Really??

I leave a msg under these posts and explain why I am now unfriending them .I wont pass on Britain First nonsense but it surprises me that seemingly intelligent people do.When this was first posted the asylum seekers were receiving £5 a day allowance for food ,utilities etc and a roof over their heads...often in properties that are/were substandard .They lie on the breadline and on a knifeedge waiting for the Home Ofiice to come drag them out of these "homes" and take them to detention centres ..from there they are often escorted back to where they come from.I have a friend who works for the home office escorting people back .These are people who are destitute and desperate ...and a lot of their problems are of OUR making .Who bombed their cities ..or provided the bombs ? Who has left the middle east in a far worse state than it was before Iraq or Afghanistan ? We OWE them refuge

My reason for posting the whole thing in the first place was to 1) find out what asylum seekers and illegal immigrants are entitled to (if anything) as I couldn’t find anything reliable, only suspect media reports; and 2) point out that it’s doing the rounds again. Perhaps I shouldn’t have posted the thing in it’s entirety but I wanted to show how nasty it was and how easy to be taken in and re-post.

I think it always worth remembering that saying that "lies are half-way round the world before truth has got his boots on" and not repeat them.

Oh come on Nfk how on earth could illegal immigrants be entitled to anything? And just to check how easily you could have found out yourself, I just now typed into Google ‘illegal immigrants and benefits’ and the first link that came up was to fullfacts. Theres something I just don’t get in your saying that you wanted to point out it was doing the rounds again by contributing to it doing the rounds again. Those who are racists believe it anyway and those who aren’t know how nasty it is and wouldn’t dream of reposting it - if they even received it in the first place. I think it’s a piece of pollution on here and you could ask HQ to delete the thread and then you could start a thread about how to check racist social media posts without giving BF the oxygen of publicity

You, of course, would have done that, but me, being a bear of very little brain. Didn’t. Sorry. I was thinking along different lines. I bow to your superior intellect.

It’s not superior intellect - it’s called being a thinking human being. Why not ask for it to be deleted?

Yes ma’am immediately.

Oh come on you lot. We are all grown ups on here. NFK was just illustrating for us how truly awful this piece of Racist Porn is. We will all have seen and deleted the same or worse at some point and the discussion is about how to deal with a friend who posts such utter rubbish and where to find the correct information to refute the claims.

I had this same post forwarded to me by a friend some years ago, but she (by her own admission not very worldly wise) sent it in the spirit of 'surely this cannot be true? The piece itself may offend you but the reason for posting it in its entirety is not offensive.

Thank you G23

I have asked for it to be deleted as requested. Perhaps Maryeliza would start a new thread, correctly worded.

Couldn’t disagree more G23 - she did absolutely not have to post it in all its glory to get advice.Those of us who are grown ups on here didn’t need to read it and those who read it who are racists will just believe it anyway. And before anyone starts jumping up and down of course there are racists who will read GN. If I wanted to discuss how awful child porn is would I need to post a photo to demonstrate that? Anyway, it’s done now and hopefully NfK has learned despite her self confessed small brain how to check such rubbish in the future. Nothing more to add from me

That's a relief.

I agree, G23

I know that some of us can be quite robust but turning on poor Nfk for posting it because she wanted information on how to refute it seems unfair to me.

It's a pity that this forum doesn't have a view counter, it's interesting to see how much, or how little notice is taken of threads. I can't see that 'News & Politics' will really have much traffic beyond the handful of regular posters so I doubt if it's done any damage.

Everyone has been unanimous in condemning it or pointing to fact checking sites so any chance visitor, apart from a rabid racist, would be most unlikely to believe it or pass it on.

Totally disagree G23. Reference could have been made - there was no need to repost the whole thing. At the very least you have to question why it was.

I would also question the justification of the FB post with "I would assume that someone has found a refugee family who have received this sort of help". You only have to look up any of the benefits quoted. It is not justifiable and repeating it only play into the hands of the obnoxious human being who contrived it in the first place.

"We will all have seen and deleted the same or worse at some point"

Nope. Never. Stuff like that has never appeared on my FB page, nor have I seen it elsewhere.

And, as LucyGN says, stop attacking the poster and her friend. Attack the content and answer the OP's query about where to find the best counter-arguments to stuff like this so that she can explain things to her friend without ranting. (Not that I expect you would rant, nfk).

Don’t forget that you can ‘unfollow’ a friend, you don’t have to unfriend them, I’ve done that with some of mine because they post absolute tosh.

I had a 'friend' who used to post such rubbish so I 'unfriended' her. Easy, I don't want people like that in my life. Facebook is not a problem if you choose your friends.

I agree it is awful but I don't know if I would have understood the point if it had been edited or toned down. I understand why some people were annoyed if they have seen the post before, but I was glad to see the explanation of why it wasn't removed. I enjoy the lively exchange of views on GN, but - as several people have pointed out - something posted in earnest and for the right reasons is different from something deliberately aimed at upsetting people.

I can't see that 'News & Politics' will really have much traffic beyond the handful of regular posters

News & Politics topics appear, along with everything else, in the Active threads list.
All sorts of people might click on them if the title looks intriguing.

No one is attacking the poster. They are attacking what she posted. It is extreme and racist in my opinion and repeating it was neither necessary or useful.

You may disagree with my views on that. You may say it needed posting. These are just our opinions on the content of the post NOT the original poster, her friend or on me.

Yet again people seem to be looking for a safe space where their VIEWS are not disagreed with - rather like the students who try to close down discussion they don't agree with I feel.

It was neither WMKF or her friend who wrote this. Whoever did originally probably did it years ago but his/her opinion is still doing the rounds. It seems to me only reasonable that those who do not agree with what it says, whoever said it, should have their say too. My view is that not repeating it is the best way to end it.

Caledonai14, you could have asked the question a lot more generally. You could have said that a friend had, yet again posted a piece on FB that you not only disagreed with but found offensive but you didn't know how to deal with such posts. This could have been far right, far left, anything and the problem would still have been the same.

By posting in full you could almost guarantee that would be what got discussed. We are just as responsible for what we post, surely, as those who reply are responsible for that.

www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/15/destitute-uk-asylum-seekers-get-80p-rise-in-subsistence-payments

This is what asylum seekers get now. A rise of 80p this year.

I can't see how anyone looking at the news and politics threads cannot have known about fullfacts.
It's my goto as well, Wilma.
I think we must have put hundreds of links to it by now.

I do hope you are ok NfkDumpling, unfortunately there are regular posters on here who seemingly would like us all to take an entrance exam to meet their own criteria before we are deemed suitable to have or express an opinion on GN, & woe betide any one who doesn't fit in! Sadly these critical posters are completely oblivious to their own shortcomings!

Gracesgran
^no one is attacking the poster*
So why did HQ find it necessary to ask posters to be courteous to one another when replying.
As you know, it takes a lot for them to step in on a thread.