Diane Abbott....racist comment or not?

[festi]

I think If you look and consider what she said in the context of the discussuion she was having. I believe she has a very valid point, she did make a generalised remark and by definition that was racist, but, it was in my opinion acceptable for her to generate discussion and break down the barriers that exist (the fear of counter accusations of racism) in discussuing the exposure openly.

Don't know if she is racist or if she just opened her mouth and out it spouted.

I get the impression that she doesn't engage mouth before she speaks sometimes. And being a politician and broadcaster, she ally ought to learn, as she has done this before.

I wonder whether people would call for resignation if the same tweet had been made by a white MP.

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a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human > > races determine cultural or individual achievement
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Well I dunno. Sometimes such generalisations may be true and it would seem unfair to stigmatise them as racist.

To take an example which I don't think anyone would be offended by, the game of basketball, for obvious reasons, favours tall people, typically well over 6 foot, with very few exceptions:

www.toptenz.net/top-10-shortest-nba-players.php

Obviously there are different height distributions between different racial groupings and that's why you don't get that many top basketball players of oriental ethnic origin.

So if someone says orientals are not as good as afro-caribbeans at basket ball, surely they are just making a reasonable generalisation based on observation and are not guilty of anything reprehensible?

I think the very people who are standing up for Abbott are the very same people who would be baying for blood had this come from the mouth of a Tory.

I've lost complete respect for her, I always liked the fact she was independent and yes, a little mouthy. I thought it brilliant she stood for the leadership and some of the speeches she has given in the past have been impressive.

However there is supposedly no excuse for racist remarks, out of context or not. Does this rule only apply to some people and where are the guidelines for when it is ok to make stupid remarks on a whole race (note she could have said "the establishment" or even blundered about with "white men" but she interestingly used the word "people".) The way she mishandled the Sky reporter as well, if you didn't mean it then you'd be really angry someone had even suggested you were racist. Livid indeed.

One racist remark, the one she made about Clegg and Cameron being "posh, white boys" or whatever it was is bad enough but it seems to be becoming a bit of a habit. (Why not just call them posh boys, why bring the white part into it or is it ok to ridicule whites?)

Not everyone is a tribalist

The fact that she refers to race in so many situations and the way it just slides off her tongue shows that it is at the forefront of her mind in so many situations and in many guises and that is unhealthy and racist and has no place in politics. She needs to go

Daine Abbott is beneath contempt for many reasons, not least of which is that the 'community' is ok for other black boys but not good enoguh for her own, who is of course sent to a nice public school.

She also loves to play the victim when it suits as is typical of left winger whingers. She was on MN recently, bleating about how hard it is for her, being a 'single parent and an MP'.

Loathsome woman.

Yes I think the private school thing was annoying. She is past her sell by date in politics I think.

She's an idiot. Occasionally she says things I agree with, but what a ridiculous thing to say.

smallwhitecat - people get fed up with seeing the same thing over and over again - priveleged people, who normally have no experience of what it's like to struggle to get anywhere in life, representing us. I just can't take Dave seriously when he says we're all in this together. Some of us have no hope of EVER being able to better ourselves, no matter what he or his party thinks. They have got to where they are today on the grounds of their parents' wealth and a lot of people don't think that that's fair.

YRC, in a country where more people use bloody Facebook than can bother to register to vote, we have a lot to be ashamed of. However, whatever your thoughts on DC or DA or any of the other lot, the fact remains that we are a democracy and these people are in positions of power becasue they were voted for, or to put it another way, people coulodn't be bothered to vote for anyone else.

I am quite friendly with an MP and he says politics is pretty easy to get into because most people quite simply don't give a shit. So, pay your dues in terms of gonig to dull council meetings for a few years and who knows what could happen. You might be in 10 Downing Street one day.

The more I think about this, the more I think what a ridiculous thing for her to say it was. I live very near to where she is MP, and racial tension round here is high. As an MP, helping ease this tension should be at the forefront of her mind.

Somebloke - the problem with the sort of generalisation you cite is that it gets used to discriminate against groups of people when all that should be looked at is each person's individual ability to perform the task in question.
'White men can't jump' - well, some can. 'Women can't read maps' ...Oh yes I damn well can!

"Daine Abbott is beneath contempt for many reasons, not least of which is that the 'community' is ok for other black boys but not good enoguh for her own, who is of course sent to a nice public school."

I agree that this is just one of the reasons DA is abhorrent. I cannot stand her.

However, I take issue with the 'racism cuts both ways' thing. Interesting blog post here.

There is also something singularly unintelligent, loud and oafish about her.
I like Ooonagh King too.

I don't like Oonagh king because she pushed past me and DD in the Science museum last week

The Labour Party doesn't need idiots like Abbott and I suspect Milliband is beginning to realise this.

Oh, I've gone off her then.

How are things Tether?

tethers that is an interesting blog but doesn't seem very well informed about the real world. I live in a city where black-on-black (usually Hindu or Sikh versus Afro-Caribbean or Muslims) crime is not reported due to the problems of racial tensions. So yes, racism does cut both ways. Racism is deciding to denigrate, bully, victimise or assault someone purely based on their race or the colour of their skin. So yes, it does cut both ways.

Ms. Abbotts comment also needs to be taken in the context of her other comments and attitude. She clearly wasn't talking about 19th Century colonials. She very clearly comes from the stand point that all white people secretly don't like her and wish her harm because she's black, not because she's an idiot.

Yes indeed.Playing the race card is a very lazy way of deflecting attention from the issues of general fuckwittage.

It was racist.

I don't think an off-hand comment should be a sackable offense - it would have to be something seriously dire.

The mainstream media are making a huge furore over something quite small.

However, the schadenfreude of seeing Abbott get a pasting is just wonderful

I despise Diane Abbott but it has NOTHING to do with her being black, it's because she's a self important twat and people like her and Lee Jasper do more to exacerbate existing racial tensions than fight them.

A propos of general fuckwittage, I enjoyed this Oborne's comment in the Telegraph today on why the Left are wrong about everything.

Frankly, numpties like DA are the least of their problems.