"English Spoken"

markwalker

cee wrote:

dmclite wrote:

The sad fact is we have people and have had in this country now, who take benefits, state handouts, healthcare and infrastructure who want to destroy the British way of life.

While this is true...i would guess that the sentence above describes more 'indiginous white british' than it does folks from other backgrounds. However, I have no figures to back this guess up.

hmmmm i think you might be surprised at the real break down.....

Anonymous

cee wrote:

dmclite wrote:

The sad fact is we have people and have had in this country now, who take benefits, state handouts, healthcare and infrastructure who want to destroy the British way of life.

While this is true...i would guess that the sentence above describes more 'indiginous white british' than it does folks from other backgrounds. However, I have no figures to back this guess up.

Fair point, but that has nothing to do with the issue being debated in the OP, does it ?

cee

markwalker

do you happen to know the figures? a link would be useful to give your refute some foundation. Maybe you would be surprised.

dmclite
You brought it up, i commented on your comment

markwalker

cee wrote:

markwalker

do you happen to know the figures? a link would be useful to give your refute some foundation. Maybe you would be surprised.

dmclite
You brought it up, i commented on your comment

yes i do somewhere, ill look it up though not this afternoon.

PBo

dmclite wrote:

cee wrote:

dmclite wrote:

The sad fact is we have people and have had in this country now, who take benefits, state handouts, healthcare and infrastructure who want to destroy the British way of life.

While this is true...i would guess that the sentence above describes more 'indiginous white british' than it does folks from other backgrounds. However, I have no figures to back this guess up.

Fair point, but that has nothing to do with the issue being debated in the OP, does it ?

Anyway, as i read it, dmclite is talking about a smaller subset, of those on benefits, those "who want to destroy the British way of life" which is a different kettle of fish. (forgive me if I'm wrong). Probably refering to those who wish britain had their own culture, i.e. predominately non white.

(Although markwalker probably thinks that those "who want to destroy the British way of life" ARE white - those blasted new labour liberal types!) (edit added smiley)


........but as a matter of interest, it would be very hard to dig down in to the breakdown of those figures. Unemployment may be a fair proxy, but obviously there are benefits for those in work too.

markwalker wrote:

cee wrote:

dmclite wrote:

The sad fact is we have people and have had in this country now, who take benefits, state handouts, healthcare and infrastructure who want to destroy the British way of life.

While this is true...i would guess that the sentence above describes more 'indiginous white british' than it does folks from other backgrounds. However, I have no figures to back this guess up..

hmmmm i think you might be surprised at the real break down.....

markwalker - you rail about unfair accusations of racism etc. - but such a thowaway comment - with no supporting evidence - could be construed as you saying "it's not white indigenous types at all - it's those dusky skinned types - much more than you'd imagine"

Now I've already admitted it's hard to get the data, and if you have it please share, but using unemployment as a proxy:
from ONS labour market statistics

"The working age employment rate for UK born people (not seasonally adjusted) was 73.6 per cent in the three months to September 2009, down 1.9 percentage points on a year earlier. The corresponding employment rate for non-UK born people was 67.3 per cent, down 1.8 percentage points on a year earlier."

but in 2008, only 11% where not british born. and 84% are white british so whilst there is a 6% higher unemployment rate amongst non british born, (not enough of a figure to be "a surprise") this is dwarfed by the much larger number of white british anyway.....

....so what is your data that leads to such "a surprise"?

......or did you just throw out some ungrounded supposition that backs up your world view?

Note: I am not being liberal. I'm not sucking anyone's c0ck. My heart is not bleeding.

I have expressed no opinion on the subject itself, just highlighting why I think you've come in for stick, and tested the quality of your argument - which you might have totally valid evidence for.....

