AIBU to think that ignorance isn't a good reason to be racist?

[alltoomuchrightnow]

Re the news , MP Anne Marie Morris' phrase of ' in a woodpile'
I'm not going to write it out, people can google if need be.
I know a woman in her seventies (before I am accused of being ageist, I'm not, it's relevant as she's using age to defend herself) who cannot understand all the fuss, she says it's a perfectly common phrase. She had no idea that is taboo word/phrase these days. Thinks it's most unfair the MP is in trouble over it as it's 'just a word' and nothing wrong with it, so she thought...
She said, how is her generation supposed to keep up when one minute words are fine and the next they are not? If changes are so quick, how can we keep up, was her exact point.
I'm in my 40s and disagree. I am a 70s/80s child which was definitely not a PC time but I had never ever heard of that phrase until now and had to google it. Also the particular word in question was not a word from my english childhood. This is of course only my own experience. As I said..it wasn't a PC time and all sorts of words and phrases were used in the playground. Much were said in 'innocence' as didn't know what they meant and were copied from others or even parents.
But not that particular word. I honestly don't remember anyone using it , it was definitely a taboo word but it just wasn't on the radar.
So I don't think this woman is right. My parents are her age and older and they are not the most PC people but they'd never use that word and I know would not be happy for others to use it. They'd find it massively offensive.
Do I point out to her that there was no sudden change? Perhaps I'm wrong and it was sadly more common when I was a child than I realise. but that was so long ago.. certainly not a sudden change as in 'this is a bad word now'! Surely it must be 50 + years since used regularly, and even so, that doesn't mean it was ok then!

I think it's generally possible to distinguish between ignorance and racism disguised as ignorance. But I see it on here all the time.

She is well read, well educated, I just don't buy it... it's not a good enough excuse.

Mind you, she's always ranting on FB about immigrants and foreigners; people do argue with her but she always says she's entitled to her opinion and that she holds old fashioned views and won't change

Oh ffs op stop it

Stop what?

Yeah she does sound quite racist. I don't buy the ageist line I saw trotted out on here recently; if she / he is old, she / he can say what they like . My gran is 94 and has managed to go my whole life (that I can remember) without being racist or bigoted. She does sometimes comment on people's weight though, but that has nothing to do with her age.

Stop with the faux 'oh, I don't know if my friend who posts prejudiced shit on Facebook is racist ... could she just be ignorant?'

You know she is racist.

I know 100% she's racist.I don't count her as a friend. I really dislike her now
My point being, there is no excuse.
and she does , I think, like to shock... and cause controversy.

and it loses her friends

I too am in my 70s and happily learnt '10 little ...... boys' as a child, but have known for years that the word is unacceptable and understand why. In fact the only times I can remember the word being used was in the aforementioned nursery rhyme and to describe a very dark brown colour.
Your lady may be well read and educated, but just not very bright!

She is definitely not socially aware, and is known for being very tactless, end of. But I'm sure there's an element of shock value.
She was never a friend, just acquaintance but we have mutual friends

I'm in my 40s and disagree. I am a 70s/80s child which was definitely not a PC time but I had never ever heard of that phrase until now and had to google it.

Well I know the phrase you mean and yes I had heard of it I think it used to be common usage.

However, I don't buy the excuse that someone who is only in their 70s wouldn't know that was a taboo word. I am in my 50s and I remember when I was a child at junior school (late 60s/ early 70s) that it was already considered an offensive word. I recall a girl in my class being given a serious dressing down for using it. And this was in a very rural community where most of us had never even seen a black person (although in those days "black" was considered an offensive term and we were taught that "coloured" was more polite!)

I am a late 1940s child and using that term and others like it was common in my childhood.
There were playground rhymes, even n*** brown paint.
Its use had certainly become totally unacceptable by the time I was in my early 20s and I and all of my generation and older never seemed to have any problem in remembering not to use it. Even my very racist in laws never used it to my knowledge.
The only time I have ever heard it used more recently was in a deliberately racist attack.
Therefore I would assume that anyone who uses it is either racist or stupid. Neither qualities we want in an MP.
That word should be in nobody's vocabulary.

Well, it was common usage once upon a time. And the remnants of the generation for whom it was unexceptional would be into their 80s by now, and that is an age where creeping mental impairment might mean that the phrasing of their youth is easier to remember than recent events.

Younger, and deliberately commenting on a news story about the word - no I don't think that reason applies at all.

And the MP who said it has no excuse at all - far too young to have had it as normal during their lifetime, and speaking publicly where it should be obvious that choice of words has consequences.

(BTW, last time I heard the phrase used was in an office conversation some 30 years ago by someone who would now be in his 90s and who was utterly mortified that he'd said it. Because he wasn't racist, realised he's made a terrible mistake and could not have been more contrite)

My mum is in her 70s, and I have never heard her use that word. Ever. In fact I'm not sure I've heard anyone use it.

I'd have a bit more sympathy for an old person using "coloured", as that used to be the polite word in the 60s and they probably do mean well. But I'd still correct them (nicely). And if it were me, I'd want to be told! Who wants to go around inadvertently doing something really offensive?

"The n*** in the woodpile" is a southern USA phrase anyway. It's about finding runaway slaves hiding on your property. That isn't an issue we've ever really faced in the UK, so it's hardly a classic English saying. She's just a racist.

My Dad is in his 70s. When he was in his thirties he taught us about that word (so forcefully that to this day it's the only word I can't bring myself to utter or write - and I'm no prude).

She's 70 and racist just like she was 20, 30, 40 etc and racist. She's also a coward for hiding it behind her age. Despicable.

70yo man used the age arguement with me ... it's your age if you accidentally say 'coloured' instead of 'black' because you thought it was what was used now.
Not age if you call someone a turban head or a N**ger , sir.

she really should know - and if she's not able to 'keep up' maybe she should retire ?

In about 1964 one of my class at school was caught out being economical with the truth by a teacher who called him a "lying Arab". Imagine a teacher saying that now!

But then Edward Gibbon is still in print and he says that the Emperor Philip was an Arab and therefore a thief.

And of course Huckleberry Finn is also still in print and the n-word appears there time after time after time!

Every living person in every country in the world knows that the word 'n**r' is unacceptable.
Glad she was suspended. Hope she never works in politics again. Idiot.

Anyone who grew up at a time when the word transitioned from normal (albeit horrible) parlance to taboo is dead now.

Our oldies (if my parents are to judge) are transitioning from coloured>black (or, as I sweetly ask my Dad when it slips out - thankfully less often these day - which colour do you mean?)

My FIL uses his age as an excuse for being appallingly sexist... it's no excuse; he's an idiot.

I hope she gets heckled everywhere she goes from now on.

Well I am not yet in my 80s or anywhere near aunt but maybe should tell my DC to put me out of my misery if I ever start using such terminology in my dotage.
Maid as I previously said, the word was commonly used when I was a child. Spoke to my DH who says the same. We grew up in entirely different UK environments, one rural, one urban. We are nowhere near dead yet.
N*** in the woodpile used to be quite a commonly used saying in the U.K.
It is inexcusable for anyone to say this and certainly as you say Wishful she should not work in politics, and I would add any position of authority, again.
Can you imagine the outcry if a teacher had said this ?

My parents are in their 70s and i can't imagine either of them ever using that word, they definitely know it's not acceptable. Like pps I still have to occasionally correct my dad for saying coloured, but he's explained that to him saying black seems rude. I don't think I've ever heard my mum remark on anyone's ethnicity ever so I don't know what she'd say, but your acquaintance can't use her age as an excuse.

Petition to get her to resign