QOTW: How do you feel after the EU referendum?

[Noxvayl]

As an immigrant I can attest to the general feeling of England being a racist country, and I come from South Africa... Elitism of the highest order pervades this society and is so similar to the hated phrase of racism that I can't tell the difference. Immigration is a psychological tool used by politicians to stoke the natural concerns and worries of the general population. It works ridiculously well because it is very easy to identify with what you know, where you grew up and the community you've come to call home but very difficult to understand the abject poverty experienced by others and their desire to avail themselves of that desperation by moving to a new geographical area.

You want to pull at heart strings, go for it. But don't for one second believe that you can turn your back on the rest of the world and succeed in the modern era. We all depend on each other, and the overwhelming rhetoric of the leave campaign was focused on the fears of others coming a taking what is rightfully yours... Absolute and utter nonsense is what these last few months have been, and we continue to hear it in our politics today.

I fear for the future of this country if emotions dominate public discourse. It certainly has at the moment and doesn't look like that is changing any time soon.

[wazzickle]

Some swearing.

[excalibur2]

As an immigrant I can attest to the general feeling of England being a racist country, and I come from South Africa... Elitism of the highest order pervades this society and is so similar to the hated phrase of racism that I can't tell the difference. Immigration is a psychological tool used by politicians to stoke the natural concerns and worries of the general population. It works ridiculously well because it is very easy to identify with what you know, where you grew up and the community you've come to call home but very difficult to understand the abject poverty experienced by others and their desire to avail themselves of that desperation by moving to a new geographical area.

You want to pull at heart strings, go for it. But don't for one second believe that you can turn your back on the rest of the world and succeed in the modern era. We all depend on each other, and the overwhelming rhetoric of the leave campaign was focused on the fears of others coming a taking what is rightfully yours... Absolute and utter nonsense is what these last few months have been, and we continue to hear it in our politics today.

I fear for the future of this country if emotions dominate public discourse. It certainly has at the moment and doesn't look like that is changing any time soon.

...and there is no racism in South Africa or any other country in the world? You can't change human nature from not being prejudiced or not having a preference for any type of human being or nationality.

[Noxvayl]

...and there is no racism in South Africa or any other country in the world? You can't change human nature from not being prejudiced or not having a preference for any type of human being or nationality.

Yeah, South Africa is racist against whites, as is most of Africa thanks to Europeans... Chinese hate the Japanese, but it the UK Manchester dislikes Liverpool, Southampton against Portsmouth, Protestants against Catholics and many more rivalries that perpetuate this abhorrent mindset within this country.

Europe has significantly more division within it and the EU project has been successful at reducing the impact of those divisions. As a spiteful and downright childish nation we've decided to cut off our nose to spite our face. There is no short term benefit to leaving the EU, and the long term benefit of the project has already delivered on its promise. I can't understand how people entertain the idea of "independence" or "sovereignty" being more important than anything else, which is what the leave vote boiled down to.

The vitriol coming from leave voters mouths as I sit in the sauna to relax is quite frankly more disturbing to me than the economic consequences of what has just occurred. The longer we allow that type of thinking not only to exist, but dominate our politics, the further down the slope we will end up.

[wazzickle]

...and there is no racism in South Africa or any other country in the world? You can't change human nature from not being prejudiced or not having a preference for any type of human being or nationality.

Wait... is your logic really 'other people are racist so racism is fine'?

[Corky34]

...and there is no racism in South Africa or any other country in the world? You can't change human nature from not being prejudiced or not having a preference for any type of human being or nationality.

Isn't that a bit like saying humans are aggressive by nature so we shouldn't bother trying to stop people from sorting out their problems through violence?

And besides racism and prejudiced isn't human nature, young children aren't racist or prejudiced, they're learnt behavior.

[excalibur2]

Wait... is your logic really 'other people are racist so racism is fine'?

