Is It Now Illegal To Dislike People Because Of Their Origins?

[dave50]

I ask this because of all the recent obsession with racism. If I was to announce I didn't like the French or Germans, then not much would be said, some may even agree. But if I said it because they were Indian or Pakistani then there would be hell to pay. Why should it be different? Surely I am allowed to say that I like or dislike anybody for any reason I see fit, I could even say it is my human right to do so. Thoughts please.

[jake-the-peg]

Hey we're living in a country where you can go to prison for wearing a T shirt

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-19935617

or arrested for posting a picture of a poppy burning

http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/Opinion-divided-poppy-burning-Poppy-burning/story-17328963-detail/story.html

[hc4361]

As far as I know the tshirt was encouraging people to murder police officers and the poppy burning was likely to cause a riot given the time and place

[dave50]

I very much doubt anybody would be allowed to get away with publicly saying in the middle of town that they dont like people from India or Pakistan, that's all, they don't encourage other people to think the same or incite violence against them whatsoever. Just stating publicly such an opinion would get them in trouble. The point I am trying to make is the way free speech and the freedom to voice certain opinions (not incitement to violence) is gradually being eroded.

[ichkeria]

Well why don't you put your theory to the test and report back, rather than making sweeping statements.

[jomifl]

If you do indeed dislike all people of a certain nationality without having met any or all of them)you should either develop better control of your emotions or revise your reasoning processes. Whilst most nations do seem to have their own characteristics (some of them not necessarily admirable) they are not all bad and most seem to have redeeming qualities(sometimes well hidden).

[karenmac60]

I think all people called dave are arrogant and rude and I don't like any of them. I may not have met many and so know nothing about what kind of people they are but I don't really care. I have made my mind up and I cannot understand why everyone doesn't agree with me. They are called dave so it must be true.

That's a bit of a daft statement isn't it - but it's pretty much the same thing.

[redvanman]

you are spot on we should claim racism every time they insult this country and sue them

[tenrec]

I hate brussels sprouts.

[modeller]

#You CAN say that you hate Indians or Pakistanis or any nationality or race. After all, that is only admitting your own bigotry. #

You describe that as bigotry but are you saying that when the belaviour of vast numbers of a nation's people are brutal, callous, and cruel over a period of many years that it's bigotry to say so .

[ChuckFickens]

I think what most people are saying is, you have a right to be racist in your own mind as long as you don't act on it.

Just as much as we all have a right to think you're a pudding in our own minds as long as we don't act on it.

[ChuckFickens]

.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTYsElEGswc

[modeller]

I know exactly what people are saying but to describe some one as a bigot ,
who has had experience of brutality to their friends or family from a particular ethnic group/nation is showing a total lack of empathy. It's easy to preach love thy enemies from the comfort of your armchair .

[ChuckFickens]

You've had " had experience of brutality to their friends or family from a particular ethnic group/nation"

What? I refuse to believe that anyone has "experience of brutality" from every single one of however millions of whichever nation or group?

[modeller]

So Chuck because you can find some good people that excuses
the excesses of a large number of their compatriates. Funny sort of logic .

[mibn2cweus]

Having presumed all members of an arbitrary distinction to be like the worst within their group, if your not treated accordingly by all members of that group, then it's not because you don't deserve it.

Whether its legal or not, disliking people because of the accident of having been born into a specified group, a choice none of us have, is just plain stupid.

[modeller]

OK so the victims of atrocities committed by a country's army , condoned and supported by much of the general public and the government of that country, are stupid and bigots if they dislike that country.

Let me give you one simple example a group of prisoners were brutalised
by their captors and once a week they were taken to the local town square
where they were publically beaten to the cheers and jeers of the populous.
Many of the few survivors suffered as a result of their treatment for the rest of their lives. But in your opinion if they or their friends express their dislike of that nation they are bigots and stupid.

There is blind bigotry in the world especially amongst some religious
groups but some people have a very good reason for their expressed dislike.

[mibn2cweus]

Being no less indiscriminate in how one judges all members of the offending group only leads legitimacy to the actions of those by whom they were victimised. The way to rise above ones enemies is not by making oneself their ideological equals but by understanding the root cause of their errors, the failure to consider others based solely on their individual merits rather then by what tribe they were born into without consideration for the fact that they are themselves victims of the same ideology.

Blind allegiance to a tribe is only made 'profitable' by those who fail to recognise that we are all individuals, individually accountable for our beliefs, choices and actions.

A 'country' is merely a line in the sand making an arbitrary distinction between 'us' and 'them'. Failing to make individual distinctions only draws that line deeper escalating a bad situation and furthering a divide predicated on an undefined allusion. Helping to build the wall does nothing to enhance the virtues of either side.

[modeller]

So you think labelling the victims bigots and stupid will help to bring down
the wall . How about trying to understand the victims suffering first before philosophing and calling them bigots.