My tram experience

[sid]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... -tram.html

So, unsurprisingly the racist woman was arrested - for those of you who don't know the story look on youtube for "my tram experience". Be warned that it is quite offensive.

Heard them discussing it on the radio this afternoon. Some dole sponge was on saying stuff like "she's right, it's just the way she said it" and something about Chinese people taking all our jobs. Quite depressing that we have people who would agree with that kind of bile.

[brummie-leinster-man]

Heard it all before. Funnily enough from most of the people who are now calling for her head.

Funny old world

[Hornet]

Regular occurance on the LUAS and Dublin Bus unfortunately.

[darkside lighteside]

that's a pretty depressing watch, and thankfully not something I've seen a lot of in my time in London (albeit I try to keep my time spent in Croydon to the absolute minimum ) but she's been arrested??? seriously??? For saying offensive things???? FFS, when will the penny drop that freedom of speech doesn't just mean 'freedom to say things I agree with'??? I find the tone and substance of what she says absolutely abhorrent (without even thinking about the poor kid on her knee), but the idea of prosecuting people for saying nasty things (as opposed to confronting and challenging their views, and, these days, exposing them to pillory and ridicule on youtube, all of which have already happened) is almost equally repugnant to me..

(and I would even extend that right of free speech to people who still maintain that Declan Kidney is some kind of rugby seer, despite leading Ireland to an overall win ratio of just 48% in 2010 and 2011...)

[berniemac67]

that's a pretty depressing watch, and thankfully not something I've seen a lot of in my time in London (albeit I try to keep my time spent in Croydon to the absolute minimum ) but she's been arrested??? seriously??? For saying offensive things???? FFS, when will the penny drop that freedom of speech doesn't just mean 'freedom to say things I agree with'??? I find the tone and substance of what she says absolutely abhorrent (without even thinking about the poor kid on her knee), but the idea of prosecuting people for saying nasty things (as opposed to confronting and challenging their views, and, these days, exposing them to pillory and ridicule on youtube, all of which have already happened) is almost equally repugnant to me..

(and I would even extend that right of free speech to people who still maintain that Declan Kidney is some kind of rugby seer, despite leading Ireland to an overall win ratio of just 48% in 2010 and 2011...)

the right to freedom of speech is american. no such "right" this side of the pond.

[ceemec]

Freedom of speech is not unique to America. It features in the constitutions of many countries including our own and the United Kingdom. In the UK, it is tolerated as long as it is not deemed threatening, offensive or a breach of the peace. This clearly falls into that category and she was arrested. What this woman is doing is inciting racial hatred which is illegal and an arrestable offence.

[darkside lighteside]

that's a pretty depressing watch, and thankfully not something I've seen a lot of in my time in London (albeit I try to keep my time spent in Croydon to the absolute minimum ) but she's been arrested??? seriously??? For saying offensive things???? FFS, when will the penny drop that freedom of speech doesn't just mean 'freedom to say things I agree with'??? I find the tone and substance of what she says absolutely abhorrent (without even thinking about the poor kid on her knee), but the idea of prosecuting people for saying nasty things (as opposed to confronting and challenging their views, and, these days, exposing them to pillory and ridicule on youtube, all of which have already happened) is almost equally repugnant to me..

(and I would even extend that right of free speech to people who still maintain that Declan Kidney is some kind of rugby seer, despite leading Ireland to an overall win ratio of just 48% in 2010 and 2011...)

the right to freedom of speech is american. no such "right" this side of the pond.

in the UK there is a common law 'negative right' of free speech - and further I believe specific rights in statute under the Human Rights Act.. unfortunately there are myriad exceptions, so we see ridiculous outcomes like this (IMO)

[rooster]

The thing I would like to know is what started her rant, perhaps we are only seeing half a story on that video, evidently she was well pissed about something, it is not good though no matter how you look at it.

[Leinster Exile]

The thing I would like to know is what started her rant, perhaps we are only seeing half a story on that video, evidently she was well pissed about something, it is not good though no matter how you look at it.

Yeah , maybe the black people did something sinister.....or where speaking weirdly or doing other such offensive things which grate with the white working class person.

[brummie-leinster-man]

The thing I would like to know is what started her rant, perhaps we are only seeing half a story on that video, evidently she was well pissed about something, it is not good though no matter how you look at it.

I'm no expert but there appears to be mental health issues here. Either that or substance misuse. If somebody is suffering from mental illness they can still function day to day with medication for long periods of time with no problems. If, however, they stop medicating they will relapse bigtime. My Mrs is a psychiatric nurse / newly qualified therapist and I heard some stories over the years. One lad who stopped taking his meds ended up stripping naked and running over a line of parked cars along a street while giggling hysterically. Yet when the same guy is taking his meds he's a well known music producer & label boss!

If it's substance misuse then she would have some problem to be in that state in a public place and the child probably would have been taken off her by now.

Either way that rant must have been brewing for years and it was triggered by something (more than likely in her head!)

My favourite part of the whole story is the response. I have never seen so much high-horse bandwangoning in my life. The double standard shite that is spewed all over facebook and twitter is hilarious. As I scroll down my facebook news feed and see all the status updates about how much of a bitch she is etc, I'm reminded of countless times I've heard each of these people at some point over the years have the very same rant in the comfort of their own homes.

