Why is there so much more anti immigration sentiment NOW?

[GreyWasp]

Half my family are Indian and came over in the 50s. My British Indian dad (born here) said he has always been very lucky to have not experienced much hate and discrimination. He has a wide friendship network of people from all backgrounds. I’m not saying racism doesn’t exist. Not at all, just that the environments my dad was placed in outright racism was minimal. And he felt pretty much like a normal British lad going to school, uni, clubs, bars etc. My white grandparents had their concerns in the 90s when my parents married mostly in regards to potential bullying any future grandchildren would experience but really they were fine with their marrying. I have genuinely never had one negative experience (granted I have been in somewhat privileged situations in middle class areas in the South plus am white passing but do look ambiguous when tanned).

In recent years I have noticed a shift (for the worse) in terms of negative sentiment towards immigrants/poc. For me, it’s the worst it’s ever been. I certainly did not feel it 10/15 years ago. I see SO many racist comments on social media. Was not the case previously.

Im just interested in having a discussion why this could possibly be the case? People are definitely more woke now than they have ever been.

Is it the social media sites themselves? Less moderation? More political influencers?
More media attention?
People looking for an excuse to blame the economic decline (pandemic, brexit, col etc)?

Just curious what people’s thoughts are?

Social media and the internet are likely having an impact and spreading racism and toxicity plus cost of living challenges and constant negative news reports relating to asylum seeker/immigrant behaviour.

However, as someone of mixed ethnicity and based on personal experiences, things are better compared with the 80s/90s (my childhood years!)

It’s always money.

I don’t recall immigration constantly being in the news when I was growing up 90s/00s.

Im glad you’re not experiencing the perceived step back that I have.

I could be in a complete bubble which has no bearing on the general trends. I 100% accept that

Scapegoating, social media and right wing press.

Social media. It's given people licence to air opinions they might've just muttered under their breath or not spoken aloud at all. It's turning/turned society into a cesspit of hate and discrimination.

It's always been there, but it's very fashionable to be vocal about it these days.

I don’t recall immigration constantly being in the news when I was growing up 90s/00s.

Because the 24-hour news cycle didn't exist then. News providers have got a lot of website space and airtime to fill.

People become more racist in less prosperous times as they are looking for a quick solution to society’s problems/someone to blame. E.g. the nazis only came to power because Germany was such a mess after WWI.

There are other factors too. I remember anti-immigrant sentiment being very high in the run-up to the Brexit vote. Then it diminished for a bit as people thought there would be no more immigrants. Over the past few years it’s become clear that is not the case and people are angry all over again.

Social media too, yes. People express things online they would not dare to IRL.

As for people being more “woke” as you say, those are not the same people who are becoming more racist! Everything is extremely polarised.

What do you mean on the 4 censored channels we had back then?

I'm pretty sure The Sun and NOTW had bigotted rhetoric even then. Anti-immigrant rhetoric is not new to poorer working class areas.

We have dozens and dozens of news sources and unlimited sources of information. Stands to reason we'd hear more about it now.

Also, the UK population has grown a lot over the past 30 years, public services are failing and with the COL, who gets the blame?!

I think there’s just more access to right wing news than there was previously.
Plus easy scapegoat, can’t get a job- ‘they’re’ stealing them, can’t get a GP apt - too many people in the country etc.

Artificially inflated hardship by the Tory government over the last two decades combined with too much unskilled immigration with subsequent impact on infrastructure - hospitals, schools, roads, traffic etc. MNetters hate the immigration part of the explanation, but it’s true and as always it’s the working classes feeling the squeeze the most, so the average MNetter isn’t yet feeling the real pinch, but that won’t be forever, everyone’s going to be feeling it in a decade or two. People are angry and resentful and it’s easier to blame the supposed “incomers” rather than the political class, who are entirely to blame, but against whom we have no power and who cannot be ousted.

I agree that it's social media: men like Musk at the top stirring up hatred of immigrants and division. Why? And bots operated by bad actors all over the world spewing out Goebbels type propaganda.
Its not just racism either it's misogyny too. Appalling stuff that no newspaper would ever dare print.
Not sure what we can do, but for starters I think everyone should come off Musk's X.

Your dad then was very lucky he didn’t experience racism. It was rife growing up here in the 70s/80s.
things calmed down in the 90s.
Well when i say calmed down it changed. It was more hidden rather than being spat at and told to go back where you came from.

It does seem to have got worse since Brexit. And the govt were happy to blame immigrants for the mess they made of the country.

Also the racism I’ve experienced is partly from native English and also from Pakistanis. I live in Rochdale and get stared at everytime I go into the town centre. At least I don’t get followed. (I’m British Indian).

I don’t think my dad’s experiences were representative of what most immigrant kids experienced. My dad was sent to a good school for secondary as my grandparents had the means to do so at that point.

Social media. At least in the olden days the press were somewhat regulated in what they could say. Now any bigot can get a platform, a following of a million plus and start trumpeting whatever bile they choose.

Also like others have said, we're poorer and worse off for loads of complex economic reasons, some labour's fault from back in the 90s, some tories fault, some Europe's fault, some the fault of Brexit... it's easier to find and scapegoat a minority group than understand the real reasons. It's always been the way. A few thousand years ago it was Christians. Then Jewish people. Then Irish, now POC.

Blame the daily mail

My initial reply got deleted as it said two naughty words that people used to do in the 70s towards brown skinned people. It was encouraged by the BNP. Anyway, my point was to say that the racism experienced now is less than in the 70s..in my view. Also social media is a vent for a lot of people so it gives licence to share more inappropriate thoughts.

Bottomline is tories not being in charge and pulling a strop about it.
Carry on and keep calm.

I feel like it has always been like this. I don’t remember a time when people were not anti-immigrant.

Many reasons probably. Everyone seems so angry at everything. The UK has gone to shit and immigrants are the scape goat.

Twitter / X is full of hate and easy for anyone to access

Younger people will have grown up with terrorism being constantly in the news. And it’s not like back when you’d have to wait for the news to be on tv a couple of times a day, it’s constant 24 hour news now.

Immigrant communities keeping to themselves instead of integrating. Which is a viscous circle, because who can blame them when racism is rife at the moment.

It is somehow fashionable (for lack of a better word) to openly racist.

Comments I’ve read from young people in Europe. Mainly The Netherlands and Germany is that some of them feel they’ve been treated unfairly throughout their school years with immigrants getting preferential treatment and bullying not dealt with properly due to the teachers fears of being called racist. Now they are old enough to vote and this could be one of the reasons of the swing to the right in Europe.

Because there’s a massive shortage in affordable housing, NHS appointments and education places. People blame immigration. 🤷‍♀️

Being racist and being concerned about the effects of mass immigration are two different things and we have to be clear about that. I know many people who are descended from immigrants themselves who are concerned about uncontrolled immigration levels. Unfortunately it seems to be something we can't discuss calmly without people name calling and taking extreme views.

My Bangladeshi and Indian work colleagues mainly voted for Brexit and are against the large increase in immigration because they see how it can unsettle a country if it's not controlled.

People see the bad state of the NHS, lack of housing and don't want millions being spent to house and support illegal immigrants. And they want those who commit crimes to be deported.

But white British people can't express the views that my colleagues do without being shouted down on MN and left wing media as bigots and racists.

There needs to be a discussion or Britain will sadly move to the right like much of Eutope and the USA