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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think Nihal Arthanayake is being ridiculous

206 replies

Sausagenbacon · 29/11/2023 21:32

He lives in a country where the majority of the population is white, but says it has mental health problems from a workplace which is mainly, yes, white. However does he deal with everyday life?
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/bbc-diveristy-nihal-arthanayake-radio-5-journalism-diversity-fund-b1123658.html

BBC workplace 'overwhelmingly white', presenter Nihal Arthanayake says

'It's really affecting me that I walk in and all I see is white people,' the Radio 5 presenter told a diversity conference

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/bbc-diveristy-nihal-arthanayake-radio-5-journalism-diversity-fund-b1123658.html

OP posts:
CurlewKate · 01/12/2023 10:13

@HomiesAlone I think I was challenging a poster claiming that the country is stealthily being taken over by Islam by saying something like "Yeah, right. Sharia law is everywhere!"

Ah well. A learning opportunity for both of us.

Poudretteite · 01/12/2023 10:17

Anyone who thinks there's a context that justifies burning babies in ovens and burning parents and children alive is total scum. He should go somewhere else to satisfy his barbaric views.

CurlewKate · 01/12/2023 10:49

@Poudretteite "Anyone who thinks there's a context that justifies burning babies in ovens and burning parents and children alive is total scum. He should go somewhere else to satisfy his barbaric views."

I agree. Good thing he doesn't say or think that.

MasterBeth · 01/12/2023 11:23

BethDuttonsTwin · 01/12/2023 07:40

That’s a big answer. No idea what the first paragraph means though…

Skirt around and “what about” and “white people think bad things you know” all you like but the fact remains that due to current social attitudes around discussing race if a white presenter said what this man said he’d be pilloried and shamed and would lose absolutely everything. There’d be no claims of “it’s nuanced” no excuses, no quarter given. You may be fine with that given that historically there was racial inequality but it wasn’t right then and it isn’t right now. Is it that whites need to take a good long turn at the bottom of the pile? Is that it? Revenge Because that stinks of utter hypocrisy and every single person of all colour needs to reject that because it cannot end well, most of all for POC certainly in western countries where they are the minority.

“Historically there was racial inequality” tells me all I need to know about your post.

AdamRyan · 01/12/2023 11:59

Sausagenbacon · 01/12/2023 09:43

OK point me to the 'blatant racism/white supremacy '.

Has he [Nihal] realised that this is actually a free country and he can leave any time he wishes? How about North Korea or Iran or even Russia Suggesting brown British people leave if they don't like the culture is racist

he said there are too many white people in a predominantly white country. Imagine if a white person said their were too many blacks. Their feet wouldn't touch the floor on the way out. He didn't say that at all. And plenty of white people do say there are too many "other" ethnicities here, mostly in the guise of "concern" about immigration as demonstrated later.

You could argue ethic minorities are over represented on television in my area. And that would be racist.

Can you imagine wandering around a halal supermarket in Bradford bemoaning the lack of diversity and saying all the brown people are affecting your mental health because they don't look like you? Implies the BBC is a white institution, and he is the interloper, by comparing it to a white person using a Halal supermarket. And don't even get me started on the stereotyping of Bradford.

Nihal works in a majority white country, his expectation of seeing large numbers of POC who are Muslims around him at all times are indeed as the OP points out just ridiculous and totally unreasonable. He didn't say that, he said he wanted it to be representative.

I suspect there’s been rumours of redundancy/poor ratings/replacement and this is a preventative strategy to ensure he cannot be sacked. Implies POC use their ethnicity unfairly to protect themselves from being managed effectively. Completely racist trope, similar to whining about women on maternity leave.

These days you can be arrested for even thinking the 'word' white! What's the world coming to! Imagine if a white person said this! Just imagine! This is the definition of white supremacy - total paranoia about what someone might do if they read your mind. Ridiculous statement.

Is it that whites need to take a good long turn at the bottom of the pile? Is that it? Revenge. Because that stinks of utter hypocrisy and every single person of all colour needs to reject that because it cannot end well, most of all for POC certainly in western countries where they are the minority. More white supremacy, intimating a threat to POC if they challenge the white status quo.

You can excuse what Nihal said all you like but he is still being a racist to his white colleagues. He expects them to not have their jobs because of their skin colour. He never said this, its made up and clear DARVO

You ignore the concerns of people who are white and then wonder why those concerns boil over into anti immigration sentiment and Brexit. Intimating threats to POC again - a feature of white supremacy. "You are welcome here as long as you know your place."

Plenty of businesses in Bradford dont employ a single white face but no doubt you won't be screaming at inequality in those workplaces Irrelevant, racial stereotyping

I work in heavy industry with a lot of working class people and I hear more and more antipathy towards POC because of issues just like this. I can see the resentment heating up and the BBC are stoking that by not taking action against what is plainly racist sentiment. Another example of "You are welcome here as long as you know your place."

I don't care if you want to call me names, I'm fed up of this divisive, racist posting going unchallenged. So fed up I've spent my time responding to you for any lurkers, not because I expect you to change your mind. I see you.

CurlewKate · 01/12/2023 12:09

@AdamRyan Yep. All of that.

Sausagenbacon · 01/12/2023 12:20

This is the definition of white supremacy - total paranoia about what someone might do if they read your mind.
I don't think so.
But I would love to know how you would describe real racism/ white supremacy if it came your way. The problem with using hyperbole is that you're left with nowhere to go when you meet the real thing.
Like people who call out supposed fascism.

