How am I a racist?!?

[Cinderella1]

Still a bit shaken after an exchange with someone on Nextdoor site that called me a racist. Post might be long but don't want to be accused of drip-feeding, so here it is: Original post was about the tragic fire that took the life of four young kids. A neighbour posted this:
"After the tragedy of 4 little boys died in a house fire, I will ask for any single parent which need a help with their kids for a babysitting during Xmas , I am happy to help.
I am not child minder and not insured but I am mum with two grown up boys.

Pls pls do not leave your kids alone". This person then starts asking if she's had a DBS check, etc, so my response is here: "so you think people leaving their very young kids alone for hours is less of a risk than leaving them with a neighbour? This site is not Twitter. What's next - needed a food hygiene certificate and chefs qualifications when helping in a soup kitchen? The whole world will be a better place if we got to know our neighbours better and could ask for help when needed!" , Then him: "not sure what you think your post is about? Please vent some where else where they can understand you. Me: "it's written in British English - apologies for the confusion for those who need to revisit their comprehension skills."Then this from him: "oh sorry being
Welsh I am sorry I’ve offended all you Anglo Saxons as you’ve just offended me" "Racist", "going to apologise for your racism Dora?? Or are you just an Anglo Saxon bigot???" Me: "clearly your geography is as bad as your comprehension. Wales is still part of Great Britain and English is the official language!" Him: "reported to site as clear racism. No we don’t identify ourselves as Great Britain, we obviously have our own Synedd or do you deny that??". AIBU here or is this simply insane? I am not even Anglo-Saxon btw

I do think it's not wise to offer to babysit for people you don't know! Or to take strangers up on their offer! He was right to question it. Any old weirdo could say "oh I'm so helpful, I'll babysit for strangers so no more children have to die..." which is maudlin and weird.

@2021namechanger

And call me cynical - but I bet the “nice OP” would actually be taken aback if someone random said “yeah great was gonna leave my kids alone on NYE, but now you’ve offered that sorted”

Bullshit offers of help help no one.

I did wonder if I were just a cow, as my first thought to the reported OP was “hmm, virtue signalling”.

You are being bloody patronising to single parents!

@user36738281 You do not seem to understand this concept of welcoming an offer, then contacting them, getting to know them to be able to then use your own judgement vs "leaving your kids with a complete stranger" (no one has remotely suggested that. I hope my English is clear enough!

@Shiningpath

Maybe you’re not aware but there’s a strong commonality between people who put emphasis on British English, those who fly flags in their gardens and massive gammons. Your presumably innocent use of the term has led your Welsh neighbour to associate you with others who throw it around with gay abandon, usually alongside more pernicious statements about race and nationality.

Actually yes, this.

I’ve re read the exchange a couple of times and get this vibe from OP.

I think that @EmpressCixi has explained it all very well.

I think your mitigating factor is that you didn’t know that “British English” inadvertently put you straight into the wrong part of a Venn diagram of British racists.

I hate nextdoor. Originally it was hyper-local - so literally just a small area around. They've expanded the reach unfortunately.
I should remove myself from it now as it's suggested "neighbours" to me, one of whom is my stalker.

The original poster was using the article for virtue-signalling.

The guy was right to ask about DBS checks (which she could get very easily if she really wanted to sit for neighbours’ kids, they’re not expensive).

Your comparison to soup kitchens was unwarranted and weird.

The whole thread sounds bizarre and aggressive.

@x2boys

I don't think any of you should be using the tragic death of four boys ," to prove a point" it's very distasteful.

This with baubles on.

[quote Cinderella1]@user36738281 You do not seem to understand this concept of welcoming an offer, then contacting them, getting to know them to be able to then use your own judgement vs "leaving your kids with a complete stranger" (no one has remotely suggested that. I hope my English is clear enough![/quote]
If you take a step back from this - suppose a neighbour in this situation did happen to have nefarious intentions - do you think they'd reveal them in the 'getting to know' period?

A DBS check isn't infallible but neither is individual judgement. I imagine most people would want to have known a neighbour for quite some time and witnessed their day to day behaviour, before entrusting their children to their care.

[quote Cinderella1]@user36738281 You do not seem to understand this concept of welcoming an offer, then contacting them, getting to know them to be able to then use your own judgement vs "leaving your kids with a complete stranger" (no one has remotely suggested that. I hope my English is clear enough![/quote]
How much “getting to know them” do you think this person was suggesting, given that she was offering to babysit over Xmas?

I’ve seen people offer to walk dogs on Nextdoor and you get people (rightly) asking “are you insured, habe you got experience” etc.

So quite frankly someone asking if she has a DBS check is pretty normal. You started a row. Not him.

Did he go weird with it? Yes. But that’s social media for you.

@Cinderella1 I saw your post on next door, That guy was an absolute bellend please ignore him!

@user36738281 Fluently - 3 languages plus another 4 to intermediate level. And? I was making an albeit sarcastic point, on him pretending to not understand my defenses of OP. God forbid anyone tried to offer unsolicited help these days. Well, I for one, will keep seeing people as good and genuine until proven otherwise, but then again there are those like you

You both sound like total knobs.

clearly your geography is as bad as your comprehension. Wales is still part of Great Britain and English is the official language!

Ummm…
Welsh and English are Wales' official languages
museum.wales/articles/1221/Wales-other-languages/

[quote Cinderella1]@user36738281 Fluently - 3 languages plus another 4 to intermediate level. And? I was making an albeit sarcastic point, on him pretending to not understand my defenses of OP. God forbid anyone tried to offer unsolicited help these days. Well, I for one, will keep seeing people as good and genuine until proven otherwise, but then again there are those like you [/quote]
Yeah you’re not coming across well OP.

@Ilikeanimalsmorethanpeople thank you and sorry, guess that was quite outing

Well, I for one, will keep seeing people as good and genuine until proven otherwise, but then again there are those like you

Unless you innocently ask an OP in the local area offering to babysit your kids if they happen to have a DBS check....then OMG you are not good, not genuine and deserve a bollocking about hygiene certificates in soup kitchens and how we speak British English in this neighbourhood, don’t you know.

His first response to the original post was valid and sensible and then you jumped on him! I'm not surprised you pissed him off

Troll - ignore them.

[quote Cinderella1]@user36738281 You do not seem to understand this concept of welcoming an offer, then contacting them, getting to know them to be able to then use your own judgement vs "leaving your kids with a complete stranger" (no one has remotely suggested that. I hope my English is clear enough![/quote]
Hmm... your punctuation isn’t spot on but I understood lol. Anyway, you’ve done it again, good job (sarcasm), maybe try to calm down when talking to others? Then these issues might crop up less.

If you wrote that about comprehension of 'british english'on a london forum where people are likely to be racially diverse then it comes across very much as 'get out of england if you dont speak english properly' ie you sound racist

As for implying welsh isnt an official language in wales, you seem a little, confused....

Sorry- The British English statement was completely unnecessary- smacks of racism and or colonialism - presumably unconscious superiority. You could have simply defended by saying your post was very clear.

"It isn't a good think to say to someone you don't know 'British English'. For a start the phrase is 'The Queen's English'."

I would react SO badly to someone typing that they're writing the Queen's English. Even more superior and twatty.