Son and very right wing racist views

[Strawberry33]

My son 14 has been extremely influenced during the past year by stuff in the media that he now calls lefty propaganda and some unfortunate experiences. He now has decided to completely shun our families values and wants to become a right wing politician. He’s very bright but been debating with teachers and pupils today in his online learning and I’m worried he’s going to be punished and silenced which seems to only feed into his views.
Just to add he’s not at all violent, aggressive or nasty towards people of any group. If he was I’d definitely get police involved or counter extremism involvement.
I just want to shape his views but he just digs his heels in more and more! X

@turnitonagain

Sorry what’s all this about white people being blamed for everything? Don’t think it’s part of the national curriculum. White men still run the country and the current government does not want critical race theory taught in schools so I’m baffled as to these comments talking about an alternate universe where white boys are being held responsible for all of society’s ills.

If OP’s son goes to a mainly BAME school then seems like there’s some personal issues where perhaps he’s translating feelings of social exclusion into xenophobic attitudes and that’s being fanned by right wing social media.

You're lucky

I am very relieved that CRT is not being taught in schools but it has certainly infiltrated workplaces and popular culture so the damage is by no means limited.

Are there many teenaged boys in workplace CRT trainings?

People are using this thread to air grievances unrelated to OP’s problem.

How ridiculous that people are suggesting you report him etc. He totally should be allowed to have "right wing" views. Tories were voted in as was Brexit. It's not like some small group of people believing in aliens!! Its a majority.

I disagree with his racist views, and on that he should be challenged. However, I totally get where he says he feels oppressed. Since the BLM movement, my children have been made to feel somewhat responsible and as if they themselves should be ashamed. And don't get me started on the number of times they've been told they are white privileged. Its caused a huge divide at their school now, and wrong to make children feel ashamed of being white.

This and also there might be an element of kicking back against the establishment, because it's so painfully liberal progressive, middle class and politically correct. The bourgeois chattering class is cringe to most adults, even many on the left now, and would be even more so to a teenager.

A different political view to your own, mixed with rebellion against privileged bonkers academia and media restrictive and puritanical 'correct think', that bears no relation to the real world and the way most normal people, of all backgrounds, interact.

White men still run the country and the current government

Well this isn't true for a start. The chancellor isn't white and the home secretary, a woman, isn't white either. These are probably the two most important government roles after the PM

...does not want critical race theory taught in schools

The objection to CRT being to taught in schools, or rather the objection to it being taught as fact and something many people agree on, was raised by a black female Conservative MP

Flaxmeadow you’ve misquoted me.

“White men still run the country” is the first part of the sentence.

“The current government does not want critical race theory taught in schools” is the second part.

I’m not giving into hysterics about the racial makeup of the leading class in politics and business in the UK, the facts speak for themselves. White men are not oppressed in any fashion in reality.

you’ve misquoted me.

I havent misquoted you, I copy and pasted the part of your post I wanted to highlight for discussion

White men are not oppressed in any fashion in reality

Well maybe you could explain that to the white man, with mental health problems, who sleeps in the subway down the road from where I live, who has also been victim of racist abuse by local gangs.

I didn't have the best start in life (foster system etc) but can still recognise my white privilege - it simply means had I had the same start in life and not been white, I would have faced additional barriers, challenges and closed doors.

I don't understand how once that is explained, some people can't get (or don't want to acknowledge) that white privilege doesn't mean you are "privileged" in the sense of rich / connected, it means that if you were not white you would have additional challenges to face.

White men are not oppressed in any fashion in reality.

So sexism and racism literally don't exist? Really - do you genuinely believe that to be true?

the school showed them a bbc video reenactment of Roman Britain with lots of black cast as Romans

As pp have pointed out, the Roman army recruited from all over the Empire and black soldiers came to Britain.

You can Google it. Discuss it with him?

the school showed them a bbc video reenactment of Roman Britain with lots of black cast as Romans

I think I know which one, a cartoon of a Roman officer and his family. It was heavily criticised at the time for exaggeration. Even uber left wing Roman historian Mary Beard admitted it wasn't completely accurate.

Yes there were black Roman's, without a doubt and in Britain too, but the scale does tend to get exaggerated sometimes, probably for enthusiastic modern political reasons.

@youvegottenminuteslynn

White men are not oppressed in any fashion in reality.

So sexism and racism literally don't exist? Really - do you genuinely believe that to be true?

Systemic racism against white men does not exist in 2021 Britain.

As I said - it sounds like OP’s son is having social issues in a majority BAME school and due to right wing online exposure he’s conflating his personal issues with black classmates with wider xenophobic political views.

Similar to MRAs/incels who spew hate against women online because in real life they struggle to date or interact with women successfully.

@Flaxmeadow the second part of the sentence is not connected to the first.

White men run the country - fact, PM and 70% of cabinet ministers are white males. I wish to be so oppressed.

CRT in schools is opposed by the Conservative party in general including non white members like Kemi Badenoch.

I am not saying only white men are against CRT.

