Six Months in Prison.

This is a news article from a Carlisle newspaper reporting on (what initially seems to be) a hefty prison sentence for a man who hurled racist abuse at takeaway staff.

Is 6 months in the bighouse for shouting abuse at someone really appropriate, regardless of the motivation?

What isn't mentioned in the article is this guy's past history (he's been down before for violent affray)... Should that history make a difference? Or should each crime be viewed separately? Is this political correctness riding roughshod over the Justice system, or is it this scumbag's just deserts?

Racial with threats of violence sure why not, simply calling them a name no.

Of course all the time will do is deepen his hatred of other races.

If it were a Turkish man yelling racial epithets at a white person, would the sentence have been as severe? If it had then I say bravo, however if they favir the minorities, then I call 'shenanigans' on the whole lot!

This is alarming to me. Don't get me wrong, if you're a prejudiced arse you deserve to be ranked out and taken to task for it, but prison?

I witnessed a not dissimilar incident myself yesterday. I boarded a train and a man in his mid 40s or early 50s was being frogmarched back on to the platform, having been accused of 'racial abuse' by a young mixed race girl who was drinking with her friends. The security guards were African and Asian but didn't seem to give much of a toss that the man was constantly protesting his innocence and looking quite distressed about the whole incident.

I've been 'racially' abused, in full view of dozens of people and nothing was done, yet if I had uttered a racial epithet in retort I would have been arrested. hm3buzz has got it spot-on in my view, this sort of crap only goes one way and all it does is rile and upset people and creates more little monsters that end up wanting to follow that shit-for-brains Nick Griffin and his merry band of knuckle dragging fuckwits.

The girl on the train carried on drinking, swearing and laughing after the bloke had been carted off. It looked to me like she knew all she had to do was 'play the race card' and it would immediately cause a shit storm. Things like this are reminiscent of dictatorships, we can't allow prejudice but freedom to speak must be protected at all cost.

This post has been edited by m15hun: Jun 1 2009, 02:01 AM

Then eventually there will be a back lash, in the article it said the man asked them out to fight, now you're mixing threats with racial slurs and that's a different animal.

Funny how when I complain about mexicans and how they act most of you point out "you're an illegal too (history wise even though my grand parents are from new zealand)" or "get used to it" seems when the turn around comes you don't care for it much either.
Not you personally m1shun but the others and those that know who they are.

So, is the "race card" being over-played in the knowledge that political correctness dictates that those describing it as such are being inappropriate and racist?

It's social conditioning, plain and simple. You can't say anything about 'minorities' but they are free to insult you as they are in the minority and therefore vulnerable. It's been gradually punched into society and now we're left with some sort of Nazi-esque society where people are frogmarched off trains for uttering the wrong words.

And not only that. In the same way as the girl on the train gets to play the race card children get to play the paedophile card. I have seen and also heard my friends relate instances where any attempt to reinforce common manners in children by an unknown adult results in the kids threatening to report the adult for improper sexual overtures.

I couldn't agree more. While there are sexual deviants around they aren't in the majority, when I was a kid people could just be nice without ulterior motive.

On that note, I recommend the book 'Blind Faith' by Ben Elton, it's a good, light hearted jab at the way our society has gone.

I am a little puzzled by this thread, why does anyone here feel the need to call someone by a racial slur? Doesn't that degrade you more than the person you're directing it towards?

If you keep your cool and hold your tongue why is this an issue?

It isn't about wanting to call someone by a racial slur, it's about being offered the same protection that is offered freely to people of varying ethnicities.

It's a given that racial abuse is disgusting and unnecessary, whether it's a white person engaging in it or a person of a different background, so enforce it in all cases if you're going to make it illegal.

This post has been edited by m15hun: Jun 1 2009, 04:32 PM

In England and Wales, race hate laws don't specify or exemplify any particular words or phrases that are considered racist abuse... It simply says, that if the complainant construes something as racial abuse, then that is sufficient grounds for it to be legally seen as such.

Therein lies half the problem.

So do you feel if you call someone a chav that they should be able to call the police for that? Or if some swarthy middle easterner calls you a bloody white wanker they should go to jail?
Well I agree it should be equal, but it isn't, just as their place in society isn't.

I think the real problem here is to much god damn PC'ism, people are making to big a stink about common name calling instead of worrying about real issues.

Racial slurs directed at me have never bothered me, but then I'm white and was not a minority (I am now though).

I think that in itself is part of the problem. A certain, poorly-educated and ignorant section of white society feels that it is under an avalanche of non-white immigration. It then becomes easy to blame your predicament on those most visibly different to yourself and the racist epithets start flying. It's certainly true here in Western Canada where the recipients are usually South Asians.

It isn't just whites though, all races do this out of ignorance and fear, even when there are valid reasons to be concerned ( a flood of undocumented illegal aliens totaling in the millions ) Here where I live a lot of people are going to start wanting *any* job including the ones that were sold as "no citizen wants to do these jobs so we need illegal labor" well now with jobs quite tight they will want them, what do you suppose happens then?

To YMG's basic premise I don't think calling someone a paki (just an example) is good enough for jail, perhaps a fine, but calling them a paki and then threatening violence is a different matter.

I don't like the term chav, as I've said on here before I think it's neo-classism and it stinks. I also don't think insulting somebody should be a criminal offence. I don't give a toss if someone chooses to call me a 'White [insert name here]'. I do give a toss if he/she gets away with it scot-free while a white person goes to jail for the same thing - which is what's happening.
Before we had a lot of old, crusty, white men who minced about treating anyone who was ethnically different as a lower form of life, then we worked towards rectifying that bullshit attitude but we didn't think about what we were doing and we ended up arming people with tools to hurt others.

But as I said in the other thread - racism is natural, it's in our DNA. Fear and avoid those that are different, stick with your own. Right or wrong, it's evolution and you can't argue with that.

The fact is, human beings are shite - i don't care if you're black, white, orange, yellow..whatever. We all bleed red and we all suck the life out of our surroundings.

This post has been edited by m15hun: Jun 1 2009, 07:44 PM

Well do you have some examples of this?
It may just be that you're being white isn't good enough to get away with this behavior anymore...the playing field is leveling out and you can't take the licks...that sort of thing.

In any case they have to prove you said it first right?

There are countless cases of the 'race card' being played every day. Pick a random (white) Police Officer and ask him if, while he's been lawfully searching or arresting a Black, Asian, Latino person they've accused him of being racist. You'll get the same answer - yes, every day.

In the past I worked in a few nightclubs in a security role and I was forever being accused of being racist for searching, refusing entry and dealing with trouble makers. It didn't matter that half the security team were Black and Turkish, and that 90% of people that I dealt with were White, the 'penalised minorties' still lobbed the accusations around to create a shit-storm and divert attention away from themselves being in the wrong.

Also, I'm not trying to 'get away' with anything. I'm expecting all citizens to be bound by the same laws and levels of tolerance, because I live in a democratic country. It's unpleasant to be racially prejudiced whether you be White, Black or whatever. Do you think that Black people deserve the right to be racially abusive to White people because they've endured it in the past? That White people should just accept it, keep being good little PC citizens and let them get it out of their systems, after which we can all live in a peaceful society?

This post has been edited by m15hun: Jun 2 2009, 01:21 AM

Yes. Anyone ever read "The Bonfire of the Vanities?"

I don't care what people are saying to each other I am saying do you have an example of a white man going to prison (other than the current article) for simply saying something racist and one where in a "minority" did the same thing and didn't, personally I think it hasn't happened, keep in mind in this article of YMG he threatened with violence...that changes things.