding, and became less narrow minded. Your friend might not be possible to educate, but for me it would be worth a try.

woesinwonderland · 11/01/2017 12:31

Im a Muslim and i would never be offended by a picture of a bacon sandwich 😕 I dont understand why she think anyone would offended by it...

Don't worry. anyone with half of a brain would realize that this is just Britain First anti-moozlem rhetoric.

ClaryIsTheBest · 11/01/2017 12:31

Am I missing something? Bacon sandwiches aren't inherently offensive to anybody. And they shouldn't be.

Sure, I can guess what this meme is trying to hint at. But it just seems a bit daft, tbh.

Seeing as the issue is eating/touching/preparing the bacon sandwich... not the picture of a sandwich.

Anyhow, I guess it depends on what you mean with 'racist'.

I'd rather deal with a Sam Harris type of person (not racist imo) than with Ben Affleck (not racist either. But maybe on steroids? Idk..)

teafortoads · 11/01/2017 12:33

I would be offended by a Halal meal as I think the suffering of animals killed for this purpose is a disgrace.

Olympiathequeen · 11/01/2017 12:38

My BIL is the loveliest man alive and never makes racist comments and has friends of all races but he still posts these Briton first crap. I think he only sees the injustice of homeless ex soldiers and not being able eat a bacon sandwich in a Muslim area. Neither of which I disagree with in principle, but it's how it's been presented that bothers me but he doesn't see. I did unfollow him but not defriend as I don't need crap in my life

Megatherium · 11/01/2017 12:41

Teafortoads, the vast majority of animals killed for halal meats are stunned before slaughter, in exactly the same way as non-halal meat. Are you therefore offended by all meat? Are you offended by non free-range meat? The animals killed for that tend to suffer a hell of a lot more.

NerrSnerr · 11/01/2017 12:43

I have zero tolerance for any racist, xenophobic, homophobic etc posts on FB. I unfriend straight away. They're entitled to their opinion but I don't want to see it.

OliviaBensonOnAGoodDay · 11/01/2017 12:45

But Olympia, who can't eat a bacon sandwich in a Muslim area? Who does he think that has happened to? What areas does he think are 'Muslim' in the UK?

Surely the homelessness of veterans is more to do with the cuts to mental health services and a lack of understanding of complex needs, than Muslims? What does he think Muslim are doing to make vets homeless?

Sorry, but I think half of these 'reasons' are just concocted to make people feel better about vile prejudices they held anyway, and always have and always will.

Hippee · 11/01/2017 12:52

Sorry if someone has already posted this - I have missed it - this is the best thing that I have seen on Facebook about this type of thing. www.facebook.com/theincitement/videos/1451715818191603/

Perhaps you could post it as a response if she does it again.

Olympiathequeen · 11/01/2017 12:54

The soldiers thing comes up on Britain first which automatically associated it with racist issues, despite having nothing to do with it.

I do remember something in the papers about a butcher not being allowed to sell pork so it does happen. I don't think it's right that religious pressures are brought on local business. Our local garage doesn't sell pork or bacon but it doesn't bother me personally. I don't think we should be afraid to confront racism on both sides.

SalemSaberhagen · 11/01/2017 12:55

olympia if he shares stuff like that he is racist, regardless of the races of his friends (oh how I hate that excuse).

He is also definitely not the 'loveliest man alive'.

ClaryIsTheBest · 11/01/2017 12:57

Can we please just make the distinction that not all things we happen to think are offensive are racist?

I hate how this term is thrown around so easily by some people.

NerrSnerr · 11/01/2017 12:57

Olympia who didn't allow a butcher to sell pork? Who has the authority to stop a butcher from selling pork? How odd.

Glitterywillows · 11/01/2017 13:03

my PIL reposted the bacon sandwich one. I find it highly racist. They always go on about immigrants ( which is why they don't take kindly to me or my family, I presume) as well and Muslims. my family don't originate from Britain we come from Europe and when my grandparents came over to live here after the war, they got so much crap from racist people. I hate these stupid reposts and racist material. it's ignorant and plain racist and in my opinion just shows how uneducated these people are. rant over.

Glitterywillows · 11/01/2017 13:03

my PIL reposted the bacon sandwich one. I find it highly racist. They always go on about immigrants ( which is why they don't take kindly to me or my family, I presume) as well and Muslims. my family don't originate from Britain we come from Europe and when my grandparents came over to live here after the war, they got so much crap from racist people. I hate these stupid reposts and racist material. it's ignorant and plain racist and in my opinion just shows how uneducated these people are. rant over.