I'm not sure what its like your side of the pond but in England the "Celebration of Multi-Culture" is rammed down your throat at every opportunity and anyone who shows the slightest bit of negativity is branded a "racist" and "bigot". Its all a bit excessive IMO. People shouldn't have to hear that kind of talk on a tram or wherever, that woman took it to the extreme end of the spectrum. People do, however, need to lighten the f%~k up a bit though!
I, as an Irishman raised in Birmingham, subjected to a lifetime of "Paddy & Murphy" and "Englishman, Scotsman, Irishman" jokes, feel I should be able to laugh at jokes about Indians, Africans, Poilish, Chinese, whatever quite freely without being frowned upon.

Why is it not racist to call an Irish lad a stupid drunken spud-eating terrorist but it is racist to say an Pakistani fella smells of curry (When he's just made a curry. And eaten it. And Burped. And dropped a little bit on his shirt.)

Now its not just the "bloody foreigners" I'm on about here. The middle class do-gooders are killing us! The Muslims don't give a sh!t if they watch characters in Coronation St get married in front of a cross (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religio ... scene.html )
Now even the term "Christmas" is being slowly replaced by "Holiday". There are more and more "Holiday lights" "Holiday Trees" etc.

It seems that people who make these crazy decisions in order to avoid offending foreign people, who also live in nice area's where there are no foreign people, add to the general ill-feeling amongst more inner city area's where the concentration of multi culture is greater and people have to live with each other and encounter each other daily.

I did like the African woman's response in the video though:

"We come here to do the jobs you wont do because you don't want to work!" Says it all really

[West Brit]

Freedom of speech is not unique to America. It features in the constitutions of many countries including our own and the United Kingdom. In the UK, it is tolerated as long as it is not deemed threatening, offensive or a breach of the peace. This clearly falls into that category and she was arrested. What this woman is doing is inciting racial hatred which is illegal and an arrestable offence.

It is absolutely not free speech unless you have the freedom to offend. For me, freedom of speech, whether or not enshrined in a written constitution, is the absolute cornerstone of western democracy.

[rooster]

I'm no expert but there appears to be mental health issues here. Either that or substance misuse. If somebody is suffering from mental illness they can still function day to day with medication for long periods of time with no problems. If, however, they stop medicating they will relapse bigtime. My Mrs is a psychiatric nurse / newly qualified therapist and I heard some stories over the years. One lad who stopped taking his meds ended up stripping naked and running over a line of parked cars along a street while giggling hysterically. Yet when the same guy is taking his meds he's a well known music producer & label boss!

If it's substance misuse then she would have some problem to be in that state in a public place and the child probably would have been taken off her by now.

Either way that rant must have been brewing for years and it was triggered by something (more than likely in her head!)

Could well be brummie, thats why I said we perhaps only have part of the story, the way she rants there is certainly something just not right up top.

I, as an Irishman raised in Birmingham, subjected to a lifetime of "Paddy & Murphy" and "Englishman, Scotsman, Irishman" jokes, feel I should be able to laugh at jokes about Indians, Africans, Poilish, Chinese, whatever quite freely without being frowned upon

Interestingly the only place I have personally witness out and out racial predudice was in a meeting in Birmingham when the boss of a multinational based there sat opposite a girl from Limerick and totally ignored her existence, there were only 4 of us there and he talked to me plus the 2 English attenders, well he thought they were English but one was from Roscommon and the other from Dublin.
He did himself out of a 6 figure sum of grant funding though with his attitude

[Mauler]

One lad who stopped taking his meds ended up stripping naked and running over a line of parked cars along a street while giggling hysterically.

Or he could have had 13 romantic pints washed down with a few verses of Father Abraham ... pretty much the same result guaranteed!

[Leinster Exile]

Could well be brummie, thats why I said we perhaps only have part of the story, the way she rants there is certainly something just not right up top.

Apologies, I completely misunderstood your "there must have been something else" line of thought.

[Leinsterman]

One lad who stopped taking his meds ended up stripping naked and running over a line of parked cars along a street while giggling hysterically.

Please tell me that the person you're referring to is Simon Cowell!

Or he could have had 13 romantic pints washed down with a few verses of Father Abraham ... pretty much the same result guaranteed!

Mental images returning....

[rooster]

Could well be brummie, thats why I said we perhaps only have part of the story, the way she rants there is certainly something just not right up top.

Apologies, I completely misunderstood your "there must have been something else" line of thought.

No worries, just the whole thing stinks of half a story, could be a mental illness problem known by someone unseen in that who fired her up to start with as a cruel joke, on the other hand the woman may just be an outright racist and that is her own personal views, again though something started her rant, if she was just sitting there and started without some form of provocation then she certainly has problems of one variety or another and perhaps now the police are involved all will become clear if it goes to court, on the other hand if it's not a good story it will never see the light of day again and all will be left with that one impression of the woman in question.

It's actually so mad it's feasable it is a total setup for YouTube, the power of the internet knows no bounds these days.

[Broken Wing]

What strikes me about this and the Naas thing is that the majority opinion seems to be that the problem is not in having these views but in expressing them.

To put it another way, if the lad in Naas had said nothing but had acted they way he said he would (i.e. refer black African constituents to other councillors rather than act on their behalf) then he'd still be Mayor.

[brummie-leinster-man]

Interestingly the only place I have personally witness out and out racial predudice was in a meeting in Birmingham when the boss of a multinational based there sat opposite a girl from Limerick and totally ignored her existence, there were only 4 of us there and he talked to me plus the 2 English attenders, well he thought they were English but one was from Roscommon and the other from Dublin.
He did himself out of a 6 figure sum of grant funding though with his attitude

And quite right too! People from Limerick are still human..............of a sort