Thetownend.com

On the news the other night, it said that the police got a bloke done for racism after he shot an arrow at a welsh flag. I seriously think our country is going bonkers, really I do. I feel its also time wasting.
Yes it could of offended people, but how is it racist? At school we learnt this :

Racism - discriminating someone because of their colour skin/race.

Its nuts, people in this country are taking things too seriously if you ask me. However if racial remarks are made to a person, I feel thats a serious matter and should be taken futher.

Also been hearing alot about how now st georges flags are concidered racist to the ethnic people living in this country  :roll:
This is our country, why should we change it for people who have moved from their own countrys to ours? England is losing its tradition enough :(

Sorry I just felt like a rant. Is anyone with me on this one?

I would say we need more information on the case than 'a bloke got done for racism.'  What was he actually convicted of?  The incident itself is surely not so much racism as it is xenophobia.  Two different concepts really, but each equally as abhorrent as each other.

firing an arrow at a flag is almost certainly an offence - especially if the flag is being worn around someone's shoulders !

Read the story, it was a woman and shes not been convicted of anything FFS! :-))(

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/5051162.stm

ah......someone told me it was a man. I still think its a bit silly.

Ok, so its all complete nonsense really, but why didn't she just use a target if it was for target practice?

Theres no need to use the Welsh flag. Silly little bint.

Yeah it was a silly thing to do...maybe she could'nt find anything else.....but my point is how is that classed as racist, when its got nothing to do with the word.

I agree. Its not racism. Just a bit daft.

The whole flag thing has been blown completely out of perspective!

I haven't heard of any foreign people claiming to be unhappy about the flags. I'm Welsh, and don't have a problem with people flying St.George here (in Wales)

I don't consider myself racist, however this kind of thing makes our country a laughing stock. I am in absolute agreement with you. Any immigrant to the UK has chosen to come and live/work/scrounge in our country. I would accept the argument that a minority of immigrants did not choose to come here. Regardless of the above, all immigrants should respect the laws of the country they are residing in. We should not pander to these people from different cultures - it is their choice to be here. If you don't like it, tough.

For example, I know many people who have lived and worked in Saudi Arabia. The laws of that country are very strict in certain areas i.e. alcohol and dress code (especially for women) to respect their religion. As Brits living and working in Saudi Arabia, we are expected to abide by those laws. So why should we water down our nationalism so as not to offend a minority who are here by choice?

I live in America, temporarily. I am English. I am allowed to put an English flag up outside my house, but only if I hang the Stars and Stripes next to it. I don't have a major problem with that, I'm just respecting the law. Many residents in the USA have the Stars and Stripes hung on flagpoles in their gardens - good on them too as they are demonstrating loyalty to their country.

Yeah thats what I thought.I think the majority of the people living here from other countrys, actually don't have a problem with it, but you get the over opinionated few that make such a big deal out of it.

There is a guy driving around Cheltenham every day with one England Flag on his car and one Iran flag on the other side! Thats pushing his luck however no smahed windows as yet!

I saw this in the star, and just laughed...

Isn't it still legal to fire from a bow and arrow at a Welshman in Hereford? (or some backwards hamlet)

 :evil:

discriminating someone because of their race. As in what country they come from????

I agree that simply displaying national flags is not racist and anyone should be able to do it wherever they like.

Firing an arrow could be deemed racist, but in this context it's quite obvious it was light hearted fun, but someone could easily have taken offence. I get a bit angry when the UK or English flags are burnt by people and they show it on tv, because it symbolises how people feel about the country.

It's a myth. Even if the law wasn't repealed, other law would probably supersede it

at work, one of the managers on another shift (who's asian) ripped down some guy's st georges flag he ahd at his work station and tore it up (it was one of those ones from the sun) saying it offended him. so the distrobution lot have plastered the walls with st georges flags :D

Yeh there's taking it down which is rediculous (although the workplace are often silly with stuff like that) but ripping it up is more offensive than displaying the thing!

Those distribution lot are cool cats though  8)

Surely his defacing of the flag was more racist. Sack him, i say...

Why do you mention the fact that this manager was Asian? Would it have been different if that particular manager had been white? :(

I hate racism especially when those darkies do it.

if he'd have been white he wouldn't of had a problem

Because he was Asian perhaps?.  :nuts:

OK, time for a rant!

People who find it necessary to highlight someone's race when claiming NOT to be racist, generally ARE. :nono:
 
Believe it or not there ARE white people who are offended by the flying of St. George's cross, (I do not count myself to be one of them). Not ALL white people are British. I believe the Germans, French, Dutch, Swedes and many, many other nationalities are white.

Therefore I must assume that the fact this man's Asian origin was mentioned was to, in some way, imply he was a bad person. His race is actually NOT relevant.  The fact that he was a tosser IS.

