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Multiple cases of racist incidents reported after Brexit.

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What's odd to me is all the worry about immigration. The population is like 90% white, I cannot imagine how these people would feel living in a country like the United States, or to a lesser extent Canada for example.
The difference isn't that big. England is 85% white and 15% non-white, slightly more diverse than Canada, which is 86% white and 14% non-white, while America is 72% white and 28% non-white.

America and Canada have had mass immigration for centuries, whereas mass immigration to the UK only really started after World War II, and the country has been diversifying at a rapid pace in comparison. Within just several generations, the UK has become the most diverse country in Europe and even surpassed Canada's diversity. The rapid pace of change is what has led to old white Brexiters (who still remember a time when the UK was almost entirely white) having rose-tinted nostalgia for the "good old days" (like old white Trump supporters).

However, the irony is that, most of the Brexit support mainly came from rural areas with predominantly white populations, with very little support from urban areas with diverse populations (London, which is 59% white and 41% non-white, voted overwhelmingly against Brexit). Most of the Brexit supporters, from these predominantly white rural areas, have had very little interactions with immigrants to begin with.
 
There are likely to be NO winners in this. Whether we voted for Leave or Remain, the same political issues going forward are going to impact us all.

Agreed. What's done is done and all the arguments are not going to help solve problems. People need to put their differences aside now and work together to make changes for the better and we also need to demand answers from the government on what happens next.
 
Just because you haven't seen it, doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Clearly someone attacking someone physically is more likely to get news coverage but there plenty of keyboard warriors on the Internet verbally abusing people.
That doesn't prove your "both sides" case, though. The level of attacks is just not equivalent.
Agreed. What's done is done and all the arguments are not going to help solve problems. People need to put their differences aside now and work together to make changes for the better and we also need to demand answers from the government on what happens next.
But the vote was about not working together!
 

Brinbe

Member
There are likely to be NO winners in this. Whether we voted for Leave or Remain, the same political issues going forward are going to impact us all.

That's true, but I was speaking more in terms of these racist idiots and everyone else. I wanted to say a rural/urban divide, but I don't know if that's entirely accurate. Maybe a progressive/regressive view of the world. Take our country back/make England English again/being hostile to immigrants, versus being open/diverse/accepting of others.

I've never lived in a place where I've been scared to be a minority or different, (in fact, its been the opposite) so I feel completely horrible and empathetic for those affected right now. Maybe this toxicity is limited and the morons feel extra emboldened right now, but maybe this isn't just a select few holding these hateful feelings.
 

ittoryu

Member
It happened to me already. In my local neighborhood group on Facebook, where people essentially speak about where to find a plumber and shit, I have been told to pack up and find a place where people will want me, as they voted out and as filthy EU migrant that steals benefits (even though I work and never got a single benefit day), I need to "fuck off".
Oh God must we really have yet another thread boil down to this judgemental nonsense?

Are you really going to say that 17,410,742 people all voted out of racism? That says a lot more about you to be honest.
I really don't get this number waiving all the times: Hitler got 13,418,517 votes in 1932.
 

Arkeband

Banned
Oh God must we really have yet another thread boil down to this judgemental nonsense?

Are you really going to say that 17,410,742 people all voted out of racism? That says a lot more about you to be honest.


On topic it's absolutely disgusting, especially the ones aimed at schools. Racists are going to be racists though. They're doing it now out of a bizarre sense of victory, as if everyone of a different nationality or race is going to be thrown out of the UK. Had Remain one, they would have done it out of a sense of anger. Scum gonna be scum no matter what.

So a leave vote:

1) Threw the country into financial chaos
2) Emboldened racists and xenophobes

What exactly did it earn you? A reprieve from "onerous" rules and regulations, which have been generally debunked to hell and back? The promise of funding the NHS, which was handwaved shortly after the results were announced?

What exactly did a Leave vote give the citizens of Great Britain except a swell of righteousness at being able to rebel against the machine at your own peril?
 

Hasney

Member
Oh God must we really have yet another thread boil down to this judgemental nonsense?

Are you really going to say that 17,410,742 people all voted out of racism? That says a lot more about you to be honest.


