Most Racist Thing You've Seen?

[Patrick Buck]

Visited my great Aunt and Uncle down in Swansea, after not having seen them for about 5-6 years. I was sitting, listening them chat to my Dad, and suddenly, out of nowhere my great uncle turns to me and warns me about going to Cardiff for Uni. Why? "Because it's basically an arab state now. Whenever I visit, I see... Them. All around. Keep an eye on your wallet."

Holy. Fuck.

 

[EternallyBored]

hope you never find out that it's -gasp- illegal to not have identification on you at all times.

Must be a really shitty police state if this is the case. Here in Germany I don't have to carry my ID at all times. I need to be able to identify myself but this doesn't mean I have to present a state issued ID all the time.

And I sincerly doubt your claim anyway. If you'd have to have your state issued ID with you all the time then the state would be responsible for people to get one mandatory.

Yeah, I'm not sure what country Kalezian is from, but in the U.S. you aren't actually required to carry government issued ID on you at all times, only a driver's license if you are pulled over while operating a vehicle. Some states have, "stop and identify" laws, but those generally don't require a government issued ID either, they just require you to tell the police officer who you are, the strictest states will only detain you for a while so the police can attempt to check ID.

I know specifically in my state it can only be asked if the person is suspected of committing a crime or violating parole or probation and the only questions they can ask are for a person to ID themselves or questions in relation to why they are being detained, unless an actual arrest occurs, no citizen can be detained for more than 60 minutes, and the officer cannot transport them anywhere beyond the location where they were stopped in order to question them.

Arizona is the only state that has tried to pass something like what Kalezian is talking about, and even then it was only applicable to suspected illegal immigrants being required to show entry papers or passports, and I'm pretty sure that was either struck down or it is not being enforced.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

My ex-girlfriend was Indian (born there, immigrated to the states). On two separate occasions, we went and ate at Indian restaurants where the entire staff was Indian, and on both occasions it was blatantly obvious that the wait staff were doing everything in their power to ignore us and didn't want anything to do with us, and when they actually came over they were rude and clearly didn't want us there. Numerous other people (both Indian and non) who came in after us were being served well before us and being treated fine. My ex-GF's theory was that they hated seeing a white guy with an Indian woman.

I had a friend who was Korean and was insanely racist against the Japanese. So bad that he skirted just on the edge of basically saying "they deserved it" when the tsunami hit Japan, without actually saying it.

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

My ex-girlfriend was Indian (born there, immigrated to the states). On two separate occasions, we went and ate at Indian restaurants where the entire staff was Indian, and on both occasions it was blatantly obvious that the wait staff were doing everything in their power to ignore us and didn't want anything to do with us, and when they actually came over they were rude and clearly didn't want us there. Numerous other people (both Indian and non) who came in after us were being served well before us and being treated fine. My ex-GF's theory was that they hated seeing a white guy with an Indian woman.

I had a friend who was Korean and was insanely racist against the Japanese. So bad that he skirted just on the edge of basically saying "they deserved it" when the tsunami hit Japan, without actually saying it.

Your date was probably right. When I bartended in college, I saw this quite frequently, and it isn't really one race more than another that does this, interracial couples seem to enrage people of all races. Had a white guy yelling at a blonde girl sitting with her black date one night and had to make him leave. He was irate screaming that "***** were stealing all the women!" I have heard the same thing said by black males about white guys with a black woman.

With the frequency this occurs, I am wondering if this just about race or more about competition and feelings of inadequacies. Men often are very competitive with one another over women, and maybe they feel they are not able to compete with another man of another race because if a woman finds black men more attractive than white men, for example, they cannot just make themselves black in order to compete. Just as the poor man may resent the rich man, the lonely man may resent the guy with the "hot girl" as well.

Now we do have many racist issues with interracial couples, but I am wondering if this isn't more based in jealousy than it has to do with the race of the person. "White guys stealing all our women" seems more like jealousy than racism, even if racism is a part of it, the motivation appears to be jealousy. Just like a white guy may feel inadequate in the bedroom if their date's ex was a well endowed black man and worry if he would be able to please her. I don't think it would be him being mad that her ex was black, but rather he was " well endowed" and leave him feeling inadequate.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

My ex-girlfriend was Indian (born there, immigrated to the states). On two separate occasions, we went and ate at Indian restaurants where the entire staff was Indian, and on both occasions it was blatantly obvious that the wait staff were doing everything in their power to ignore us and didn't want anything to do with us, and when they actually came over they were rude and clearly didn't want us there. Numerous other people (both Indian and non) who came in after us were being served well before us and being treated fine. My ex-GF's theory was that they hated seeing a white guy with an Indian woman.