OP posts:
Sausagenbacon · 01/12/2023 12:23

the belief that white people constitute a superior race and should therefore dominate society, typically to the exclusion or detriment of other racial and ethnic groups.
Hth

OP posts:
AdamRyan · 01/12/2023 13:12

Sausagenbacon · 01/12/2023 12:23

the belief that white people constitute a superior race and should therefore dominate society, typically to the exclusion or detriment of other racial and ethnic groups.
Hth

Yes, exactly. As shown by posters suggesting that any minorities complaining about their treatment should worry about the consequences. Thanks for backing me up

ilovesooty · 01/12/2023 14:49

I see Liz Kershaw has waded in to slag him off on Twitter /X. When I pointed out that I liked him and had lost respect for her because of what she was saying, she blocked me.

I suspect her response to being challenged is very similar to a good few posters here.

CurlewKate · 01/12/2023 15:09

@ilovesooty Being blocked by Liz Keeshaw is a badge of honour.

ilovesooty · 01/12/2023 15:21

CurlewKate · 01/12/2023 15:09

@ilovesooty Being blocked by Liz Keeshaw is a badge of honour.

Thanks! I'm surprised Andrea Jenkyns hasn't blocked me. I've said much stronger things to her on a number of occasions. One very mildly critical comment to Liz Kershaw and the block was immediate! 😁

Sausagenbacon · 01/12/2023 16:00

Yes, exactly. As shown by posters suggesting that any minorities complaining about their treatment should worry about the consequences. Thanks for backing me up
Well you obviously are determined to be wilfully obtuse. But hey, you do you, as they say.

OP posts:
Redundantrobin · 01/12/2023 16:37

CurlewKate · 01/12/2023 15:09

@ilovesooty Being blocked by Liz Keeshaw is a badge of honour.

I’ve always wondered what she has on someone senior at the BBC because how she still has a job is beyond me. She’s such a terrible broadcaster. The BBC seems to reduce her shows to almost nothing, but she’s still on air - inexplicably.

Redundantrobin · 01/12/2023 16:46

Redundantrobin · 01/12/2023 16:37

I’ve always wondered what she has on someone senior at the BBC because how she still has a job is beyond me. She’s such a terrible broadcaster. The BBC seems to reduce her shows to almost nothing, but she’s still on air - inexplicably.

Turns out she doesn’t anymore, actually 🤐

CurlewKate · 01/12/2023 16:51

@Sausagenbacon "Well you obviously are determined to be wilfully obtuse. But hey, you do you, as they say."

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

DisquietintheRanks · 01/12/2023 17:12

Poudretteite · 01/12/2023 10:17

Anyone who thinks there's a context that justifies burning babies in ovens and burning parents and children alive is total scum. He should go somewhere else to satisfy his barbaric views.

Seriously?

So I guess the context of Israel's current activities in Gaza (plenty of dead babies there too) isn't important then?

The 7th October attacks were horrific but they didn't just happen in a vacuum. Understanding the context, or even accepting there is a context, neither legitimises or excuses them.

TizerorFizz · 01/12/2023 18:41

The problem that Nihal has is that it would appear these people that he doesn’t respect gave him his job. They gave him the platform to say things on national radio and then follow it up at conferences. I think I might say thanks and praise them. There’s a lot of talent about and some others might actually be better than him. However DJ Nihal got the gig. So surely there was an attempt at diversity?

derxa · 01/12/2023 19:31

DisquietintheRanks · 01/12/2023 17:12

Seriously?

So I guess the context of Israel's current activities in Gaza (plenty of dead babies there too) isn't important then?

The 7th October attacks were horrific but they didn't just happen in a vacuum. Understanding the context, or even accepting there is a context, neither legitimises or excuses them.

The context is that Hamas is terrorist organisation whose stated aim is to wipe out all Jews. They are unwelcome in most Muslim countries. There is never any excuse for rape. Except if you're Owen Jones who denied any rapes took place.
And no I don't support Israel's bombing of Gaza or its treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank.

RosaGallica · 01/12/2023 21:47

“Yeah, right. Sharia law is everywhere!"

Actually there was growing concern about the use of sharia law in the U.K. prior to Covid. So much so that there are government reports about it. Google it.

Im tired of the pathetic cries of phobia being used to silence perfectly legitimate concerns about demographic and cultural change.

HomiesAlone · 01/12/2023 22:21

RosaGallica · 01/12/2023 21:47

“Yeah, right. Sharia law is everywhere!"

Actually there was growing concern about the use of sharia law in the U.K. prior to Covid. So much so that there are government reports about it. Google it.

Im tired of the pathetic cries of phobia being used to silence perfectly legitimate concerns about demographic and cultural change.

What are your concerns about demographic and cultural change? What exactly do you mean?

Reugny · 01/12/2023 22:24

TizerorFizz · 01/12/2023 18:41

The problem that Nihal has is that it would appear these people that he doesn’t respect gave him his job. They gave him the platform to say things on national radio and then follow it up at conferences. I think I might say thanks and praise them. There’s a lot of talent about and some others might actually be better than him. However DJ Nihal got the gig. So surely there was an attempt at diversity?

So a brown person should be thankful for being given a job...

🙄

HomiesAlone · 01/12/2023 22:45

Yes @Reugny , and if you note the last two lines of the comment you have quoted, the poster implies he was given the job for a "diversity quota". i.e. he isn't as good and a White person who was better was denied a job.

NotEvenThought · 01/12/2023 22:46

Nihal is very boring especially when he was on the radio with Martin Lewis. He loves the sound of his own voice.

DojaPhat · 01/12/2023 22:52

Because that stinks of utter hypocrisy and every single person of all colour needs to reject that because it cannot end well, most of all for POC certainly in western countries where they are the minority.

The really good thing about threads like these are all the ways people always reveal themselves. And with some you can always tell it was rather unwittingly. "It cannot end well... for the minority." Hmmm, curious that.

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