Think about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is NOT the 1950s. There is NO room for racism in today's society.  :evil:

white is a bad term, you've offended me

Describing someone as Asian isnt racist. It's just the same as describing someone as tall, fat, ginger, pasty... its a fact that describes his appearance.

But you're not tall :D

No it isn't. :doh:

You have missed the point. It is not description that causes the problem, it was the fact that the poster felt it necessary of offer a description.

I suspect that IF this manager had been white, his race would NOT have been mentioned. I would also suggest that if the man had been six feet eight the message would not have included "(Who's tall)". The addition of "(who's Asian)" in the post was clearly intended as a derogatory statement, somehow explaining why he  acted like a tosser, therefore making it racist.

Here's a test for you. If you were writing about Cricket and you happened to mention the excellent 26 made by Panesar in the 2nd innings the other day, would you feel it neccesary to add "(who's Asian)" each time you mentioned him?

Finally, people of many different races and colours have demanded the removal of St.George's flags. Should we mention the race of each individual? If so, where does that leave us when we find people born in this country of Celtic, Anglo-Saxon or Norman heritage removing the flags? Which of them is English and which isn't and what would you put as your description?

Grrrrrrr :x

Nice try, but I was only using the terminology of the original message. Personally I think white is useless as a descriptor.

Many Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, Canadians, U.S.Citizens, English, Scots, Irish, Norwegians, Swedes, Finns, Danes, Germans, Poles, Czechs, Austrians, Hungarians, Slovaks, Serbs, Croats, Albanians, Russians, Kosovars, Greeks, Moldovans, Turks, Cypriots, Maltese, Italians, French, Spanish, Potuguese etc etc etc ...
...are white

Are they all the same?

Sorry Dave :gay:

That's okay honey.

doesn't make it right though does it? i think as you're trying to educate you should have set an example and only posted the correct term.

to be fair leggett is german and they're atleast 12 years behind us

The word racist is used far to much.

So what would be the correct term? :?

As for Leggett being German, it shouldn't really make any difference but I do accept there are certain problems and attitudes in Germany that leave a bit to be desired.

Truth is, racism is still rife in most, if not all communities. Occasionally over the last three decades it did look like we were starting to beat it, but it's on the rise again. Sometimes I despair (and I don't claim to be perfect) but I will always try to challenge it whenever I see it. :(

i was under the impression caucasian was the term to describe us glorious proud "whitey's"

leggett is not only german but very special bless him. he thinks he's a POW :(

sorry to state the obvious here but we all live in England and therefore should be allowed to fly our countries flag.

for those people who don't like it then fuck off back to your own country, whether they be Welsh, Scotish, Asian or German.

they either like it or fucking lump it

I did think of using the term Caucasian but decided against it as it does include ethnic groups that some people on this forum might not consider to be "white" (such as Kurds for example). Thaught it might cause even more confusion.

I agree to a certain extent and I would reinforce my opinion that the manager concerned in this incident had acted like a tosser!

Can I just ask two questions though?
1. Do you think "English" people have the right to fly the St George's cross flag abroad without fear of repercussions?
2. Do you think foreign nationals and people descended from foreign settlers should have the right to fly THEIR national flags in this country withou fear of repercussions?

I hope your answer to both questions is YES.

spot on there magic, this is political correctness gone mad.

of course my answer is yes as i feel it only right that people support there home country. That was never my point.
My point was those people who are not of English origin getting offended by us flying our national flag in OUR OWN COUNTRY.

if i was living in France (for PC stake) and they all started flying there flags for there country i wouldn't even dream about complaining.

As Bushey said it's PC gone mad.

So, would you rather we were all politically incorrect? :old:

Damn right I would.  Didnt hurt our parents or grandparents back in the day.

OK. I don't know any of the people involved in this incident but how certain are you that the manager in question was NOT English? I know he was described as being Asian, but does that mean he is not English?

I'd be interested to hear your definition of English and how far back you think it is necessary to go to be able to consider somebody English?

Consider this example...
I am able to trace my family tree back over six hundred years. Every single one of the people I have researched have lived in England and were born here.... except the very earliest generation. I have discovered that in the 13th and 14th Centuries some came from Ireland, and the others from France. For that reason I would have to ask the question, AM I ENGLISH?

IF the 'Asian' manager does not count as being English, does that mean that I have to consider myself to be Franco-Irish?

Does it also mean that I lose any right to call this country my own and does it mean I should take down my England flag and replace it with the Irish and French Triclours?

This might seem an extreme example but my point is this. People need to think long and hard before they start making pronouncements about other people's national and ethnic identities!

YES it did. If you read your history books I think you'll find we fought wars to liberate and protect  people who were subject to discrimination and oppression (ie political INcorrectness). My grandfather was wounded twice in one of these wars. My uncle was wounded. My wife's uncle died!
I would say that means it DID hurt our parents and grandparents "back in the day".