Anonymous

cee wrote:

markwalker

do you happen to know the figures? a link would be useful to give your refute some foundation. Maybe you would be surprised.

dmclite
You brought it up, i commented on your comment

I fail to see the connection with the subject being discussed. I fail to understand if English is someones native language how this has any bearing on foreign nationals working who cannot speak English to a degree where instruction and direction could be understood, hence some taxi drivers putting up "English spoken" signs, the cause of the debate.

rake

dmclite wrote:

The underlying issue is one of immigration and the perception of foreign workers in the UK. A lot of UK residents have a lot of mis-directed anger at the past years immigration policies, call centres being moved to developing countries and the UK and W.Europe being opened to Eastern Europeans, just to name a few. The exploitation of the NHS by foreign nationals who intentionally come here in the hope of treatment and the building trade being undermined by very cheap E.European labour are other issues that people have problems with.
The English Spoken badges have been percieved as being maybe racist or exclusive, but may just be a direct response from a service industry to a bigger national fustration. We, in this country have had intergration for years but is has been the events over the last decade that have defined and divided opinion. Also, I think the press jump on and hype everyone up on half facts and skewed conjecture. Look at Mr Ross and Mr Brand on Radio 2, everyone went potty well after the event, it took the press to whip it into the scandal it grew into.
To summarise, I half understand why the English spoken badges went up, but I do not support it.
There's a bit too much mis-directed anger everywhere at the moment, I find myself counting to 10 a lot and trying to apply perspective, which is working for me.

i understand what you are saying here and agree mostly. the only thing is its always said that peoples anger is misdirected and such and blowing things out of scale. i suppose your views on this will be shaped depending on your direct experience. firstly i have been in the position where work colleagues and myself have left a job because of the extra burden of a large number of migrant workers arriving over the space of about a year to eventually make up the majority of the workforce mostly totally non english speaking with a few below par for adequate communication. this in a dangerous job requiring working in pairs. No extra time allocated when already working to rediculous deadlines and having to be partly responsible for their safety. one wrong move could have easily ended a few peoples lives. Also for the time i was there no more locals started working there. I wonder if jobs were being advertised anymore or just filled by the migrants associates.

Now how do you put this into perspective. I direct a lot of my anger at the government for allowing it, and some of it at the migrants workers themselves, i can understand why they will earn much more money (and thats the main reason for their willingness not this saintly work ethic which is often quoted) if given the chance but they didnt have the slightest concern of the disruption they were causing locally. this isnt prejudice they are views formed by 'trying' to speak with them in an ambiguous manner and seeing it in practise. This situation was also occuring at numerous other places locally so wasnt an isolated incident. There were also promotions being handed out to newcomers ahead of people who had been waiting a long time so they could communicate better in their language. A lot of you will probably assume i have a hatred of individuals becuase of their nationality or the language they speak etc when in actual fact my anger is at the disruption and sometimes exclusion of daily life to local people who have given decades of service and loyalty but seem not to figure in the debate. the cause of the disruption is massive numbers of migrants not hatred of individuals.

markwalker

promotion on the basis of being able to speak a language to commuicate with a migrant work force is discrimination. I wonder if any of the bleeding hearts will accept that.

bad luck Rake.

Anonymous

rake wrote:

dmclite wrote:

The underlying issue is one of immigration and the perception of foreign workers in the UK. A lot of UK residents have a lot of mis-directed anger at the past years immigration policies, call centres being moved to developing countries and the UK and W.Europe being opened to Eastern Europeans, just to name a few. The exploitation of the NHS by foreign nationals who intentionally come here in the hope of treatment and the building trade being undermined by very cheap E.European labour are other issues that people have problems with.
The English Spoken badges have been percieved as being maybe racist or exclusive, but may just be a direct response from a service industry to a bigger national fustration. We, in this country have had intergration for years but is has been the events over the last decade that have defined and divided opinion. Also, I think the press jump on and hype everyone up on half facts and skewed conjecture. Look at Mr Ross and Mr Brand on Radio 2, everyone went potty well after the event, it took the press to whip it into the scandal it grew into.
To summarise, I half understand why the English spoken badges went up, but I do not support it.
There's a bit too much mis-directed anger everywhere at the moment, I find myself counting to 10 a lot and trying to apply perspective, which is working for me.

i understand what you are saying here and agree mostly. the only thing is its always said that peoples anger is misdirected and such and blowing things out of scale. i suppose your views on this will be shaped depending on your direct experience. firstly i have been in the position where work colleagues and myself have left a job because of the extra burden of a large number of migrant workers arriving over the space of about a year to eventually make up the majority of the workforce mostly totally non english speaking with a few below par for adequate communication. this in a dangerous job requiring working in pairs. No extra time allocated when already working to rediculous deadlines and having to be partly responsible for their safety. one wrong move could have easily ended a few peoples lives. Also for the time i was there no more locals started working there. I wonder if jobs were being advertised anymore or just filled by the migrants associates.