On topic it's absolutely disgusting, especially the ones aimed at schools. Racists are going to be racists though. They're doing it now out of a bizarre sense of victory, as if everyone of a different nationality or race is going to be thrown out of the UK. Had Remain one, they would have done it out of a sense of anger. Scum gonna be scum no matter what.

I disagree that they would be out in force if remain had won. A lot of them are cowards, like the EDL cunt who punched my girlfriend after a few pints a while back because she was out drinking with a 6'7" black man. Wonder why he waited until he went home before he had a go at her and gave her a black eye.

Now they feel a majority of the country agrees with them. For now, they feel like they don't have to hide it.

I'll re-iterate what I said before. If there's an EDL or Britain First march, see if you can't organise people to go out and hold flyers saying that everyone is welcome here. outnumber them. Make them feel stupid. If you can get the spare time (and fight for that spare time) to go confront them in this way, you should. I know that if I didn't, I wouldn't be able to look at myself in the mirror.
 

diaspora

Member
Oh God must we really have yet another thread boil down to this judgemental nonsense?

Are you really going to say that 17,410,742 people all voted out of racism? That says a lot more about you to be honest.


On topic it's absolutely disgusting, especially the ones aimed at schools. Racists are going to be racists though. They're doing it now out of a bizarre sense of victory, as if everyone of a different nationality or race is going to be thrown out of the UK. Had Remain one, they would have done it out of a sense of anger. Scum gonna be scum no matter what.

Why not? Trump has millions of voters- hell lots of racist leaders and causes have even today.
 

Valhelm

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Oh God must we really have yet another thread boil down to this judgemental nonsense?

Are you really going to say that 17,410,742 people all voted out of racism? That says a lot more about you to be honest.


On topic it's absolutely disgusting, especially the ones aimed at schools. Racists are going to be racists though. They're doing it now out of a bizarre sense of victory, as if everyone of a different nationality or race is going to be thrown out of the UK. Had Remain one, they would have done it out of a sense of anger. Scum gonna be scum no matter what.

People who voted Leave voted because of a mix of legitimate and illegitimate concerns, closely tied to racism or xenophobia. Many British workers have to compete with Polish and Pakistani individuals who would not have been in the UK 30 years ago, but most Leave voters haven't lost their jobs. Much of the motivation is just fear of demographic change, just like all the Trump voters who are scared of their hometown becoming too Latino. Because the UKIP promoted Brexit as a vote against immigration, large amounts of poor ethnic Brits voted out of racist attitudes toward brown people and Eastern Europeans.
 
So a leave vote:

1) Threw the country into financial chaos
2) Emboldened racists and xenophobes

What exactly did it earn you? A reprieve from "onerous" rules and regulations, which have been generally debunked to hell and back? The promise of funding the NHS, which was handwaved shortly after the results were announced?

What exactly did a Leave vote give the citizens of Great Britain except a swell of righteousness at being able to rebel against the machine at your own peril?
In this case, rebelling against the machine is really throwing your feet under the lawnmower to show you can damage the blades.
 

Dizzy

Banned
So by this logic there has been an exactly equal amount of racism all through history, in every country, at all times. It is not possible to reduce the amount of racism in the world. It's a genetic thing, and we also can't genetically engineer it out. It's just, like, when god makes the soul enter a newborn baby, he sometimes swings the switch to "Perma-Racist" and that's that. That's how racism works. No sense talking about it. It's just a thing that happens. And if you happen to be born brown, well, tough for you because there's nothing we can do about racists. And if racists happen to win an election, it's just a blind fluke, there's no way we can stop racist policies from being enacted. Apartheid South Africa happened because they rolled four dice and they all got a 6, and it collapsed because they rolled four more and they all got a 1.

Does anyone here agree with this?
Oh wow talk about a straw man and going off the deep end.

I was saying that racists will be racists regardless of the result of a referendum. They've been doing it for years, and like I said there would be this kind of behaviour whether 'they' "won or lost" and I put that in quotations because obviously what they were voting for and the actual referendum question we're two different things.
 

