- This topic has 61 replies, 16 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 6 months ago by
.
- Posts
Before Hussey spoke she first reached to move the woman’s hair so she could read her name badge, the kind of thing you do when you come across a stray black Labrador and want to check who owns it. For me, she need not have opened her mouth after that single gesture to prove how superior and entitled she felt. Doubtless it was free of malice, as that kind of thing had simply become an ingrained habit, and I’d bet it’s odds on she had gone through the same routine a number of times with people who, for various reasons, quietly went along with it.
A sad case all round.
How do you deal with the instantly- or over-familiar random who approaches you?
Some go with the flow, but others exercise their right not to.
As I get older – and more cantankerous – I fall ever more firmly into the latter category.
“What you doing, fella? Let’s keep it platonic, eh?” I’d say if anyone (usually some loud drunk bloke in a private box I invariably swiftly regretted ever accepting an invitation into at the races) ever made physical contact with me.
It’s an invasion of body space – the more I read and think about this incident the more my sympathies lie with the victim.
Maybe she made a lot out of it, but there shouldn’t have been anything to make a lot out of in the first place.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Problem is actually the Palace who allowed somebody with outdated views and no diplomacy (or empathy) to engage with invited guests. Whether you consider Hussey to be guilty of clumsiness or outright racism, fact is that she was representing the Crown (and therefore the Government) and ought to know, or have been trained to understand, what is acceptable language. This is embarrassing for the Palace but could just have easily been a serious diplomatic incident.
I often get asked where I’m from.
I usually reply with my local town, but that always follows with something like, “No, where are you really from?”
If the questioner has any connection or particular interest in England, then I’ll be asked where in England, and often, how long I’ve been here.
Last Friday evening I found myself in this very same conversation. I find it quite normal and fail to understand how this could in any way be intrusive………….and not remotely racist.
However, I am a whitey, so when I’ve been asked these questions by an Indian, African or Bangladeshi (which I have), should I consider them racist and take offence?
‘If the questioner has any connection or particular interest in England, then I’ll be asked where in England, and often, how long I’ve been here.’
Not the same. Read the transcript, she answered ‘the UK’ three times. At no point was she then asked ‘what part of the UK?’ or similar. The follow up questions were along the line of ‘what country?’ as if the UK couldn’t possibly be the correct answer. Do you not see how that could be considered racist?
“The follow up questions were along the line of ‘what country?’ as if the UK couldn’t possibly be the correct answer.”
But the UK wasn’t the correct answer. I believe her family, although she was dressed and had changed her name, to appear African, actually came from the Caribbean. All she had to do was answer accordingly. It appears obvious to me what the question was regarding, but she was evasive, perhaps because she was misrepresenting her ethnicity.
I don’t see how you can see this as racist, any more than an African, Indian or Bangladeshi asking me more detailed or expansive questions regarding where I come from.
Am I experiencing racism against me and not realizing it?
If someone is born here they are from here – simple as that.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Yes, it was probably the most problematic question of the lot. It was at that point she challenged her.
”My people’, lady, what is this?’
I think a big part of this is the self entitlement a lot of people older than me (I’m 59) have about having a divine right to having their questions answered.
I encounter it a lot in the Pointing world which has an aging community.
“I’m not answering that. I don’t have to explain or justify myself to you.”
I should record that on my phone and play it back to save myself saying it 50 times a season.
A sense of self entitlement is far from the sole province of youth!
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.