Now how do you put this into perspective. I direct a lot of my anger at the government for allowing it, and some of it at the migrants workers themselves, i can understand why they will earn much more money (and thats the main reason for their willingness not this saintly work ethic which is often quoted) if given the chance but they didnt have the slightest concern of the disruption they were causing locally. this isnt prejudice they are views formed by 'trying' to speak with them in an ambiguous manner and seeing it in practise. This situation was also occuring at numerous other places locally so wasnt an isolated incident. There were also promotions being handed out to newcomers ahead of people who had been waiting a long time so they could communicate better in their language. A lot of you will probably assume i have a hatred of individuals becuase of their nationality or the language they speak etc when in actual fact my anger is at the disruption and sometimes exclusion of daily life to local people who have given decades of service and loyalty but seem not to figure in the debate.

Well put, puts a injection of reality into an emotional and quite fraught subject. I have had similar experiences at my work, things have changed dramatically with labour over the last 12 years and sadly not for the better.
The ironic thing is, the more people in certain industries are intergrated with foreign immigrant workers, the deeper the divides seem to become as a pose to working and living together.

teagar

dmclite wrote:

cee wrote:

markwalker

do you happen to know the figures? a link would be useful to give your refute some foundation. Maybe you would be surprised.

dmclite
You brought it up, i commented on your comment

I fail to see the connection with the subject being discussed. I fail to understand if English is someones native language how this has any bearing on foreign nationals working who cannot speak English to a degree where instruction and direction could be understood, hence some taxi drivers putting up "English spoken" signs, the cause of the debate.

If the issue genuinely is that some taxi drivers feel others cannot function properly as taxi drivers because of poor english skills, why are they going for badges, rather than campaigners to those that issue the licenses to be stricter on the language requirements to obtain a taxi license?

That they haven't done it, and instead want a badge to set themselves apart from the others is what's I think is suspect. It seems to me they're trying to create two classes of taxi drivers, rather than just wanting better standards of english all round, which would be the sensible thing to do.

Anonymous

teagar wrote:

dmclite wrote:

cee wrote:

markwalker

do you happen to know the figures? a link would be useful to give your refute some foundation. Maybe you would be surprised.

dmclite
You brought it up, i commented on your comment

I fail to see the connection with the subject being discussed. I fail to understand if English is someones native language how this has any bearing on foreign nationals working who cannot speak English to a degree where instruction and direction could be understood, hence some taxi drivers putting up "English spoken" signs, the cause of the debate.

If the issue genuinely is that some taxi drivers feel others cannot function properly as taxi drivers because of poor english skills, why are they going for badges, rather than campaigners to those that issue the licenses to be stricter on the language requirements to obtain a taxi license?

That they haven't done it, and instead want a badge to set themselves apart from the others is what's I think is suspect. It seems to me they're trying to create two classes of taxi drivers, rather than just wanting better standards of english all round, which would be the sensible thing to do.

