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Is It Racist To Say This?

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Original post by Cherub012
Except it's not on the account of his race - because Polish isn't a race.



Easy answer since you're being intentionally stupid. The law doesn't see it that way.
Original post by l'etranger
Easy answer since you're being intentionally stupid. The law doesn't see it that way.


The British law says Polish people are a race? Where?

And btw, why did you bring up that "race isn't a product of science" stuff when it's pretty irrelevant to the topic of racism?
Original post by Cherub012
The British law says Polish people are a race? Where?


If you made the argument in a court that Polish people are not a race therefore you can deride them as a collective group and it's not racism, you would get slaughtered like a pig at an abattoir.

Original post by Cherub012
And btw, why did you bring up that "race isn't a product of science" stuff when it's pretty irrelevant to the topic of racism?


It's relevant because you were using the argument that Polish is not a race therefore you can't be racist to Poles as an argument. Black isn't a race either. :smile:
Personally, I don't think it was racist. If the majority of the Poles he knows are like that, why wouldn't he assume that the majority of Poles in general are like that? The first seven black people I met were awful bullies, so as a young child I assumed that all black people were like that. We base our opinions on our personal experiences, and until we experience something which proves us wrong, there's no reason for our opinions to change. It's not his fault that he's been unfortunate enough to mostly meet those who are less than pleasant. If he continued to dislike Poles after meeting more who are nicer, that would be racist. As it is, it's nothing more than a potential harmful misconception based on his experiences.
Its not racist, a local town of mine has been "ruined" due to a influx of poles, sure not all poles are bad but in the area I am talking about they have high crime rate and have really ruined the town.

But even though I have had very bad experience with plenty of poles I realise that this does not represent them all and I want to limit immigration of everyone white, black, gay, muslim,Polish,Chinese.

If the things he is saying about these people is true he is telling the truth and I am sure if you asked him he wants to limit all immigration.
I don't think polish people are that ethnically distinct from us for that to be racist, it's just xenophobic.
Reply 26
Original post by l'etranger
Saying Polish people are rude, unpleasant and passive aggressive clearly is racist.


but...we are :redface:
Original post by Nottie
but...we are :redface:


libtards [ ]
UKIP [X]
cucks [ ]



Is gonna be me from now on :colone:
Look mate, if you're asking whether it counts as racist, it probably does.

Don't bother with the terminology - if it is found offensive, then I recommend you... don't. Just don't.
Original post by PrinceWilliams
Was at a party last night, we started talking about BREXIT and one guy who's from the country said that he didn't like that there were so many Polish people in his village because in his experience a lot of them were rude, pushing past others in queues and being arrogant to strangers and stuff. And he had Polish young neighbours who kept playing music loudly and leaving passive aggressive notes.

Anyway half the guys had a massive argument and the 1st guy got called racist/xenophobic. I didnt say anything lmao :ninja:

Was my friend racist/xenophobic?


Firstly polish isn't a race.

If he worded it as you've worded it exactly then no.

He has said he doesn't like that there are polish people in his village, he's not said he doesn't like polish people. He's given his account of interactions he's had with people with a cultural difference to what he is used to, which if we take on good faith as being an accurate account, most people would find objectionable.

So he's basing a dislike of a situation on actual interactions, not unfounded prejudice (for the sake of argument we are taking his account as being accurate).

He isn't disparaging an entire group of people based on prejudices formed by limited interactions (again assuming his wording was the same as you describe), he's saying he doesn't like the presence of an unassimilated culture within his own community because of encounters that do sound objectionable.

These arguments are all based on the assumption that his wording was as you describe, and that his accounts of events are accurate. He could always just be a massive racist bigot who just doesn't want to like Polish people and is forming a biased recollection of events to fit in with his prejudiced views. So I don't know, you know the guy is he a bigot or is he right?
wtf is OP
Original post by l'etranger
If you made the argument in a court that Polish people are not a race therefore you can deride them as a collective group and it's not racism, you would get slaughtered like a pig at an abattoir.

Not exactly proof. I think they would give me a slice of cake instead.



Original post by l'etranger
It's relevant because you were using the argument that Polish is not a race therefore you can't be racist to Poles as an argument. Black isn't a race either. :smile:


Idg the relevance. Black isn't a race but Polish is?
Original post by l'etranger
If you made the argument in a court that Polish people are not a race therefore you can deride them as a collective group and it's not racism, you would get slaughtered like a pig at an abattoir.



It's relevant because you were using the argument that Polish is not a race therefore you can't be racist to Poles as an argument. Black isn't a race either. :smile:


Think of it like this. If a Polish and an English had a child, the child would not be mixed race.
Not racist in the slightest. It is perfectly fine if British natives are concerned about the foreigners who are coming over and causing havok.
Original post by Connor27
And you are an ideological fascist typical of the
modern left.

