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Racism and Language Learning | ||
Tags: Discrimination | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| jbbar Senior Member Belgium Joined 5806 days ago 192 posts - 210 votes  Speaks: English | Message 33 of 90 16 April 2009 at 11:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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This is Ashley's thread and it's about racism, got that? No matter how much I am tempted to respond to the idiotic remarks of Humbert, I'm not going to get into silly and uselss debates about homosexuality since the intention of my post was merely to explain why I don't equate the notion of 'homophobia' to racism. I am entitled to my opinion just like anyone else and I believe my opinion is sane and civilized. I am not going to apologize to anyone for having a politically incorrect view either.
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| klusek Pentaglot Newbie PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5833 days ago 10 posts - 10 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, German, Russian, Swedish Studies: Italian, Macedonian | Message 34 of 90 17 April 2009 at 12:06am | IP Logged | ||
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Coming back to the subject, I'd like to say that it's not country that is dangerous but certain neighbourhood. My brother has a Skype friend from USA who is half-Black and he would like to come to Poland one day. I discussed the whole racism-issue with my brother and we came to the conclusion that those people who are likely to beat people of different race are dangerous to their fellow countrymen as well - not to the same extent but the are. My brother asked me if I could imagine taking his American friend to one of the most dangerous pubs in our neighbourhood and I answered that I couldn't but I asked him if he would go there alone and his answer was negative. That's the point - think about some certain areas in Amercian big cities which are extremely dangerous for White people - I have no personal experiences about them but my friends do. To make it short - I doubt that you'd be more likely to be beaten in the center of any big "racist" city of Russia than in the suburbs or "sinful" areas of Western European cities. Edited by klusek on 17 April 2009 at 12:07am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| jbbar Senior Member Belgium Joined 5806 days ago 192 posts - 210 votes Speaks: English | Message 35 of 90 17 April 2009 at 12:10am | IP Logged | ||
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I agree with this view. Basically when you refrain from studying a language because you fear the response you may get from some violent extremists, you're actually submitting to them. Wouldn't it be great to be able to respond to these people in their native language? Of course it's best to avoid going alone to some places or to avoid certain places altogether, but I believe that genuine interest in another people's culture, way of thinking and their language may help to break the negative attitudes or even outright hatred certain people may have towards other races, people or ethnic groups. While, of course, standing firm in your own principles and beliefs.
jbbar Edited by jbbar on 17 April 2009 at 12:12am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6040 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds | Message 36 of 90 17 April 2009 at 12:47am | IP Logged | ||
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Back on topic ;).
For EU countries there is a very detailed report for racism and violent crime on the grounds of racism. You can find it here (click). Perhaps it is a bit too long... I don't have the patience to read the whole thing but here's an extracted figure.  Edited by Sennin on 19 April 2009 at 5:32pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| jbbar Senior Member Belgium Joined 5806 days ago 192 posts - 210 votes Speaks: English | Message 37 of 90 17 April 2009 at 1:22am | IP Logged | ||
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Those numbers are based on hate crimes. I don't believe they are a good indicator at all because they often involve cases where whites are said to be racist while the violence of non-whites against whites is hardly ever considered a 'hate crime' or 'racist' because it is somehow the result of societal discrimination and poverty. In countries like France, I'm quite certain that most of these incidents will involve anti-Semitic attacks against Jewish people and synagogues that are often perpetrated by people with a Muslim background rather than white supremacists. Granted, it may be different in certain Eastern European countries, where anti-Semitism is more widesperead among the native population. But overall, I must say I'm very skeptical of these figures. Racial hatred is not limited to one particular race, it exists everywhere and even among people who are considered to be of the same 'race'. I'm quite certain that overall, racial or ethnic hatred and violence is far more common outside the West.
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| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6040 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds | Message 39 of 90 17 April 2009 at 2:25am | IP Logged | ||
I've heard this before and it is a very unfortunate state of affairs. It seems it is human nature to despise all that is different ( or "unnatural" ;p ) rather than to cooperate and forget historical differences. Edited by Sennin on 17 April 2009 at 2:31am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ashley_Victrola Senior Member United States Joined 5712 days ago 416 posts - 429 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, Romanian | Message 40 of 90 17 April 2009 at 3:57am | IP Logged | ||
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While I do understand that the detailed report Sennin posted will not reflect the crimes inflicted on everyone due to hate, as after all every report of its kind does have its flaws, I do want to say thanks as it does at least have pertinence to the kind of issues I specifically was worried about.If anyone sees a report of similar thoroughness that would help a non-minority member or perhaps other ethnicities often targeted such as the Jewish population please feel free to post it as that sort of thing would be valuable information that a future poster may be curious about and/or have difficulty finding.
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