I don't think you are far off the mark but they will also hope to get a lot more trade from the badges, money talks, doesn't it. Cynical, but realistic.

rake

dmclite wrote:

rake wrote:

dmclite wrote:

The underlying issue is one of immigration and the perception of foreign workers in the UK. A lot of UK residents have a lot of mis-directed anger at the past years immigration policies, call centres being moved to developing countries and the UK and W.Europe being opened to Eastern Europeans, just to name a few. The exploitation of the NHS by foreign nationals who intentionally come here in the hope of treatment and the building trade being undermined by very cheap E.European labour are other issues that people have problems with.
The English Spoken badges have been percieved as being maybe racist or exclusive, but may just be a direct response from a service industry to a bigger national fustration. We, in this country have had intergration for years but is has been the events over the last decade that have defined and divided opinion. Also, I think the press jump on and hype everyone up on half facts and skewed conjecture. Look at Mr Ross and Mr Brand on Radio 2, everyone went potty well after the event, it took the press to whip it into the scandal it grew into.
To summarise, I half understand why the English spoken badges went up, but I do not support it.
There's a bit too much mis-directed anger everywhere at the moment, I find myself counting to 10 a lot and trying to apply perspective, which is working for me.

i understand what you are saying here and agree mostly. the only thing is its always said that peoples anger is misdirected and such and blowing things out of scale. i suppose your views on this will be shaped depending on your direct experience. firstly i have been in the position where work colleagues and myself have left a job because of the extra burden of a large number of migrant workers arriving over the space of about a year to eventually make up the majority of the workforce mostly totally non english speaking with a few below par for adequate communication. this in a dangerous job requiring working in pairs. No extra time allocated when already working to rediculous deadlines and having to be partly responsible for their safety. one wrong move could have easily ended a few peoples lives. Also for the time i was there no more locals started working there. I wonder if jobs were being advertised anymore or just filled by the migrants associates.

Now how do you put this into perspective. I direct a lot of my anger at the government for allowing it, and some of it at the migrants workers themselves, i can understand why they will earn much more money (and thats the main reason for their willingness not this saintly work ethic which is often quoted) if given the chance but they didnt have the slightest concern of the disruption they were causing locally. this isnt prejudice they are views formed by 'trying' to speak with them in an ambiguous manner and seeing it in practise. This situation was also occuring at numerous other places locally so wasnt an isolated incident. There were also promotions being handed out to newcomers ahead of people who had been waiting a long time so they could communicate better in their language. A lot of you will probably assume i have a hatred of individuals becuase of their nationality or the language they speak etc when in actual fact my anger is at the disruption and sometimes exclusion of daily life to local people who have given decades of service and loyalty but seem not to figure in the debate.

Well put, puts a injection of reality into an emotional and quite fraught subject. I have had similar experiences at my work, things have changed dramatically with labour over the last 12 years and sadly not for the better.
The ironic thing is, the more people in certain industries are intergrated with foreign immigrant workers, the deeper the divides seem to become as a pose to working and living together.

good point there, the divide never seems to dissolve on either side.

markwalker

teagar wrote:

dmclite wrote:

cee wrote:

markwalker

do you happen to know the figures? a link would be useful to give your refute some foundation. Maybe you would be surprised.

dmclite
You brought it up, i commented on your comment

I fail to see the connection with the subject being discussed. I fail to understand if English is someones native language how this has any bearing on foreign nationals working who cannot speak English to a degree where instruction and direction could be understood, hence some taxi drivers putting up "English spoken" signs, the cause of the debate.

If the issue genuinely is that some taxi drivers feel others cannot function properly as taxi drivers because of poor english skills, why are they going for badges, rather than campaigners to those that issue the licenses to be stricter on the language requirements to obtain a taxi license?

That they haven't done it, and instead want a badge to set themselves apart from the others is what's I think is suspect. It seems to me they're trying to create two classes of taxi drivers, rather than just wanting better standards of english all round, which would be the sensible thing to do.

Ah its that time in the afternoon when Teapot gets home from school.

Why would it be sensible to want better class of English allround if its a factor that can positivley discriminate for your business over that of a competitor

rake

dmclite wrote:

teagar wrote:

dmclite wrote:

cee wrote:

markwalker

do you happen to know the figures? a link would be useful to give your refute some foundation. Maybe you would be surprised.

dmclite
You brought it up, i commented on your comment

I fail to see the connection with the subject being discussed. I fail to understand if English is someones native language how this has any bearing on foreign nationals working who cannot speak English to a degree where instruction and direction could be understood, hence some taxi drivers putting up "English spoken" signs, the cause of the debate.