No! if racism is prevalent around the world it's just a fact, anyway I think racism is wrongly used most times when it should be "prejudice and people's preference"....and it goes on is it nature or nuture or a bit of both. I remember once, someone on tv or newspaper (a white woman) and she said "I'm not a racist and not prejudice" but admitted she only had a few black friends out of many....h'mm

[excalibur2]

Isn't that a bit like saying humans are aggressive by nature so we shouldn't bother trying to stop people from sorting out their problems through violence?

And besides racism and prejudiced isn't human nature, young children aren't racist or prejudiced, they're learnt behavior.

Difficult subject children as one report recently said "they do seperate out eventually"..maybe birds of a feather.............. and then if you go onto the subject "are humans basically the same as other animals" it gets complicated, and then you can go on to what's the most mixed country in the world Brazil? any racism or prejudice there..don't stop there and go back to the Roman empire.
So does anyone have an answer? What are the true facts?

[Noxvayl]

The point being made is not whether racism, elitism or prejudice exists... it is whether it is worth our efforts to go against those thoughts or not. I don't feel it is acceptable for people to hold those views, and a social taboo is not quite strong enough surrounding this issue because "everyone has the right to their opinion".

What matters is whether or not a system is helpful in reducing the prevalence of these views within populations. It seems that these views, and others that are equally abhorrent, have been encouraged recently.

[excalibur2]

The point being made is not whether racism, elitism or prejudice exists... it is whether it is worth our efforts to go against those thoughts or not. I don't feel it is acceptable for people to hold those views, and a social taboo is not quite strong enough surrounding this issue because "everyone has the right to their opinion".

What matters is whether or not a system is helpful in reducing the prevalence of these views within populations. It seems that these views, and others that are equally abhorrent, have been encouraged recently.

Well my point was in the history of the world has racism, prejudice etc ever gone away and can it be solved....another e.g. would be:- can with prevent people committing murder.

[Corky34]

Difficult subject children as one report recently said "they do seperate out eventually"..maybe birds of a feather.............. and then if you go onto the subject "are humans basically the same as other animals" it gets complicated, and then you can go on to what's the most mixed country in the world Brazil? any racism or prejudice there..don't stop there and go back to the Roman empire.
So does anyone have an answer? What are the true facts?

Ahh that's the thing, infants identifying differences is something i would consider nature, what isn't is when those differences are used to make a negative distinction, a unfavorable judgment, or to treat them differently, when that happens it becomes racism and/or prejudiced.

[Noxvayl]

Well my point was in the history of the world has racism, prejudice etc ever gone away and can it be solved....another e.g. would be:- can with prevent people committing murder.

The trend line is tending towards it disappearing... whether it has been in existence before, for how long and if it has ever been eradicated is irrelevant really.

Murder... why not look at where murder is exceptionally low? Like lots of communities in the nordic countries.

[excalibur2]

The trend line is tending towards it disappearing... whether it has been in existence before, for how long and if it has ever been eradicated is irrelevant really.

Murder... why not look at where murder is exceptionally low? Like lots of communities in the nordic countries.

Not really as you can learn from history and if a problem has been solved then we should examine how they did it......and murder being low is not the same as humans being so peaceful they would never murder.

[Noxvayl]

Not really as you can learn from history and if a problem has been solved then we should examine how they did it......and murder being low is not the same as humans being so peaceful they would never murder.

The world isn't binary... does it matter if humans can or cannot be perfectly peaceful? Humans and an individual component are less useful to think about than the environment in which they exist, because we can control the environment not the human.

[realstock]

Hmmm, looks like the media is massaging the truth with regards to increase in reported racism since the brexit, also the raise in figures includes people complaining about Farage!

Looks like we are being sold a pup by the media... who saw that one coming!? lol

Lies, lies, lies, by both sides. I just wish we didn't have to wade through tides of bull crap to uncover some element of the truth.

Edit: Seems familiar this, remainers didn't get their way and are intent on a smear campaign of all Leave voters, labeling them racist, stupid, old, xenophobic.

[Phage]

Quality source
Apparently it's all a conspiracy by the Remainers....