Diane Abbott

[Beefster]

Tweeted...

"White people love playing 'divide and rule'. We should not play their game"

She has previous for this sort of stuff. Racist?

What reaction would a white politician get if they tweeted the same thing but with 'black' substituting 'white'?

[Betty Boop]

Tweeted...

"White people love playing 'divide and rule'. We should not play their game"

She has previous for this sort of stuff. Racist?

What reaction would a white politician get if they tweeted the same thing but with 'black' substituting 'white'?

She will probably get an eight match ban.

[DaveF]

I see she has blamed twitter's 140 character limit as the problem for not being able to explain herself properly.

There is no doubt in my mind that if such a general comment was made about blacks, asians or islam then all hell would break loose.

[easty]

Tweeted...

"White people love playing 'divide and rule'. We should not play their game"

She has previous for this sort of stuff. Racist?

What reaction would a white politician get if they tweeted the same thing but with 'black' substituting 'white'?

I heard this earlier, I wouldn't even give her the publicity she clearly craves. The fact this is making the news will delight her. She's an intelligent women (apparantly) and knows what she's doing.

I'd say that while I don't believe she's a racist, her comments could be construed as such. Attributed to other people they would be treated very differently I'm sure, and if it was a white politician tweeting the same thing but about 'black'/'coloured' people then they'd be packing thier desks before they had a chance to apologise.

[Big Ed]

She should be utterly ashamed of herself.
Only days after the conviction of two of Stephen Lawrence’s murderers; this moron steps up to the plate!
Now every swivel-eyed white supremacist, bigot can point to her tweet and say “look at this” – and they’ll have a point.
Racism is wrong, no matter the colour of the skin of the person conveying it, and she should know that better than anyone.

[Sylar]

She should be sacked. Simple really.

[easty]

Can someone explain to me how this is out of context, as Diane Abott is claiming? I've read it a number of times now and I can't see what she's on about. How does claiming her tweet was to do with 19th century European colonialism fit in with this at all?

[Pretty Boy]

Diane Abbot is an attention seeking nobody who is probably best ignored.

She now seems to have realised she is never going to lead or hold a high ranking.position within the Labour Party so has resorted to this kind of controversial nonsense to keep her face in the public eye.

[Sylar]

Came across an interesting counter to the mass outcrying of "racist":

http://33revolutionsperminute.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/racism-vs-racism-why-diane-abbott-was-right/

[Beefster]

Came across an interesting counter to the mass outcrying of "racist":

http://33revolutionsperminute.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/racism-vs-racism-why-diane-abbott-was-right/

That argument seems to be "well, some white people do (or did) like to divide and rule" and that may well be true. However, if I said "Black people have low IQs", I could find a example that would back the statement up but ultimately, the statement would be wrong (the generalisation that all black people are stupid) and also be racist (it's a generalisation based on race).

[lapsedhibee]

That argument seems to be "well, some white people do (or did) like to divide and rule" and that may well be true. However, if I said "Black people have low IQs", I could find a example that would back the statement up but ultimately, the statement would be wrong (the generalisation that all black people are stupid) and also be racist (it's a generalisation based on race).

Does the bit in bold entail that "Scots have the worst diet in the UK" is racist, then? :confused:

[Sir David Gray]

I don't see why anyone's surprised by this at all.

Diane Abbott has previous for these kinds of comments and she clearly has a massive chip on her shoulder about white people.

Back in the 90s, she declared that two "blonde, blue-eyed, Finnish girls" were unsuitable to be working as nurses at her local hospital because they had never met a black person before.

Then of course, a couple of years ago, she referred to David Cameron and Nick Clegg as "two posh white boys".

Whilst she is fully entitled to hold and express her own beliefs and opinions, her latest comments are completely outrageous and make her totally unsuitable to hold a position, however small, within the Labour Party.

She should have been sacked from her post as Shadow Public Health Minister and shame on Ed Miliband for failing to do that.

It will also be interesting to see if the likes of Peter Hain will be refusing to share a platform with Diane Abbott from now on, considering his long held view that he would never share a platform with a member of the BNP.

The views that she's expressed over the years are really no different to something you might expect to hear from Nick Griffin, obviously from the other side of the coin.

The fact that she's a member of parliament, and holds a position, for the main opposition party in the UK is a major problem for Labour.

Make no mistake, if this had been a white MP making this sort of comment about black or Asian people, they would have been sacked on the spot and their political career would be over.

