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British Covid Response: View From Across the Pond

DimitryZ said:
Since there is so much interest in American life on this forum, I am posting this American article to see if it seems reasonable or not to my British friends.

In the latest sign of Covid-19-related racism, Muslims are being blamed for England's coronavirus outbreaks

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/06/europe/muslims-coronavirus-england-islamophobia-gbr-intl/index.html

Is it over the top?
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Dimitry, ignore the first couple of responses to your post; the article is essentially correct.

Sadly, there is no crisis so desperate that the far-right will not use it to attack their latest scapegoats. Social media is awash with anti-Muslim sentiment and the pandemic has given the far-right another weapon to attack Muslims with.

This is not helped by the fact that our ruling party is infested with Islamophobia. In a survey of Conservative Party members, around 50% said they would be uncomfortable with a Muslim prime minister, and around 50% believed that some areas of the UK were "no-go" areas, subject to Sharia law. Thus we get the Conservative MP (mentioned by Dec, above) essentially blaming Muslims for the pandemic.

Nor is it helped by our mainstream (read xenophobic, extreme right-wing) media where racism is normalised. For example, in The Times you can read almost daily articles about how black people are conspiring with Marxists to destroy "British values".

I'm not saying the article is 100% accurate, but the gist of it is 100% correct.
 
droodzilla said:
Dimitry, ignore the first couple of responses to your post; the article is essentially correct.

Sadly, there is no crisis so desperate that the far-right will not use it to attack their latest scapegoats. Social media is awash with anti-Muslim sentiment and the pandemic has given the far-right another weapon to attack Muslims with.

This is not helped by the fact that our ruling party is infested with Islamophobia. In a survey of Conservative Party members, around 50% said they would be uncomfortable with a Muslim prime minister, and around 50% believed that some areas of the UK were "no-go" areas, subject to Sharia law. Thus we get the Conservative MP (mentioned by Dec, above) essentially blaming Muslims for the pandemic.

Nor is it helped by our mainstream (read xenophobic, extreme right-wing) media where racism is normalised. For example, in The Times you can read almost daily articles about how black people are conspiring with Marxists to destroy "British values".

I'm not saying the article is 100% accurate, but the gist of it is 100% correct.
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Dimitry - ignore this post above - posted by a rabid leftie.
 
The thread evoked some very angry responses then there was a bit of a pivot to amateur epidemiology to support that position. The elected member of the governing British party didn’t cite poverty or bad employment practice, he named behaviour and behaviour in relation to race. When confronted, he doubled down and claimed he was being “authentic”. I believe he’s a racist and he’s blowing the racist dog whistle.
 
There are certainly many on the more batshit ‘wearing a mask impedes my human rights/teachers must return to school immediately whilst I remain safely in my country mansion’ aspects of the Tory and worse right who are conflating very real issues in our Muslim communities (multi-generational family groups, high-density housing, high-risk public facing employment etc) with their own racism and xenophobia. Definitely a real thing.

FWIW As someone who lives in one of the worst hit areas it tends to be the BAME folk wearing the masks around here. I see vastly more in this group wearing masks walking down the street, in fact I’ve only ever seen very elderly and frail white folk wearing masks whereas many Asian young folk (teens and above) are wearing them. They certainly seem to be taking it rather more seriously to my eyes. Obviously I have no idea what is going on in shops or other businesses as I don’t go in any. This is just what I see when out on my daily cycle ride.

PS I hope this doesn’t make me a ‘rabid leftie’!
 
DimitryZ said:
Since there is so much interest in American life on this forum, I am posting this American article to see if it seems reasonable or not to my British friends.

In the latest sign of Covid-19-related racism, Muslims are being blamed for England's coronavirus outbreaks

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/06/europe/muslims-coronavirus-england-islamophobia-gbr-intl/index.html

Is it over the top?
Click to expand...
If anything it understates the extent of British racism in general and Islamophobia in particular. For context it might have mentioned the Hostile Environment, which obliges non-white and foreign-sounding people to demonstrate their “legality” at all times, and recruits ordinary citizens as border control guards - and the Prevent Strategy, which places all Muslims under perpetual suspicion and surveillance. These are consciously racist policies designed and implemented by a consciously racist party, exploiting fears and resentments stoked by consciously racist mainstream and social media players. None of this is hidden - although the effects are insidious - so it’s beyond strange that anyone living here would try to deny it. They can’t ever have walked past a newspaper stand, experienced a Conservative election campaign, heard of Windrush or listened to a non-white person talk about their lives in the UK.
 