I had a friend who was Korean and was insanely racist against the Japanese. So bad that he skirted just on the edge of basically saying "they deserved it" when the tsunami hit Japan, without actually saying it.

Your date was probably right. When I bartended in college, I saw this quite frequently, and it isn't really one race more than another that does this, interracial couples seem to enrage people of all races. Had a white guy yelling at a blonde girl sitting with her black date one night and had to make him leave. He was irate screaming that "***** were stealing all the women!" I have heard the same thing said by black males about white guys with a black woman.

With the frequency this occurs, I am wondering if this just about race or more about competition and feelings of inadequacies. Men often are very competitive with one another over women, and maybe they feel they are not able to compete with another man of another race because if a woman finds black men more attractive than white men, for example, they cannot just make themselves black in order to compete. Just as the poor man may resent the rich man, the lonely man may resent the guy with the "hot girl" as well.

Now we do have many racist issues with interracial couples, but I am wondering if this isn't more based in jealousy than it has to do with the race of the person. "White guys stealing all our women" seems more like jealousy than racism, even if racism is a part of it, the motivation appears to be jealousy. Just like a white guy may feel inadequate in the bedroom if their date's ex was a well endowed black man and worry if he would be able to please her. I don't think it would be him being mad that her ex was black, but rather he was " well endowed" and leave him feeling inadequate.

I've often had a theory regarding this whole phenomenon (and there is some actual social science behind it).

Humans, by nature, tend to 'compartmentalize' information in their heads, and because of this we tend to form stereotypes, whether we like it or not. To give a small example: I've only met a small handful of black women in my life that I found attractive. Purely percentage-wise, much smaller a % than latino, Asian, or white women I've met. Now, this certainly doesn't mean I wouldn't date a black woman (and I have), but it does mean that my brain is aware (through sheer repetition) that the chance I'll find a random black woman attractive is smaller than the chance that I'd find a random Asian woman attractive. I've spoken to many other people who echo these ideas as well.

So what happens when, to use your example, someone sees a black man with a white woman, in theory the person should be saying "no big deal that this white girl is dating him, now there's a black girl available". The problem is that your brain knows that the chance of you finding this black girl attractive is lower than the chance of you finding that white girl attractive, and thus it activates the angry part of your brain that makes you think that this isn't a fair trade, and thus you're feeling angry.

This is, of course, largely a bunch of garbage, because it sticks people into categories instead of treating them like people, but I think the idea has some merit.

And sorry, but any white guy who feels inadequate because his GF used to date a black guy is not too bright,and probably watches too much porn. Research has shown that black men aren't any bigger than white men on average, or the difference is negligible:
http://thegrio.com/2011/07/29/six-stereotypes-the-black-community-believes-fact-or-fiction/

Sadly, the whole 'black men all have huge dongs" stereotype is a racist throwback, where imperial powers basically labeled blacks as essentially being decadent and out of control beings who had no control over their sexual lust.

 

[Eddie the head]

So what happens when, to use your example, someone sees a black man with a white woman, in theory the person should be saying "no big deal that this white girl is dating him, now there's a black girl available". The problem is that your brain knows that the chance of you finding this black girl attractive is lower than the chance of you finding that white girl attractive, and thus it activates the angry part of your brain that makes you think that this isn't a fair trade, and thus you're feeling angry.

I know this has nothing to do with your overall point. But I would consider that more then a fair "trade." (I dislike using that word in this context) But yeah I find black woman as a whole more attractive then white woman. I do get where you're coming form just for whatever reason I felt like sharing.

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

My ex-girlfriend was Indian (born there, immigrated to the states). On two separate occasions, we went and ate at Indian restaurants where the entire staff was Indian, and on both occasions it was blatantly obvious that the wait staff were doing everything in their power to ignore us and didn't want anything to do with us, and when they actually came over they were rude and clearly didn't want us there. Numerous other people (both Indian and non) who came in after us were being served well before us and being treated fine. My ex-GF's theory was that they hated seeing a white guy with an Indian woman.

