Faces to Names

[Seimimac]

Or being racist against the English.
For whatever reason, some people are aware and guard against racism against most countries, but feel it's OK to attack the English.

Can you give an example or two of people being racist towards the English? Give me a minute though, 'cos I need to wipe Guinness off my computer screen after I burst out laughing at your comment

[MongoGutman]

I feel the same way about sexism, FYI

ooh, hoist on my own petard! touche Dotsie - my first reaction was to mount a defence that within the confines of the 'men only' thread sexism was de rigueur - but then I wondered how I'd feel about a 'no gingers' thread... so, I don't know, you've given me food for thought.

Mycroft, I came on a little strong there, and I'm not really offended, so no worries; we're good - but perhaps I should 'go there' and explain my position a little. When I was the boy in the picture and growing up in the 60's and 70's there was no such thing as gingerism as far as I was aware, there were no negative connotations, no one made generalizations or stereotypes - except for the hot-headed thing - the only real drawback was it was hard to blend in or flee the scene of the crime. So I was never a victim, it's been no problem for me. However in the past few decades I've seen a growing trend of anti-ginger comments and disparagements - always jokes, never seriously intended of course - and I consider how such comments and remarks would've affected the painfully shy and overly sensitive kid that i was. I'm beyond it ever being a problem for me but I speak up in defence of the ginger kids out there growing up today. I suppose it's a minor problem, not really on a par with racism or sexism or homophobia - there's no ginger-bashing gangs as far as I know - but then "all that it takes for evil to flourish is that good men do nothing" as Edmund Burke would have it, so, you know, i speak up.

Or being racist against the English.
For whatever reason, some people are aware and guard against racism against most countries, but feel it's OK to attack the English.

Can you give an example or two of people being racist towards the English? Give me a minute though, 'cos I need to wipe Guinness off my computer screen after I burst out laughing at your comment

- Yeah i'm kinda with Semimac here, but lets see... hmm... inland the only anti-English rhetoric I hear is from some few Scots and Irish who choose to live, settle, work and raise their kids in England yet continually complain about the English. Yeah, there's some of them, but their position is so weak it's laughable and I don't think they affect anyone negatively. Overseas I don't know, I don't travel.

[ChristianBecker]

I have an example that is anti-british and sexist at the same time. So I'll not post it here.

[Seimimac]

I have an example that is anti-british and sexist at the same time. So I'll not post it here.

I would say that anti-British is different from anti-English, Christian. Without getting bogged down in politics and history too much, there was, and still is, a degree of 'anti-Britishness' here in some parts of NI, which doesn't translate to an 'anti-English' feeling whenever English visitors are here. English visitors to these parts are treated exactly the same as any other visitors - with friendliness, politeness, and a 'Céad míle Fáilte'. The anti-British feeling here would be directed more at the British government, rather than its people. In fact, I would say that the nation looked upon with the most disdain here is (better hide for this one!) the USA. For whatever reason, they, or at least a large number of them, seem to push the wrong buttons with people here, in a way that English people don't. Maybe it's because of the cultural differences, I don't know. Which is strange, as an awful lot of the Americans who visit are usually trying to track down their own family history!

I think many people mix Britishness with Englishness. Take the Olympics, and Team GB. An absolutely outstanding couple of weeks they had, and each competitor was as British as the next, but, take away all the non-English sports men and women, and 'Team England' would have been half the size. BUT - they all stood under the Union flag, all stood for GSTQ, and it is almost subliminally accepted that they were Team England.

Anyway, I'll end this rant with a word on 'Gingerism'. My ex-wife was a redhead; one of my 2 girls from that marriage is a redhead; Mrs. Seimimac is a redhead of a different hue; our young lad takes his hair colour from her. It is awful how people are picked on, purely because of their hair colour, and I agree with Mongogutman here - don't go there

[Bouncy Castle]

My mum is (was!) a redhead, my dad was Irish redhead - I never stood a chance.

[ChristianBecker]

Pip incoming in 3.... 2.... 1....

[Bouncy Castle]

Pip incoming in 3.... 2.... 1....

Oh don't. He may literally be incoming to my office in the next couple of weeks.

[Sjoerd3000]

My mum is a redhead too

[Bouncy Castle]

Redheads are very lucky. Their hair goes grey a lot later in life than people with other hair colours.

[Jan Van Quirm]

And what about blond prejudice - That's even more deep-seated socially verging on the invisibly endemic it's so thoughtless and possibly far more insulting seeing as how the type of blond who attract said insults are generally of the bottle variety and not blond at all?

I say that as a person who was once very blond as a kid but is luckily now a dark blonde of the shade known as 'mouse' and going whiter by the day (perhaps I shall eventually call it platinum blond? ). I actually never really had a complex about being blond as a youngster as I was always at or near the top of my class academically and admittedly some of the prejudice is more positive in an admiration sense (I was always a shoo-in for angels in nativity plays for instance) but even that's suspect in a way and thankfully as an adult I was always too dark or too obviously bottle enhanced (always had blond highlights) to be treated like an airhead too much - but like Mongo I get outraged on others behalf sometimes. Ultimately it's not worth getting paranoid about and half the time I don't 'bite' unless its something really outrageous simply because it's almost down to linguistics it's so 'natural' to denigrate/undermine someone because of their hair colour, be it a shade brighter or lighter than 'mouse'. And that's the really sad thing about it - nobody even notices they're doing it half the time.

[Dotsie]

Thank you Jan, I was just about to leap to my own defence If I got pissed off every time someone said they were having a blonde moment, I'd never stop Although sometimes, if I get praise for doing something well, I'll say "Yes, I was having a blonde moment"

[Who's Wee Dug]

I like that one Dotsie.

[MongoGutman]

I think I kinda derailed the thread so, back on topic, another from the archives, this from the late 80's and my first fabulous foray into facial fungus -



- and I have no strong views on moustacherism

[Bouncy Castle]

[Batty]

Or being racist against the English.
For whatever reason, some people are aware and guard against racism against most countries, but feel it's OK to attack the English.

Can you give an example or two of people being racist towards the English? Give me a minute though, 'cos I need to wipe Guinness off my computer screen after I burst out laughing at your comment

Robert Gordon University sociologist, Chris Thorpe, who is originally from Kent but has lived in Aberdeen for 25 years, has reported in the Press and Journal: “One would expect anti-English sentiment to be behind the increase in incidents against white British people. I have been on the receiving end of anti-English comments, but it is always written off as ‘Auld Enemy’ banter. But it often does not feel like banter if you are on the receiving end.”
As reported in the same article by Ryan Crighton, music retailer HMV is now stocking “ABE – Anyone But England” shirts.
During the world cup, police launched an investigation at the Slanj of Scotland branch in Aberdeen after a complaint was made about similar T-shirts. Slanj’s assistant manager, Jamie Wilkinson, 23, insisted the slogan was nothing more than “harmless football banter”.
But referring to the “ABE” T-shirts, Mr Thorpe said: “This shirt is nothing less than a poorly-veiled attempt to cash in on anti-English sentiment among Scots.
“If the shirt had emblazoned across it ‘Anyone but Africa’ would it be acceptable? I think not. If it had ‘Anyone but Catholics’ would it be acceptable? Again, I think not.”

Or of the Scots in Dundee burning the English flag after our draw with the USA?

Or of the Welsh footballers being told NOT to sing the National Anthem during the Olympics?

The makers of Country life English Butter, had to change the advertising and marketing, to declare that it is 'British butter', because the Scots objected to English butter being sold in Scotland.

How often has 'anyone but England' been repeated on this site?
It hurts.