Dimitry! droodzilla is right (who would ever of thought I would bring myself to say such a thing). What you need to do is what droodzilla and his acolytes do and that is to walk around with welders goggles on and earphones permanently rammed firmly into your ears. This way you will see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil. Not sure about the last one......
 
Cannot understand why droodzilla has not sold up and moved abroad to one of those much more socially enlightened countries where everyone is lovely. The weather is lovely. The Government is lovely. The social care is lovely. In fact everything is lovely. Only in Tory UK where everything is shit everywhere you look.
 
SteveT said:
Dimitry! droodzilla is right (who would ever of thought I would bring myself to say such a thing). What you need to do is what droodzilla and his acolytes do and that is to walk around with welders goggles on and earphones permanently rammed firmly into your ears. This way you will see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil. Not sure about the last one......
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We are just the ones that notice it. It is you Tories that so willingly embrace racism and even laughably try to deny it when people notice the death count for your policies (Hostile Environment, Windrush, Grenfell, covid 19 etc etc). The party of elitism, slavery, colonialism and butchery is still what it always has been. Maybe ask yourself why you vote for it? What makes centuries of institutional racism so attractive to you?
 
SteveT said:
Cannot understand why droodzilla has not sold up and moved abroad to one of those much more socially enlightened countries where everyone is lovely. The weather is lovely. The Government is lovely. The social care is lovely. In fact everything is lovely. Only in Tory UK where everything is shit everywhere you look.
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The Alf Garnet classic- if you don’t like it ‘ere why don’t you piss off back to bongo bongo land where you came from
 
SteveT said:
Cannot understand why droodzilla has not sold up and moved abroad to one of those much more socially enlightened countries where everyone is lovely. The weather is lovely. The Government is lovely. The social care is lovely. In fact everything is lovely. Only in Tory UK where everything is shit everywhere you look.
Click to expand...
Classic: if you don't like it here, **** off abroad. Spoken like a true fascist.

In all seriousness, if I were younger, with no health issues and didn't have a dying mother, I would be thinking very seriously of moving. The UK is a right-wing, racist shithole.
 
Just for the record and I have posted this on several occasions. I voted for the Green Party at the last Election. Fact.

With regard the accusation of being racist. My next door neighbours are respectively French and Black Caribbean. We regularly have meals together in each others houses. Whenever I have a get together they are always invited. I have been shopping for them during the pandemic amongst other things. I am closer to M than my own brother. I would love to know how many 'right on' virtual signalers that post on this website know any BAME individuals others that they are friends with on their Twitter/Facebook Page and those that do how many regularly drink eat and socialise with them.
 
SteveT said:
Just for the record and I have posted this on several occasions. I voted for the Green Party at the last Election. Fact.

With regard the accusation of being racist. My next door neighbours are respectively French and Black Caribbean. We regularly have meals together in each others houses. Whenever I have a get together they are always invited. I have been shopping for them during the pandemic amongst other things. I am closer to M than my own brother. I would love to know how many 'right on' virtual signalers that post on this website know any BAME individuals others that they are friends with on their Twitter/Facebook Page and those that do how many regularly drink eat and socialise with them.
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If they told you the UK was racist, would you suggest they leave the country?
 
Good CNN article - conflating various themes, blending them together and posting an -ism headline.

What would have happened if the government had refused to act? Would the same headline have been generated?

The article though raises a broader question - what is racist in 2020? For instance, mocking the clothes of a certain British F1 champion - is that racist?

'Zilla makes a good point about the far-right/right-wing press - they will indeed exploit racial divides and stoke fear/anger. We witnessed a good dollop of it during the Brexit campaign.
 
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