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Just a thought

(59 Posts)
Outofstepwithhumanity Tue 28-Jun-16 12:48:00

S the fallout from Brexit drags on, (I am proudly wearing a "Don't blame me - I voted IN" badge, I have just been taken to task by a neighbour from the "send em all back to where they came from" school of thought. "They come over here, take our jobs, claim our benefits, can't speak English and have no skills etc.etc." I was struck by the irony as this woman never worked, lived off the proceeds of her husband's earnings (presumably didn't provide enough for pension, as she receives pension credit) Has no skills or qualifications and whose grasp of the English language is far below that of any of my non-British friend. If I were to be similarly uncivil, I might suggest we get rid of her, I would not, of course, but I was tempted!

thatbags Tue 28-Jun-16 13:17:28

Did she bring up a family?

Outofstepwithhumanity Tue 28-Jun-16 13:28:41

No! No children

Gracesgran Tue 28-Jun-16 13:33:19

Apparently we will get to the acceptance stage eventually outofstepwithhumanity so they say but I should hang onto that badge for when your neighbour realises she has been conned.

Luckygirl Tue 28-Jun-16 13:33:40

Outofstepwithhumanity - do you really think that this lady is in the majority? Do you think that judgements (if judgements are even appropriate) should be based on superficialities, or that maybe serious thought needs to go into understanding where someone like this is coming from and why they are as they are? She is a fellow human being with a history and experiences of her own that have shaped who she has become. She cannot just be dismissed out of hand as a lesser being. There but for the grace and all that.

As I have said on another thread, successive governments have done nothing to help someone like this lady feel part of the mainstream of society; they have simply created more of the divisions that fuel this anger and prejudice. I am tempted to suggest that prejudice is a concept that is not alien to you.

thatbags Tue 28-Jun-16 13:38:26

Okay, next questions: (1) how do you know all this personal stuff about her finances? and (2) what business is it of yours if the agreement between her and her husband is that he earns money and she does all the chores connected with running a home?

Her comments, if reported correctly by you, are certainly unsavoury, but so is your disnmissal of her as worthless scum. By talking about her the way you have, you are being just as unsavoury as she was; it's only the target that's different.

Luckygirl Tue 28-Jun-16 13:51:01

Exactly.

dramatictessa Tue 28-Jun-16 13:56:52

thatbags, can't see any mention of 'worthless scum' in the OP, just an observation that the neighbour is being rather hypocritical.

Outofstepwithhumanity Tue 28-Jun-16 14:14:01

I'm sad rather than condemnatory, that she should judge non-British as being less entitled to a decent standard of living than she believes herself to be, in my utopia, every one should have equal rights. I should also add that she also condemns immigrants use of the NHS, while she I visits the doctors on a frequent basis with numerous health issues. I know her personal circumstances, as she has told me.

jinglbellsfrocks Tue 28-Jun-16 14:18:34

I lived off my husband's earnings. Still do.

Firecracker123 Tue 28-Jun-16 17:55:19

I am proudly wearing a badge saying I voted OUT.
I am fed up with all the moaning nasty sarcastic posts and threads on Gransnet at the moment. As my daughter would say GET OVER IT.

Jane10 Tue 28-Jun-16 18:17:58

Tough luck firecracker -you'll be reminded constantly of how daft it was to vote brexit when your taxes go up and your services are cut. Just remember -you did this. GET OVER THAT!

ffinnochio Tue 28-Jun-16 18:23:13

I'm rather struck by the irony of your post. Do you see it?

Firecracker123 Tue 28-Jun-16 18:27:34

I have nothing to get over I am pleased with the out vote. I feel the INs may never get over it. Shame.

obieone Tue 28-Jun-16 18:43:30

Outofstepwithhumanity.
Do you think she got special needs? You say you know her personal circumstances so you might know this.

obieone Tue 28-Jun-16 18:51:59

The person I knew who sounded like the lady, could never read or write properly, and could never manage to ride a bike.

There may have been some laziness in him, I don't know, but boy was his life hard. He had to get neighbours to read his post for example. Life must have been rather exhausting for him.

annsixty Tue 28-Jun-16 19:12:34

I dare say you are sorry you posted now OP.
You hsybr certainly learned how condemning some GNers can be, and where does worthless scum come in?

thatbags Tue 28-Jun-16 21:15:57

Worthless scum comes from my assessment of the OP's assessment of her neighbour. Why? Because I would only talk like that about someone if I thought them worthless scum.

In other words, it's highly unlikely I would talk about someone in that way.

"never worked", for instance, usually means "has never had a paid job" (that the OP knows of anyway) as if paid work were the only kind of work.

"lived off her husband's earnings" is a mean way of saying that the household or family income was shared between all the members of the family/household, usually by agreement.

"has no skills or qualifications". I don't believe the OP knows this. And anyway the husband may not agree and he presumably knows his wife better than a mere snotty neighbour.

"whose grasp of the English language is way below..."

ETC

That's where "worthless scum" comes from. I don't believe nobody else saw it. It's a disgusting way to talk about someone.

durhamjen Tue 28-Jun-16 21:31:46

Maybe nobody else saw it because it wasn't there.

thatbags Tue 28-Jun-16 21:38:42

If I had written a post like that about someone I think you would have seen it, dj.

annsixty Tue 28-Jun-16 21:41:23

When in a hole....

thatbags Tue 28-Jun-16 21:50:00

I answered your question, ann. You asked where worthless scum had come from. I told you. It's my interpretation on the OP's post.

thatbags Tue 28-Jun-16 21:53:08

No-one would describe a neighbour like that except out of extreme contempt. The contempt may be justified, but it is equal to contempt the neighbour had towards immigrants, according to the OP. Two wrongs don't make a right.

rosesarered Tue 28-Jun-16 21:56:04

Outofstepwithumanity I think you are looking down on your neighbour and perhaps doing a bit of virtue signalling. All this 'wearing IN badge with pride' is nonsense.
You also say 'in your Utopia'...... Exactly, this is not Uptopia, but may become Dystopia if we had carried on in the EU for much longer.

thatbags Tue 28-Jun-16 22:08:08

There's a reason why I got hot under the collar about the tone of the opening post and the expressions in it: someone with a sour outlook could have described my husband's mother in terms similar to those. She had no skills or qualifications (except for being good mother which obviously doesn't count when bitchiness or ability to earn money is the over-riding sentiment [sarc emoji]). She was illterate—you know, couldn't read. Her grasp of the English language was far below that of several of my non-British, non-native English-speaking friends. Is she to be blamed and scoffed at for these things that weren't her fault?

No.

And not just no, a resounding no!

Only a fuckwit would think so had they known her.

If I'm in a hole it's a hole I'm proud of.