If the issue genuinely is that some taxi drivers feel others cannot function properly as taxi drivers because of poor english skills, why are they going for badges, rather than campaigners to those that issue the licenses to be stricter on the language requirements to obtain a taxi license?

That they haven't done it, and instead want a badge to set themselves apart from the others is what's I think is suspect. It seems to me they're trying to create two classes of taxi drivers, rather than just wanting better standards of english all round, which would be the sensible thing to do.

I don't think you are far off the mark but they will also hope to get a lot more trade from the badges, money talks, doesn't it. Cynical, but realistic.

i dont think that aspect is too suspect, although probably not the propper channel to deal with it, i would say they dont feel the liscense issuers would give them any credibility seeing as they are giving the liscences so have 'gone public'.

markwalker

the only openly racist person i ever worked for was an indian.

I also find it absurd that blacks can call them self Nigger as in waz up nigger yet were i or any other ethnic group to use that phrase as a greating it would be considered racist.

It either is or isnt racist comment.

i find the phrase white boy bizare too becasue the same group would be up in arms if i called them blacky?????

Lifes not straight forward is it teapot.

teagar

As an aside, there is the elephant in the room - that taxi drivers have a reputation for being especially anti-immigrant, (one I've been regularly exposed to untill I tell them I am one myself, at which point it either goes very quiet, or, more often, they say I'm an exception because I don't look or sound different - go figure).

I know I've stopped cabs before I got to my destination because they've been spouting racist stuff.

Certainly not all of them - but I'd hazard a guess that those who arn't are not too fussed about having "speaks English" sign in their cab or not.

That reputation has an effect on the way I see their motives behind it all.

teagar

markwalker wrote:

I also find it absurd that blacks can call them self Nigger as in waz up nigger yet were i or any other ethnic group to use that phrase as a greating it would be considered racist.

It either is or isnt racist comment.

i find the phrase white boy bizare too becasue the same group would be up in arms if i called them blacky?????
.

The afro-american appropriation of the word "Nigger" is a very well established cultural and linguistic movement to disarm the racists who used the word as a pejorative word.

If they call themselves that, then, in theory, the word ceases to have the horrible effect it once had.

In practice, given the history of the word, as it was used as the word for black slaves, a white person using the word is not appropriate, given those slavery connotations.

Garry H

markwalker wrote:

I also find it absurd that blacks can call them self Nigger as in waz up nigger yet were i or any other ethnic group to use that phrase as a greating it would be considered racist.

It's to do with context Mark. Also, I don't think it counts as racism if the target is in the same racial category as yourself, you white. European 2@

Anonymous

teagar wrote:

As an aside, there is the elephant in the room - that taxi drivers have a reputation for being especially anti-immigrant, (one I've been regularly exposed to untill I tell them I am one myself, at which point it either goes very quiet, or, more often, they say I'm an exception because I don't look or sound different).

I know I've stopped cabs before I got to my destination because they've been spouting racist stuff.

Certainly not all of them - but I'd hazard a guess that those who arn't are not too fussed about having "speaks English" sign in their cab or not.

That reputation has an effect on the way I see their motives behind it all.

I think you may be on thin ice there. All the cab drivers round here are Asian or of Asian descent. A bit too generalising for the points being pursued on here or are you saying that people who may be immigrants themselves or 2nd or 3rd generation might themselves be "Anti-immigrant ?"

teagar

dmclite wrote:

teagar wrote:

As an aside, there is the elephant in the room - that taxi drivers have a reputation for being especially anti-immigrant, (one I've been regularly exposed to untill I tell them I am one myself, at which point it either goes very quiet, or, more often, they say I'm an exception because I don't look or sound different).

I know I've stopped cabs before I got to my destination because they've been spouting racist stuff.

Certainly not all of them - but I'd hazard a guess that those who arn't are not too fussed about having "speaks English" sign in their cab or not.

That reputation has an effect on the way I see their motives behind it all.

I think you may be on thin ice there. All the cab drivers round here are Asian or of Asian descent. A bit too generalising for the points being pursued on here or are you saying that people who may be immigrants themselves or 2nd or 3rd generation might themselves be "Anti-immigrant ?"