To answer OP: concerns about immigration are not racist, if he was saying "white British is the best race on the planet and everyone else is untermenschen," then yeah, sure, if he dislikes elements of polish culture and the fact that they aren't assimilating then that is not racist.


Then you've no idea what constitutes racism.
Original post by Cherub012
Think of it like this. If a Polish and an English had a child, the child would not be mixed race.


Whilst what constitiutes as a race is ambiguous, the point is moot anyway, as you're thinking of the term "racism" far too literally".

A broad psychological definition of racism is-

"A specific form of prejudice, involving prejudicial attitudes or behavior towards members of an ethnic group."


Note the use of "ethnic group", which is simply a group of people who share a common cultural background.

So yes, you can be racist to other white individuals.

Original post by BigYoSpeck
Firstly polish isn't a race. If he worded it as you've worded it exactly then no. He has said he doesn't like that there are polish people in his village, he's not said he doesn't like polish people. He's given his account of interactions he's had with people with a cultural difference to what he is used to, which if we take on good faith as being an accurate account, most people would find objectionable. So he's basing a dislike of a situation on actual interactions, not unfounded prejudice (for the sake of argument we are taking his account as being accurate). He isn't disparaging an entire group of people based on prejudices formed by limited interactions (again assuming his wording was the same as you describe), he's saying he doesn't like the presence of an unassimilated culture within his own community because of encounters that do sound objectionable. These arguments are all based on the assumption that his wording was as you describe, and that his accounts of events are accurate. He could always just be a massive racist bigot who just doesn't want to like Polish people and is forming a biased recollection of events to fit in with his prejudiced views. So I don't know, you know the guy is he a bigot or is he right?



Same as above, it doesn't matter whether Polish is specifically a race.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by l'etranger
This **** pisses me off more than anything else. Scientifically there is no such as thing as race, it's bogus made up, it's a delusion, yet racism is still something which exists because it's based on hatred of perceived differences therefore hatred of Polish people by British people is still racism, because the racist has created a situation whereby he perceives Polish people to be part of the outgroup and dislikes them on that basis.


Absolutely this. You can still be racist towards people on the basis of features other than what's thought of as their race - it's just even more stupid than usual to do so.
Original post by Twinpeaks
Then you've no idea what constitutes racism.


So it's racism to expect people who come to live in Britain, to act British?

In my experience commonwealth migrants don't tend to have this problem, they assimilate quite well, but because Europeans don't need visas and can just come and go as they please they feel that they don't need to assimilate and that they can do what they like, and not bother speaking or learning english.

Yours is the typical leftist argument; you stretch legitimate discrimination against ethnic minorities to such an extent that it just becomes a buzzword to shut down debate, what an absolutely vile, stinkingly arrogant attitude to have...
Reply 38
Original post by Connor27
So it's racism to expect people who come to live in Britain, to act British?

In my experience commonwealth migrants don't tend to have this problem, they assimilate quite well, but because Europeans don't need visas and can just come and go as they please they feel that they don't need to assimilate and that they can do what they like, and not bother speaking or learning english.

I don't think visas are the main reason as to why Europeans behave that way. While it is true some come here only because pay is better and have no intention to experience British culture in any way, I think the cultural difference between East Europe and England is bigger than the gap Commonwealth and England.
Original post by l'etranger
Right so the racist in being racist is perceiving Polish people to be different from himself on account of his race.


It is crazy to think people are the same no matter where they come from. They quite clearly are not. People from different countries have different culture, different values and behave differently.

They are perfectly real differences and it is possible to dislike some of them. For example, in Saudi Arabia they don't think women are good enough to drive. It's their country so whatever, but do I want people bringing those values to my village? No.

There are have been various tribes throughout history who practiced cannibalism. Would you them to move to your village? You really can't say it is wrong to perceive any difference among people.

Poles are relatively similar in terms of culture but you cant say there are no differences. It is perfectly possible that they are louder and push in queues more than English people and some people may not like that.

Questions like "is this racism?" do not make a lot of sense. It is not a binary thing. There are a huge spectrum of views, some acceptable, some extremely unpleasant. It is about where the line is drawn.

I accept that once you go down the road of disliking aspects of certain nationalities' culture, values or behaviour, it is somewhat of a slippery slope but the alternative of saying there are no differences between anyone is absurd.

For me, the line is drawn when it starts to affect how you treat people on an individual level. If the OPs friend met a Polish person who wasn't loud, rude and didn't push in queues but he still disliked him for being Polish, that would not be nice.I don't see a problem with making observations about the group as a whole.

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