Would YOU be happy to see Jewish people beaten up and murdered in the East End of London like they were in the 1930s? (Just before we fought a war we later justified because of what the Germans were doing to the Jews!)

Would you be happy to see people discriminated against simply because they have a different colour skin or speak a different language?

Would you be happy to accept that the "white Englsihman" is a superior 'master race'?

THAT'S what political incorrectness means. If people can't see that, they are falling into the hands of people like the BNP!

Don't get me started on Jews... :x  :wink:

I would just like to remark that it is nice to see someone on this forum with a well structured, intelligent and eloquent argument.  Well said Dorset Red.

Why's that then?

There's a wink at the end. It was meant in jest.

I don't get rattled often but sometimes it is impossible to just walk away!!!! :)

I think there are some VERY worrying views being expressed in this thread. I thought we'd seen the last of them long ago!!!

Phew! My fingers were getting tired from all the frantic typing :)

i think you smell of wee

:Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:
At last... A witty and well thought out reply.

but honestly leggett is german and thinks all this is true. he's a bad man

Why have you brought up stuff about families being hurt in war, all war's have casualities, what I was agreeing to was magic's comment about people flying their countries flag in that country.  Surely you have gone was off the mark?

I commented that back in the day my parents were able to fly their flag etc without being told to take it down.

and how have my comments linked me to the BNP

We have a lovely England flag outside our house. No one's asked us to take it down, and no Arabs have firebombed our shed. Therefore, i think we've gotten away with it...

....for now.....

 
I was just using an extreme to respond to your comment which basically said that political incorrectness never hurt anyone.



I mention the BNP because they are very clever at capitalising on the sorts of views expressed in this thread. By claiming that their views are simply "good old fashioned common sense" they are even managing to convince some people that they are NOT a racist party.

Incidentally, I am guessing that I'm probably of your parents' generation and, to the best of my recollection, we very rarely flew flags "back in the day". It may have been done for the Queen's coronation, the silver jubilee and the wedding of Charles and Di but I can't think of many other times we broke the flags out.

I also remember that "back in the day" you couldn't take kids to football for fear of the violence and it was common-place for people to do monkey chants and throw bananas at black footballers.
What a shame political correctness has gone mad these days! (being ironic by the way!)

Personally I would have loved to have gone to footy in those days when you didnt have cameras watching your every move.

Can't be bothered to read the rest of the thread but this one cracked me up:

'This is our country' as it is for anyone else that lives here. are you saying because someone is different to you it isn't their country?

'why should we change it for people who have moved from their own countrys to ours?' ignorance is bliss hey. are you suggesting you are some pureblood english person sade? it is highly unlikely that anyone on this country descends directly from the first inhabitants of england so we have all moved here from other countries. so what, your family may have moved here a few decades than the paks down the road but that doesn't you any divine right to do what you want just because you were here first. would it be ok for me to call you a cock-sucking cunt face and beat you round the head with a baseball bat because my family moved to england before yours back whenever it happened?

england's tradition is people moving over here. so we're embracing it not ruining it

i think what you were trying to say is; this is our country and if people don't like what i do they have as much right to say so as if i don't like what they do

Shut up you foreign cunt :mrgreen:

A lecture in rasism from a white south african. nice

or not. got a bit of history, thats all.

:shake:

Oh dear oh dear oh dear.
I take a little comfort from the fact that some of the people on here might have the vote but don't bother to use it.

I never get the englands loosing it's traditions thing, what fucking traditions? Father Chrismas in a fucking shopping centres?

I'm 100% british beef with like 4% spanish in me or something, my grans grans grans gran was spanish. But that means sod all.

I'm just stating my opinion boeta, get over it. SOME Foreign people that move to england, that moan about this and that can like it or lump it - they decided to move here did'nt they?I'm not bloody saying they should'nt moan because no one can stop them! But they only have themselves to blame. Like I said THE MAJORITY ARE FINE and don't have a problem. But we do have some foreign people in my town that cause nothing but trouble and they are complete arseholes. Thats who they are and not where they come from. I'm not saying us english people are perfect either, because we're not. We're probably the most annoying people on this earth come to think of it:D

Get over yourself, for fucks sake.

does that mean you have a tash?

I love Boeta...

No but I know a Tash, she's lovely.

is she easy or owt?

No :x

oh. does tash have any noticable facial hair?

yeah shes got a brazilian..........on her chin.

sade you darling little thing. a brazilian is the total lack of hair in the ladies bikini area.

can you pm me tashs number none the less?

Dorset my boy, i mentioned the fact he was asian as the story wouldnt have really been relevant without it, i.e it'd be fucking pointless. i couldnt give a fuck if you brand me racist, i hate everyone equally, i'm not picky!  :soapy tit wank: