'Is Britain racist'?

Blimey, I thought for a minute there that Jeremy Corbyn had punched someone...all these initials for people in the media can be very confusing!

Avoiding watching it would be for me a way to deny it exists

Hardly much of a dare is it.Simply at the end of a busy day, I prefer to watch something either uplifting, entertaining, or amusing.Makes for a happier life.

Sorry Ana- talking about dear Jeremy of course.

There is something very control freaky about some of these posts.

We know racism exists, we knew it before this film was ever thought of.Unless you are the director's Mum, there is no obligation to watch it.

They are both 'Jeremy', granjura...although I'm not sure about the 'dear'

Thank you Granjura. I knew nothing about Switzerland as a country apart from the obvious. Ie alps, beautiful country side, banking and neutral. I will try and learn more about it and who knows may even visit

Tried to keep it short Cherry, but glad it helped. Do get in touch if ever you visit, it would be a pleasure to meet you and give advice on what to see and visit, cheap deals, etc.

Many thanks GJ

I don't think it would have been Jesus Christ.
He would be more likely to change the water into wine and give everyone a glass or two.

I think that white people cannot say if Britain is racist. I didn't see the documentary but assume that people of other races were asked. If the majority of these people have suffered racist attacks or unfairness because of their race or colour then you can say that the British people are racist.

Germany has brought in the official term which translates as immigrant background. It is thought the one third of Germans have immigrant background where one parent or grandparent is not German.
This means that my children and grandchilden all have this background. One of their parents was British. Because it affects so many no body takes any notice of it and we are definitely not defined by it.

As for being an expat - well its very old fashioned term but living abroad does sensitise you for the differences between your chosen country and the UK. You notice more things and can't help making judgements about them. Living in two countries functions best when you remember not to criticise as leaving the UK means you have no longer the right to criticise it.
Thats my experience anyway.

Can you explain what the scan of the woman's brain was supposed to show? Not seeing the programme, I don't have the context, and I can't even find the post on here that mentioned it.

If it was supposed to illustrate racism, I can't help feeling that racism is in behaviour toward someone not in the firing of synapses, and if they think they have proved (how?) that it is in the synapses, then the owner of those synapses can hardly be condemned for how they fire.

It was not supposed to illustrate 'racism' as such- but how we are wired to be attracted by our own ehtnic/racial groups, and instinctively wary of others. Evolution takes a very long time to adjust - but it does NOT mean that we can't use our intelligence to overide and rationalise our fears- and certainly overcome our 'instinctive prejudice'. I do wonder how much 'nature' and 'nurture' take a part in this. The prejudices of our parents, social groups andrelatives and forebears probably do influence how we feel too.

You would understand more if you watched the programme. I do not see how you can expect to discuss it unless you have seen it.

The majority cases purported to be racist are not. Most people couldn't care less a person's ethnicity. What does concern many are negative and/or retrograde customs or cultural practices that some (mainly economic) migrants import. These are often practices that the indigenous population either fought hard to eradicate in years gone by or find abhorrent. Many of these practices are attributed to religion, but are not, they are actual custom and practice only.
Britain generally has a benign indigenous population built on social cooperation. Some contributors who always seem to decry the Brits would do well to work or travel to some of the countries where many of our economic migrants come from to witness every form of discrimination in the extreme. I have been told more than once that we Brits are stupid the way we treat migrants, we are considered an absolute push over. These comments are by residents of their home countries. There will never be total population cohesion, history shows mankind always factionalises, whether this is an inbuilt population control mechanism..who knows.
So rarely racism, probable anti-negativeculturalism.

perhaps if you watched the programme now, on Britain First and their attitudes and beliefs- you might not be saying this.

anti-what?!

What's the difference between being racist and being against someone else's culture?

dj If the concepts in the programme were clearly and logically set out then those can be discussed.

Having just finished editing five months worth of wildlife videos into about an hour and a half, I am aware of how footage can be arranged and presented to "prove" anything you want it to. The bias doesn't need to be conscious manipulation.

And are you really suggesting we all go and take holidays in the war torn countries of the world? Because that's probably where the economic migrants come from.

I have to wonder what circles the non-British relatives of some posters mix in where people are talking in a disparaging way about 'immigrants' and then adding 'not you of course'.

And does such discussion actually indicate 'racism' or perhaps just a possibly unjustified but understandable concern about jobs, housing, benefits etc.?

(I won't bother with the tin hat, it would get blasted off anyway...)

Jinglebellsfrocks
New term: not racism, not Islamaphobia, but anti-negativeculturalism, why not

You cannot discuss an alleged situation based on a couple of television programmes with their own agenda.
Just as it is naive to believe everything in newspapers, it is equally naive to assume that what is being presented is scientific or sociological fact.
DJ you commented at 17.21
^ the programme might have been pulled as not showing the right thing^
What do you understand as the " right thing-"?
For every interview showing racist intolerance, prejudice or bias, it would be equally possible to show an opposite experience. For every Right Wing NF or UKIP or LIBERTY spokesperson, it is perfectly possible to show liberals (with an upper case or lower case "l")
For every bigot there will be his or her fair minded equivalent.
But of course that does not make for good television.
I think most of us have come across Britain First before now, we are not as naive as GJ and DJ seem to believe. So for heaven's sake, why not discuss the issue instead of bleating " you would understand more if you watched the programme" etc.
These programmes have been edited, don't you get that?

Because I don't understand what it means. What is this "negative culturism that we are supposed to be anti? Just because we don't like it doesn't make it "negative".