I had a friend who was Korean and was insanely racist against the Japanese. So bad that he skirted just on the edge of basically saying "they deserved it" when the tsunami hit Japan, without actually saying it.

Your date was probably right. When I bartended in college, I saw this quite frequently, and it isn't really one race more than another that does this, interracial couples seem to enrage people of all races. Had a white guy yelling at a blonde girl sitting with her black date one night and had to make him leave. He was irate screaming that "***** were stealing all the women!" I have heard the same thing said by black males about white guys with a black woman.

With the frequency this occurs, I am wondering if this just about race or more about competition and feelings of inadequacies. Men often are very competitive with one another over women, and maybe they feel they are not able to compete with another man of another race because if a woman finds black men more attractive than white men, for example, they cannot just make themselves black in order to compete. Just as the poor man may resent the rich man, the lonely man may resent the guy with the "hot girl" as well.

Now we do have many racist issues with interracial couples, but I am wondering if this isn't more based in jealousy than it has to do with the race of the person. "White guys stealing all our women" seems more like jealousy than racism, even if racism is a part of it, the motivation appears to be jealousy. Just like a white guy may feel inadequate in the bedroom if their date's ex was a well endowed black man and worry if he would be able to please her. I don't think it would be him being mad that her ex was black, but rather he was " well endowed" and leave him feeling inadequate.

I've often had a theory regarding this whole phenomenon (and there is some actual social science behind it).

Humans, by nature, tend to 'compartmentalize' information in their heads, and because of this we tend to form stereotypes, whether we like it or not. To give a small example: I've only met a small handful of black women in my life that I found attractive. Purely percentage-wise, much smaller a % than latino, Asian, or white women I've met. Now, this certainly doesn't mean I wouldn't date a black woman (and I have), but it does mean that my brain is aware (through sheer repetition) that the chance I'll find a random black woman attractive is smaller than the chance that I'd find a random Asian woman attractive. I've spoken to many other people who echo these ideas as well.

So what happens when, to use your example, someone sees a black man with a white woman, in theory the person should be saying "no big deal that this white girl is dating him, now there's a black girl available". The problem is that your brain knows that the chance of you finding this black girl attractive is lower than the chance of you finding that white girl attractive, and thus it activates the angry part of your brain that makes you think that this isn't a fair trade, and thus you're feeling angry.

This is, of course, largely a bunch of garbage, because it sticks people into categories instead of treating them like people, but I think the idea has some merit.

And sorry, but any white guy who feels inadequate because his GF used to date a black guy is not too bright,and probably watches too much porn. Research has shown that black men aren't any bigger than white men on average, or the difference is negligible:
http://thegrio.com/2011/07/29/six-stereotypes-the-black-community-believes-fact-or-fiction/

Sadly, the whole 'black men all have huge dongs" stereotype is a racist throwback, where imperial powers basically labeled blacks as essentially being decadent and out of control beings who had no control over their sexual lust.

No, I think you misunderstood. Her ex was black. Her ex had actually had a huge dong. It isn't that he is mad about her ex being black, it is he would be mad about her ex having a huge dong, and the fact he was black was just a coincidence. See it automatically jumped to " racist stereotype" because that is the default for "Black with huge dong", but that doesn't mean that is why it bothers him.

 

[Gorrath]

Sounds like racism to me then. You actually make a good point. It's good to know you aren't arguing this from the position that racism against minorities historically mistreated hasn't gone away as is often the conclusion come to by people in your situation. Now, we have a serious trend of anti-white racism because anti-racism is actually anti-white...or something. *Rolls eyes*. Yes, you can be racist against whites, but it's not as huge of a trend as racism against those historically disenfranchised. Like I said though, that doesn't excuse racism towards whites. You point out that just because systematic racism is focused on doesn't mean non-systematic racism isn't an issue or that you can't have an isolated instance of systematic racism in a specific area. Great analysis honestly.

Quite right! Unfortunately, people have a tendency to dismiss people's experiences if they don't share those experiences. Since so few people have seen or heard of instances of racism against white people in this country (and because many claimed instances of racism are bullshit claims, ie the sort you see on Fox news), most tend to disregard any claim of racism against whites as being made up bullshit. For those white people who are stuck in such situations, this state of affairs makes it almost impossible to find help for their situation, which in turn emboldens those who are harming them. It's all pretty vicious really.

