Arthanayake said others found they had to be a certain type of person to progress at the BBC. He said the “hardest thing” is to walk into a room at work and see “nobody looks like you”.
Nobody looks like you? So all you see is colour not, erm, a head, arms, ears, eyes, legs etc? Yeah nobody looks like you. Isn’t judging people on the colour of their skin the definition of racism? Or does that door only swing one way?
Klopptomist goes to Tobago.
“Sorry gang, I’m struggling with the fact that I’m the only white guy here”
Correct and measured response:
This is a touchy subject and might appear to be excusing white people in The West, but we’ve heard about a massive rise in Antisemitism and Islamophobia since 7th October.
Any stats on exactly what is happening here? I am just trying to think why that event would cause people with no skin in the game being so wound up with hate that they would conduct in racist activities. I’m probably giving humans too much credit and it really is a case that random people will just be cunts when they have an an excuse to be.
But I would really like to understand if the majority of the racist incidents are being undertaken by the ‘other party’ - Jews to Muslims, Muslims to Jews - in Western countries or whether the majority is everyone else jumping in just for the sake of it, which is an even more harrowing thought. Perhaps wouldn’t be surprising though having been through the post Brexit years.
Anecdotally, people who don’t like Jews much feel freer to say so, and demonstrate that. Makes sense that at the extremes, that is expressing itself as overt anti-Semitism. Similarly, people who don’t like Arabs/Muslims/etc are now feeling rather freer to say so, presumably with similar extremes.
I am aware of some Muslim preachers in the Montreal area who have used very questionable language, but the vast majority of actual religious figures of both faiths have been calling desperately for peace and acceptance.
So my guess is that the antisemitism and Islamophobia spiking is in significant measure the activation of latent dislike in the majority for both of those minorities (though presumably, not both in one individual at a given time). There are definitely direct confrontations - Concordia University more or less saw a riot in one of the student union buildings between Jewish and Arab students - and it is not a stretch to believe the vandalism is at least in part attributable to that. But I have no doubt it is not just those two communities.
No, the ignorance is that you just plucked a country with loads of black people out of thin air to make a point, whereas in reality there are lots of valid historical reasons why we can reasonably expect a white person’s experience in Tobago to be different to a black person in the UK.
You going to Tobago and complaining that you are the only white person would come with all kinds of unpleasant connotations. It really isn’t a reasonable comparison, and one you should be a bit ashamed of to be honest.
Edited: And, just to add, your original point wasn’t valid at all. You spectacularly missed the point that Arthanayake was making, and tried to project racism onto his opinion, using the boring ‘I don’t see colour’ trope.
This is where ignorance is the only word to describe you opinions on this matter. If you don’t like it don’t be ignorant.
Talking about colour, and diversity, and representation isn’t racist.
Claiming ‘you don’t see colour’ while enjoying all the privileges granted you as a white person in the UK, and using that as way to try and shut down people of colour complaining about their treatment, is most definitely racist.
You really don’t get this so you? Going to another country and complaining about the ethnicity of the indigenous people is the same no matter who does it or where.
There’s a travel complaints list that you’d love, hang on……
Ah, we’re now heading down one of your fav rabbit holes, your white privilege training sessions. Enjoy your opinion of the world, I’d personally hate to hate myself but then I’m assuming you’re white. How very Dr Who of me.
To be honest, I thought this was going to be standard Klopptimist v Mascot back and forth, but then you said something really racist, don’t appear to understand why what you said was really racist, and now I’m not sure what to do.
By the way, let me say right here for the avoidance of any doubt, I will never, ever, ban you. Obviously. I would leave that to another Mod. I’m not the one to pull that particular trigger, and nor would I want to.