Ah you've got me there. I meant white British cabbies. Those you over hear shouting at the non-white cabbies at Cambridge train station! - Those who are likely to want the badge!

markwalker

teagar wrote:

markwalker wrote:

I also find it absurd that blacks can call them self Nigger as in waz up nigger yet were i or any other ethnic group to use that phrase as a greating it would be considered racist.

It either is or isnt racist comment.

i find the phrase white boy bizare too becasue the same group would be up in arms if i called them blacky?????
.

The afro-american appropriation of the word "Nigger" is a very well established cultural and linguistic movement to disarm the racists who used the word as a pejorative word.

If they call themselves that, then, in theory, the word ceases to have the horrible effect it once had.

In practice, given the history of the word, as it was used as the word for black slaves, a white person using the word is not appropriate, given those slavery connotations.

Ok I think I’m getting it, if you’re in one of the groups considered disadvantaged by racism it’s acceptable to have a different set of rules.
It seems to me its not equality in action.

Anonymous

teagar wrote:

dmclite wrote:

teagar wrote:

As an aside, there is the elephant in the room - that taxi drivers have a reputation for being especially anti-immigrant, (one I've been regularly exposed to untill I tell them I am one myself, at which point it either goes very quiet, or, more often, they say I'm an exception because I don't look or sound different).

I know I've stopped cabs before I got to my destination because they've been spouting racist stuff.

Certainly not all of them - but I'd hazard a guess that those who arn't are not too fussed about having "speaks English" sign in their cab or not.

That reputation has an effect on the way I see their motives behind it all.

I think you may be on thin ice there. All the cab drivers round here are Asian or of Asian descent. A bit too generalising for the points being pursued on here or are you saying that people who may be immigrants themselves or 2nd or 3rd generation might themselves be "Anti-immigrant ?"

Ah you've got me there. I meant white British cabbies. Those you over hear shouting at the non-white cabbies at Cambridge train station! - Those who are likely to want the badge!

I can only wonder if the other "Non-white Cabbies", understood what is being said to them ?

markwalker

Garry H wrote:

markwalker wrote:

I also find it absurd that blacks can call them self Nigger as in waz up nigger yet were i or any other ethnic group to use that phrase as a greating it would be considered racist.

It's to do with context Mark. Also, I don't think it counts as racism if the target is in the same racial category as yourself, you white. European 2@

Context? In the right context racism is acceptable? It hurts my head sometimes.

BTW im a European MIXED RACE 2@
8)

teagar

dmclite wrote:

teagar wrote:

dmclite wrote:

teagar wrote:

As an aside, there is the elephant in the room - that taxi drivers have a reputation for being especially anti-immigrant, (one I've been regularly exposed to untill I tell them I am one myself, at which point it either goes very quiet, or, more often, they say I'm an exception because I don't look or sound different).

I know I've stopped cabs before I got to my destination because they've been spouting racist stuff.

Certainly not all of them - but I'd hazard a guess that those who arn't are not too fussed about having "speaks English" sign in their cab or not.

That reputation has an effect on the way I see their motives behind it all.

I think you may be on thin ice there. All the cab drivers round here are Asian or of Asian descent. A bit too generalising for the points being pursued on here or are you saying that people who may be immigrants themselves or 2nd or 3rd generation might themselves be "Anti-immigrant ?"

Ah you've got me there. I meant white British cabbies. Those you over hear shouting at the non-white cabbies at Cambridge train station! - Those who are likely to want the badge!

I can only wonder if the other "Non-white Cabbies", understood what is being said to them ?

It's no excuse to throw insults at them. Makes it all the more pathetic given they know they won't respond.

markwalker

teagar wrote:

dmclite wrote:

teagar wrote:

dmclite wrote:

teagar wrote:

As an aside, there is the elephant in the room - that taxi drivers have a reputation for being especially anti-immigrant, (one I've been regularly exposed to untill I tell them I am one myself, at which point it either goes very quiet, or, more often, they say I'm an exception because I don't look or sound different).

