The Future

@terry wrote:

@wordsworth60 wrote:

To be fair Panda, a lot of people don’t understand racism, either as a word that could be defined (regarding one race as superior or inferior to another) or recognising it when it occurs.

Never mind the word “racism” Wordsworth; how about the word “stupidity” which you seem, singlehandedly, to have given a whole new meaning to.

:roll:

Tut! Grammar Terry! Surely you shouldn’t be ending a sentence with the word “to?” :shock:

Surely your sentence should have read:

Never mind the word “racism” Wordsworth; how about the word “stupidity” to which you singlehandedly, seem to have given a whole new meaning.

So Panda, is grammar a bugbear for you?

8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

It isn’t racist to bring immigration into the discussion…blinkered, maybe; racist, no.

Words I really never thought I’d see you stoop to the levels of writing another poster’s posts off as codswallop in a debate or being personal; somehow I thought you were better than that.

@jen_jen wrote:

It isn’t racist to bring immigration into the discussion…blinkered, maybe; racist, no.

Words I really never thought I’d see you stoop to the levels of writing another poster’s posts off as codswallop in a debate or being personal; somehow I thought you were better than that.

On your first point Jen, I agree with you it being blinkered. I will also add naive and simplistic as well.

I however, have been accused of playing the race card because of a particular comment I made about ppl bringing immigration to a debate that as far as I am concerned, has other more obvious causes than immigration.

Terry has focused on a particular immigrant group, Polish ppl and then East Europeans in general. Terry wants to go a whole day without hearing a polish accent.

Is that xenophobia or racism on Terry’s part? You need to bear in mind Terry has focused on one racial group and immigration has come from all parts of the EU, not just the east.

As for Words, well he has been lambasted by both Terry and Pepper on this thread, so I guess it’s a case of fighting fire with fire. But Words was actually right, Pepper’s post was codswallop in the sense it’s incomprehensible, IMHO.

@panda12 wrote:

I however, have been accused of playing the race card because of a particular comment I made about ppl bringing immigration to a debate that as far as I am concerned, has other more obvious causes than immigration.

It may have more obvious causes than immigration to you; however in Terry’s mind it is a major cause. Whether you agree or disagree with him, he has the right to hold that opinion without being accused, implicitely or explicitly, of racism. If a person lives an area that has a high immigrant population and high unemployment in the young, it may appear to them to be a high contributory factor and one that they want to bring into the discussion. To accuse them of xenophobia or racism when they are simply reflecting the truth of where they live rather than entering into open-minded debate only leads to dismissiveness, personal attacks and so on, eventually stifling any meaningful discussion.

@panda12 wrote:

Terry has focused on a particular immigrant group, Polish ppl and then East Europeans in general. Terry wants to go a whole day without hearing a polish accent.

Is that xenophobia or racism on Terry’s part? You need to bear in mind Terry has focused on one racial group and immigration has come from all parts of the EU, not just the east.

If he lives in an area of high immigration and the immigrants in his area are all of that group then it isn’t xenophobia or racism, it is reflective of his area. Should he include immigrants of other racial groups if they aren’t in his area? Would that make it better?

My local Italian restaurant used to employ all Italian serving staff; now they’re all Polish or Russian, the service is brusque and it isn’t as relaxing an environment as it used to be. I would love to have the Italian serving staff back – does that make me xenophobic or a racist?

@panda12 wrote:

As for Words, well he has been lambasted by both Terry and Pepper on this thread, so I guess it’s a case of fighting fire with fire. But Words was actually right, Pepper’s post was codswallop in the sense it’s incomprehensible, IMHO.

I found Pepper’s post comprehensible and I’m sure someone with Words’ intelligence would have too. “Fighting fire with fire” doesn’t lead to useful discussion but then maybe that’s why debate rarely works in JC…too few people are capable of it.