Valhelm

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The rise of nationalism , racism and political move to the right worldwide is really worrysome

This is what happens when there's no viable alternative to neoliberalism. Unless the left can get its shit together yesterday, neo-fascism is going to become a facet of European politics for the foreseeable future.
 

mclem

Member
First of all let me make this abundantly clear, I am empathic towards people who are facing racism and bigotry, I have been a victim of racism myself first hand so I understand how utterly disgusting it is, there is no excuse for it and anybody who has suffered as a direct consequence of the vote leave I apologise on behalf of the absolute fucking idiots and disgusting human beings that have behaved this way.

This people are pond life, lower than scum and don't deserve to live in this country, racism should never be tolerated, justified or accepted under any circumstances.

Mind you, if they didn't live in this country... would Leave have won?
 

Valhelm

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So by this logic there has been an exactly equal amount of racism all through history, in every country, at all times. It is not possible to reduce the amount of racism in the world. It's a genetic thing, and we also can't genetically engineer it out. It's just, like, when god makes the soul enter a newborn baby, he sometimes swings the switch to "Perma-Racist" and that's that. That's how racism works. No sense talking about it. It's just a thing that happens. And if you happen to be born brown, well, tough for you because there's nothing we can do about racists. And if racists happen to win an election, it's just a blind fluke, there's no way we can stop racist policies from being enacted. Apartheid South Africa happened because they rolled four dice and they all got a 6, and it collapsed because they rolled four more and they all got a 1.

Does anyone here agree with this?

Thanks for this. Racist attitudes are unforgivable, but not innate. Cultural, political, and economic factors create bigotry.
 
To be fair, most of the 17 million who voted Brexit was because of their lack of trust in the "undemocratic" bureaucracy of the EU (though it's untrue that the EU is "undemocratic"), not necessarily because of immigration. Polls showed that lack of trust in the EU's bureaucracy was the biggest reason. However, immigration was the second biggest reason, which suggests closet racism or xenophobia from a large portion of Brexiters.
 

Condom

Member
EU telling working people in Europe that they have to compete with each other instead of cooperate and then people get surprised when people are going to hate migrant workers.
 

ISOM

Member
From the Britain First Facebook page:

13466406_1065941693551091_5313883973386420150_n.jpg


Oh dear.

Lol this is like the "Racist is code word for anti-white" memes we get over in the US from the far right.
 
My brother puts these incidents down to freedom of speech. He says it has nothing to do with the Leave vote, and that they have a right to express themselves. This is after I posted I wanted self defense lessons as me and my non-White bf were threatened to be raped and murdered while riding the bus. I am utterly baffled.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
Oh wow talk about a straw man and going off the deep end.

I was saying that racists will be racists regardless of the result of a referendum. They've been doing it for years, and like I said there would be this kind of behaviour whether 'they' "won or lost" and I put that in quotations because obviously what they were voting for and the actual referendum question we're two different things.

So your position is that racists get up in the morning, and they simply plan the amount of abuse they are going to commit in the run of a day, and then they flip on the TV to figure out an excuse to commit that news?

If there had been no referendum, if there had been a Labour Majority under Miliband, your position is that give or take--the same amount of this abuse would happen and in basically the same places?
 
Oh wow talk about a straw man and going off the deep end.

I was saying that racists will be racists regardless of the result of a referendum. They've been doing it for years, and like I said there would be this kind of behaviour whether 'they' "won or lost" and I put that in quotations because obviously what they were voting for and the actual referendum question we're two different things.
What would be an appropriate way for us to deal with all of these people who were born racist? Your posts have basically been "being racist isn't a choice, tough shit for the rest of the world."
 
Just because you haven't seen it, doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Clearly someone attacking someone physically is more likely to get news coverage but there plenty of keyboard warriors on the Internet verbally abusing people.
So show it then? We have pages upon pages of people on social media posting what they saw recently. I haven't seen anything of the sort of Remain people doing the same. If I'm wrong about that, please correct me and post it.

My brother puts these incidents down to freedom of speech. He says it has nothing to do with the Leave vote, and that they have a right to express themselves. This is after I posted I wanted self defense lessons as me and my non-White bf were threatened to be raped and murdered while riding the bus. I am utterly baffled.
Freedom of speech seems to be used as some sort of blanket statement to excuse all kinds of terrible behavior these days.
 

Joni

Member
They don't care about the percentage. They "Won" so they have in their mind that they have been vindicated. Their beliefs are correct.
Indeed. For years, television has claimed these people are wrong for being racist, for wanting these 'foreigners' out. The people voting for leave for racist reasons probably don't think that other people voted Leave for other reasons, as immigration was a huge part of the campaign. The nation has 'acknowledged' they are right.
 