@youvegottenminuteslynn

I didn't have the best start in life (foster system etc) but can still recognise my white privilege - it simply means had I had the same start in life and not been white, I would have faced additional barriers, challenges and closed doors.

I don't understand how once that is explained, some people can't get (or don't want to acknowledge) that white privilege doesn't mean you are "privileged" in the sense of rich / connected, it means that if you were not white you would have additional challenges to face.

I'm sorry for your difficult start but white privilege is a tenet of critical race theory - which is a pile of divisive re-racialising tosh. I would just ask you to do further reading around this - the book i mentioned earlier - Cynical Theories - is a great place to start, find out how this academic concept began, how it crossed into the mainstream and how many respected commenters and thinkers including many of colour are widely criticising it.

@turnitonagain

Systemic racism against white men does not exist in 2021 Britain.

Sorry if I explained myself poorly - I 100% agree! Racism absolutely does NOT exist against white men, I thought posters were saying that racism towards people who aren't white doesn't exist, along with sexism. Racism against people who aren't white and sexism against people who aren't male are rife and systemic. I totally agree!

Systemic racism against white men does not exist in 2021 Britain.

As I said - it sounds like OP’s son is having social issues in a majority BAME school

Or he might be a victim of racism himself?

If that's the case, then your comments about systemic racism and then about majority BAME schools are contradictory

@turnitonagain

Similar to MRAs/incels who spew hate against women online because in real life they struggle to date or interact with women successfully.

You're really drawing a comparison between this and a likely autistic 14 year old boy?

@HmmSureJan

Do you genuinely believe that my previous statement below isn't true?

I didn't have the best start in life (foster system etc) but can still recognise my white privilege - it simply means had I had the same start in life and not been white, I would have faced additional barriers, challenges and closed doors.

A comparable example is that had I been born male, I would have experienced fewer barriers, challenges and closed doors than I have being female.

I'm lucky I ended up gaining a degree, working in a competitive industry and now run my own business.

Everything I have achieved in my career would have been easier if I was male and more difficult if I wasn't white.

That doesn't make me a bad person - I don't feel guilt, I simply acknowledge white privilege just as I would expect a man to acknowledge male privilege. That doesn't demonise white / male privilege, it just means the more people who acknowledge it, the more likely those privileges are to be tackled and minimised.

That can only be a positive thing. Again, white / male privilege doesn't mean white people / males are bad people. It means they should acknowledge that being white / male has given them a privilege people who aren't white / male cannot experience.

He was 22, with access to guns.

There's nothing in the OPs posts to indicate her child is on this path. He's 14, she believes he's autistic and he's largely talking unformed nonsense after bullying, which OP has received loads of good advice about tackling.

Your posts discussing this child are hyperbolic nonsense.

[quote youvegottenminuteslynn]@HmmSureJan

Do you genuinely believe that my previous statement below isn't true?

I didn't have the best start in life (foster system etc) but can still recognise my white privilege - it simply means had I had the same start in life and not been white, I would have faced additional barriers, challenges and closed doors.

A comparable example is that had I been born male, I would have experienced fewer barriers, challenges and closed doors than I have being female.

I'm lucky I ended up gaining a degree, working in a competitive industry and now run my own business.

Everything I have achieved in my career would have been easier if I was male and more difficult if I wasn't white.

That doesn't make me a bad person - I don't feel guilt, I simply acknowledge white privilege just as I would expect a man to acknowledge male privilege. That doesn't demonise white / male privilege, it just means the more people who acknowledge it, the more likely those privileges are to be tackled and minimised.

That can only be a positive thing. Again, white / male privilege doesn't mean white people / males are bad people. It means they should acknowledge that being white / male has given them a privilege people who aren't white / male cannot experience. [/quote]
I don't believe in critical race theory, so no, I don't.

Or he might be a victim of racism himself?

Could be.

If that's the case, then your comments about systemic racism and then about majority BAME schools are contradictory

Just because most of the students are BAME doesn’t mean school leadership are. Do you know what systemic means?

@HmmSureJan

Out of interest do you believe in male privilege?

@HmmSureJan

He was 22, with access to guns.

There's nothing in the OPs posts to indicate her child is on this path. He's 14, she believes he's autistic and he's largely talking unformed nonsense after bullying, which OP has received loads of good advice about tackling.

Your posts discussing this child are hyperbolic nonsense.

Everyone starts somewhere. OP is right to be concerned as would any parent of male teenager who is attracted to online groups linked to racism or sexism. There’s evidence of radicalisation in these subcultures.

Doesn’t mean OPs son is destined to become a criminal, but now is the time to be involved and engage before it gets worse.

I believe that in some instances being a man or being white will confer an advantage. I do not believe in systemic sexism or white privilege where all men are sexist and/or all white people are racist and benefit from being so. I believe there are some men and some White people who will never change their mindset and never stop working towards cementing those advantages for themselves and other men or white peoples but I do not believe that sexism and racism are woven into the fabric of our every day lives as a permanent, inescapable thread that impacts every interaction we have.

To clarify I am speaking only of this country, the U.K. I would not dream of speaking for other cultures or nations and know that these issues are systemic and inescapable there.