Your perspective is refreshing though it might also be that I just love seeing a variety of perspectives by people in similar situations in general. You didn't let your experiences change your perspective on others' experiences and I think that's great. I love the diversity of civil debate even though they, unfortunately, often end up turning into petty, angry debates as if the other side is some evil blob. Sigh. Here's a good example: Morgan Freeman. He generally seems like a cool guy, but his comments on racism are in themselves a form of racism to me. He argues if we stop talking about it it will go away and that he and other successful black guys are proof racism isn't really an issue anymore. He is way too privileged and removed from the plight of common people to begin to understand and it's sad he doesn't realize it, smart as he seems. I'm not black and even I can see the BS in that statement. I feel like it's a form of racism towards the majority of unsuccessful disenfranchised minorities. If anyone were to point this out to him I get the feeling he would just weakly dismiss valid points. But, that's just me. Figured I might as well throw in some new perspective in.

I'm a big fan of reaching out to people to learn about them and their experiences. Like you, I find differing perspectives to be fascinating. There are those that experience racism and let those experiences turn them into racists. I figured out pretty early on that that would be a terrible path. Instead of hating a race of people for what a few of them did to me, I learned to hate racism instead. I don't even hate racists, just the ideology they subscribe to. More often than not, racism is driven by ignorance, and hating someone over ignorance is counter productive. I think fighting the ignorance is way more useful than fighting the ignorant. Morgan Freeman is an awesome dude, but I agree with you, his stance on racism does seem ignorant, assuming I am interpreting his position correctly. If racism is ignorance, you can't fix ignorance by refusing to talk about it.

One of our biggest challenges in the fight against racism is to get people to be more cognizant of it. I don't so much care for the "check your privilege" method because of the way people tend to use it, but the idea behind it is a good one. I also think people who do think racism is a problem need to learn that non-systemic racism or pocket systemic racism do exist and are just as worthy of being addressed as systemic racism. Our message to society should be that racism is wrong no matter who does or it who it is done to.

Oh, don't worry. It's not as if clarifying your experience means you have to disagree with my points. My points highlight other nuances of this debate, but don't necessarily disregard your experiences. I agree with much of what you said myself.

Good talk. I'm always up for a good ideological throw-down but it is refreshing to find someone I can agree with too. More often than not, I find myself arguing against pretty much everyone.

 

[Colour Scientist]

Well my brother works in government. At a committee hearing about the situation of Asylum seekers in this country my brother overheard something pretty terrible. During the 90's we took in a lot of asylum seekers. Many have been living in cramped hotel rooms, entire families to a single room for the better part of two decades now. One child when asked where he was from said "Mosney". That's one of the camps we put them and he grew up there. He was born there and he's lived there his entire life. There was another girl who scored one of the highest in the country in her exams but because of her status she's not entitled to any financial aid for third level education and isn't able to legally work so she can't even put herself through college. At one point one senator said to another "What are they complaining about, in their own country they'd be living in a cave." All for the crime of being born in a country where they were not safe and needing to flee elsewhere.

Hearing some people here talk about asylum seekers is horrifying. I listen to a fair bit of talk radio at work and there was one guy who assumed that every person of colour in the country was an asylum seeker and that they were all on the dole and in council houses.

He also assumed they all got free cars because one time he saw a black man driving a car.

I'm not even exagerrating.

 

[Colour Scientist]

Well my brother works in government. At a committee hearing about the situation of Asylum seekers in this country my brother overheard something pretty terrible. During the 90's we took in a lot of asylum seekers. Many have been living in cramped hotel rooms, entire families to a single room for the better part of two decades now. One child when asked where he was from said "Mosney". That's one of the camps we put them and he grew up there. He was born there and he's lived there his entire life. There was another girl who scored one of the highest in the country in her exams but because of her status she's not entitled to any financial aid for third level education and isn't able to legally work so she can't even put herself through college. At one point one senator said to another "What are they complaining about, in their own country they'd be living in a cave." All for the crime of being born in a country where they were not safe and needing to flee elsewhere.