I know I've stopped cabs before I got to my destination because they've been spouting racist stuff.

Certainly not all of them - but I'd hazard a guess that those who arn't are not too fussed about having "speaks English" sign in their cab or not.

That reputation has an effect on the way I see their motives behind it all.

I think you may be on thin ice there. All the cab drivers round here are Asian or of Asian descent. A bit too generalising for the points being pursued on here or are you saying that people who may be immigrants themselves or 2nd or 3rd generation might themselves be "Anti-immigrant ?"

Ah you've got me there. I meant white British cabbies. Those you over hear shouting at the non-white cabbies at Cambridge train station! - Those who are likely to want the badge!

I can only wonder if the other "Non-white Cabbies", understood what is being said to them ?

It's no excuse to throw insults at them. Makes it all the more pathetic given they know they won't respond.

Have you ever heard the asians throw insults?

teagar

markwalker wrote:

Have you ever heard the asians throw insults?

Not in this context no. From what I saw they stay in their cabs, and the white British cabbies all got out and smoked together, jeering and shouting at them.

Garry H

markwalker wrote:

Garry H wrote:

markwalker wrote:

I also find it absurd that blacks can call them self Nigger as in waz up nigger yet were i or any other ethnic group to use that phrase as a greating it would be considered racist.

It's to do with context Mark. Also, I don't think it counts as racism if the target is in the same racial category as yourself, you white. European 2@

Context? In the right context racism is acceptable? It hurts my head sometimes.

BTW im a European MIXED RACE 2@
8)

No, in certain context, as the one you mention, it's not racism.

Half white, half troll?

Anonymous

teagar wrote:

dmclite wrote:

teagar wrote:

dmclite wrote:

teagar wrote:

As an aside, there is the elephant in the room - that taxi drivers have a reputation for being especially anti-immigrant, (one I've been regularly exposed to untill I tell them I am one myself, at which point it either goes very quiet, or, more often, they say I'm an exception because I don't look or sound different).

I know I've stopped cabs before I got to my destination because they've been spouting racist stuff.

Certainly not all of them - but I'd hazard a guess that those who arn't are not too fussed about having "speaks English" sign in their cab or not.

That reputation has an effect on the way I see their motives behind it all.

I think you may be on thin ice there. All the cab drivers round here are Asian or of Asian descent. A bit too generalising for the points being pursued on here or are you saying that people who may be immigrants themselves or 2nd or 3rd generation might themselves be "Anti-immigrant ?"

Ah you've got me there. I meant white British cabbies. Those you over hear shouting at the non-white cabbies at Cambridge train station! - Those who are likely to want the badge!

I can only wonder if the other "Non-white Cabbies", understood what is being said to them ?

It's no excuse to throw insults at them. Makes it all the more pathetic given they know they won't respond.

You didn't say they were insulting them, just shouting at them. If you have heard it, why did you not react yourself ? Did you react and confront the cabbies flagrant insults ? Or have I got it wrong (which I hope) and you did react and stand up to blatant racist abuse ?
Genuine question, not a wind up.
I didn't realise you meant they were shouting insults.

teagar

I didn't stand up no.

I'm 5ft7 and weigh 52kgs (fraction under 8 stone). Alright for going up mountains, and that's pretty much it.

There were a few of them, 5 or so.

Anyone who cycles in Cambridge gets enough hassle for being a cyclist as it is (only yesterday a 50yr old female lecturer was apparantly harrased the whole way home by a taxi driver), and given that I was unlocking my bike, I figured I wouldn't!

rake

markwalker wrote:

the only openly racist person i ever worked for was an indian.

I also find it absurd that blacks can call them self Nigger as in waz up nigger yet were i or any other ethnic group to use that phrase as a greating it would be considered racist.

It either is or isnt racist comment.

i find the phrase white boy bizare too becasue the same group would be up in arms if i called them blacky?????

Lifes not straight forward is it teapot.

likewise its ok to abreviate british to being a brit, why can this be done yet you can't abreviate pakistani. same thing but one is ok the other idescribably horrific.