Now this is purely anecdotal, but I am close friends with a Hong Konger, and her best friend (also HKer) who now lives in London with her husband, voted leave. From what my friend tells me, many British people of Chinese ancestry were pro Brexit. Even my Hong Konger friend thinks it is a good thing to keep out immigrants... mind boggling.
I also know a British Malaysian of Chinese descent who is also pro-Brexit and anti-immigrant. I just don't get it.
 

MogCakes

Member
The rise of nationalism , racism and political move to the right worldwide is really worrysome

The world is more connected than ever, it was only a matter of time until people started to lash out en masse. I'm afraid there will be much more of this before the end of the decade.
 

Dizzy

Banned
What would be an appropriate way for us to deal with all of these people who were born racist? Your posts have basically been "being racist isn't a choice, tough shit for the rest of the world."
Lmao wtf? How on Earth did you come to that conclusion. I feel we're having two very different conversations here.

My point was I know decent people who voted Leave and I will defend them. People acting like its every leave voters fault that all these incidents are happening. It's not. People didn't vote for this. Like I said I feel if Remain had won there would be people out doing this same shit but out of anger, rather than a sense of victory. In fact that could have even been most nasty.

As for the attacks and verbal abuse, that's the police's job to deal with no? Shitheads gonna be shitheads we all know thats true, but im not saying they should be ignored. The police are looking into these incidents and thats the proper route to take. I just feel like people are trying to shame people for voting a certain way and expecting them to feel guilty for what these racists do.

I love how this place keeps up the mob mentality. "If you defend leave in any way and go against the mob, you MUST be supporting racism'.

I voted Remain myself but it's absolutely disgusting how a minority have been treated and labelled on Gaf and social media since Friday.
 

deli2000

Member
Lmao wtf? How on Earth did you come to that conclusion. I feel we're having two very different conversations here.

My point was I know decent people who voted Leave and I will defend them. People acting like its every leave voters fault that all these incidents are happening. It's not. People didn't vote for this. Like I said I feel if Remain had won there would be people out doing this same shit but out of anger, rather than a sense of victory. In fact that could have even been most nasty.

As for the attacks and verbal abuse, that's the police's job to deal with no? Shitheads gonna be shitheads we all know thats true, but im not saying they should be ignored. The police are looking into these incidents and thats the proper route to take. I just feel like people are trying to shame people for voting a certain way and expecting them to feel guilty for what these racists do.

I love how this place keeps up the mob mentality. "If you defend leave in any way and go against the mob, you MUST be supporting racism'.

I voted Remain myself but it's absolutely disgusting how a minority have been treated and labelled on Gaf and social media since Friday.

It's disgusting that people are comparing racist abuse to gaffers disagreeing with people. You have no fucking clue how actual minorities are being affected by this vote if you're making that comparison.
 
Lmao wtf? How on Earth did you come to that conclusion. I feel we're having two very different conversations here.

My point was I know decent people who voted Leave and I will defend them. People acting like its every leave voters fault that all these incidents are happening. It's not. People didn't vote for this. Like I said I feel if Remain had won there would be people out doing this same shit but out of anger, rather than a sense of victory. In fact that could have even been most nasty.

As for the attacks and verbal abuse, that's the police's job to deal with no? Shitheads gonna be shitheads we all know thats true, but im not saying they should be ignored. The police are looking into these incidents and thats the proper route to take. I just feel like people are trying to shame people for voting a certain way and expecting them to feel guilty for what these racists do.

I love how this place keeps up the mob mentality. "If you defend leave in any way and go against the mob, you MUST be supporting racism'.

I voted Remain myself but it's absolutely disgusting how a minority have been treated and labelled on Gaf and social media since Friday.
People aren't so much attacking all the Leave people personally I think, but more the Leave campaign in general for basically tapping into this kind of hatred against immigrants for their own political gain. By doing that, they have created an atmosphere in which a not insignificant group feels they have the right to take out that anger on people they deem to not belong in Britain. That is a very damaging thing and people are rightfully angry towards the Leave campaign for doing that.
 
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