Hearing some people here talk about asylum seekers is horrifying. I listen to a fair bit of talk radio at work and there was one guy who assumed that every person of colour in the country was an asylum seeker and that they were all on the dole and in council houses.

He also assumed they all got free cars because one time he saw a black man driving a car.

I'm not even exagerrating.

It's amazing how many of them clearly don't even know what an asylum seeker is.

I'm not surprised, I've heard that immigrants are getting free mobile phones, free cars and paid expenses. Starting to think the average Irish racist doesn't actually know the difference between an immigrant and a marketing executive.

They also don't think they're racist.

There was a woman acting as a spokesperson for that lynchmob in Waterford that set up camp outside of the Roma family home and she actually gasped when someone suggested that she might be a bit of a racist and a bigot.

This was after they had set up the Facebook page 'Get the dirty thieving Romani out of Waterford.'

 

[Thaluikhain]

They also don't think they're racist.

Always. Nobody wants to admit that they are part of the problem, and tend to get very upset when people point out that maybe they might be.

In part, this is because when people think of racism, they think of people like the Nazis or KKK. As long as you aren't like them, therefore, you aren't racist, and will likely be very offended if someone says you are. Racism is bad, they aren't bad people, therefore anything they say or do can't be racist.

 

[Thaluikhain]

snip

You'd think an angry mob storming a home and shouting "Roma out!" would have been a little harder to justify as not racist in their minds. Like even a spark of self awareness would have struck at least one person there.

If they did, they'd not have turned up for the mob.

Alternatively, it seems it doesn't take that much to get a bunch of seemingly quite normal and fairly reasonable people to form an angry mob attacking someone for no good reason, at least temporarily.

 

[jamail77]

[SNIP ALL THE THINGS]

Here's the thing: Were he a black man saying he was being beat up by a gang of white men, would you question whether or not the motivation was racist?

Seriously. Think about it. If you heard this story but reversed the races, would you question the black guys claims to the motivations of the white gang?

As a matter of fact I would and I have. He stated something without mentioning whether the gang actually called him out on being white. This is a very common trap to fall into, to believe something is racist just because everyone who is ganging up on you is of another color when it turns out to not be due to racism at all.

And, if you look back at the conversation after he clarified I believed him. You assume I am affected by the societal convincing to doubt racist claims if they happen to certain people, but I don't. I doubt anything without context and explanation. That's just my nature. If you look at my other posts you will notice that I defended the notion that you can in fact be racist against whites. But, for some reason, you didn't quote those posts. Why didn't you snip by the way? Most of what you quoted is not relevant to your question.

Seriously. Think about it. If I had doubted the same story with reversed races would you be questioning me right now? I get the feeling you wouldn't. No offense, but that's how silly you sound. I am not making assumptions about you based on lack of information, so please don't make assumptions about me. Before you say I made assumptions about the guy's story it's because he stated something about his experiences without full context whereas you are doubting my look on society when I didn't have a chance to state my full philosophy. The former feels disingenuous while the latter REQUIRES opportunity. Feels unfair frankly.

 

[happyninja42]

Probably when a middle aged black man came up to me, got in my face and said "I'm going to break my foot off in your ass you motherfucking cracker".

 

[sextus the crazy]

Uungh, growing up in a small Finnish town, the racism against the Romani was just everpresent.
It was just deemed okay to assume they were all thieves and up to no good, and tell racist jokes about them.
Also a while ago I heard a lady claiming that black people don't know how to use toilets and will shit in the middle of your living room.

I see casual racism a lot.

Yeah, the more I learn about Europe, the more I realize that y'all are just as racist as the people back in the states, only in your own European ways. We don't really have anti-Romani stuff because no one knows who the hell they are (although Gypsy is a recognizable term and "gypping" someone is still used in the vernacular, although the relation with the romani isn't really popularly known).

OT: I can't personally recall any openly racist stuff, seeing as I've attended lefty-liberal private schools all my life and otherwise didn't interact with other people, but I've generally noticed the anti-Arab sentiments or generalizations.

 

[Majinash]

I saw a man call a woman a "pussy-ass *****-ass cracka-ass *****". But it was OK because after that he said "that's how I feel in my heart... *****!" I guess it doesn't do the moment justice because it was preceeded with just shy of 10mins of this man screaming obscenities, racial slurs and threats of violence.