If anyone was ever in any doubt before that the subject of racism is only treated seriously in this country when the person responsible is white then this latest episode should completely put an end to that.

[ancienthibby]

I don't see why anyone's surprised by this at all.

Diane Abbott has previous for these kinds of comments and she clearly has a massive chip on her shoulder about white people.

Back in the 90s, she declared that two "blonde, blue-eyed, Finnish girls" were unsuitable to be working as nurses at her local hospital because they had never met a black person before.

Then of course, a couple of years ago, she referred to David Cameron and Nick Clegg as "two posh white boys".

Whilst she is fully entitled to hold and express her own beliefs and opinions, her latest comments are completely outrageous and make her totally unsuitable to hold a position, however small, within the Labour Party.

She should have been sacked from her post as Shadow Public Health Minister and shame on Ed Miliband for failing to do that.

It will also be interesting to see if the likes of Peter Hain will be refusing to share a platform with Diane Abbott from now on, considering his long held view that he would never share a platform with a member of the BNP.

The views that she's expressed over the years are really no different to something you might expect to hear from Nick Griffin, obviously from the other side of the coin.

The fact that she's a member of parliament, and holds a position, for the main opposition party in the UK is a major problem for Labour.

Make no mistake, if this had been a white MP making this sort of comment about black or Asian people, they would have been sacked on the spot and their political career would be over.

If anyone was ever in any doubt before that the subject of racism is only treated seriously in this country when the person responsible is white then this latest episode should completely put an end to that.

Most people would recognise that Diane Abbott is quite used to running off her mouth.

However, your final para suggests you have never heard of the Stephan Lawrence case, which has been dominating the media these past few days??

What we now know is that white people have been sheltered for years and years (make that 18) by a corrupt white police force and only the admirable determination of a black family has brought this result about.

[Beefster]

Does the bit in bold entail that "Scots have the worst diet in the UK" is racist, then? :confused:

No.

[DaveF]

[/B]

Most people would recognise that Diane Abbott is quite used to running off her mouth.

However, your final para suggests you have never heard of the Stephan Lawrence case, which has been dominating the media these past few days??

What we now know is that white people have been sheltered for years and years (make that 18) by a corrupt white police force and only the admirable determination of a black family has brought this result about.

Agree, but then you can find a list of people who have spent years in jail (of all skin colour) as a result of a corrupt police force.

It's not something specific to the Lawrence's.

[Sir David Gray]

[/B]

Most people would recognise that Diane Abbott is quite used to running off her mouth.

However, your final para suggests you have never heard of the Stephan Lawrence case, which has been dominating the media these past few days??

What we now know is that white people have been sheltered for years and years (make that 18) by a corrupt white police force and only the admirable determination of a black family has brought this result about.

What I'm saying is, if a white MP had said what Diane Abbott has said, about black or Asian people, they would currently be looking for an alternative career and I don't think that's arguable in any way.

You only have to look back a few weeks in the case of the Conservative MP, Aidan Burley, who was sacked by David Cameron from his post as an aide for the Transport Secretary to realise this.

He was disciplined, not because of anything he had directly done or said, but purely because people he happened to be socialising with had worn Nazi uniforms to a stag party.

I agree that someone in his position, i.e. an MP, should have known better than to allow himself to be placed in such a position but it does prove my earlier point about there being one rule for one section of society and a completely different rule for everybody else.

Ed Miliband should have taken stronger action against Diane Abbott and it's a poor reflection on him and the Labour Party in general that this did not happen.

She clearly has only apologised because she was forced to by Miliband and going by the interview she gave to Sky News prior to speaking with him, she obviously did not think that she's said anything wrong and that people have taken her comments "out of context".

It should have been a no-brainer to sack her.

[ancienthibby]

What I'm saying is, if a white MP had said what Diane Abbott has said, about black or Asian people, they would currently be looking for an alternative career and I don't think that's arguable in any way.

You only have to look back a few weeks in the case of the Conservative MP, Aidan Burley, who was sacked by David Cameron from his post as an aide for the Transport Secretary to realise this.

He was disciplined, not because of anything he had directly done or said, but purely because people he happened to be socialising with had worn Nazi uniforms to a stag party.

I agree that someone in his position, i.e. an MP, should have known better than to allow himself to be placed in such a position but it does prove my earlier point about there being one rule for one section of society and a completely different rule for everybody else.

Ed Miliband should have taken stronger action against Diane Abbott and it's a poor reflection on him and the Labour Party in general that this did not happen.

She clearly has only apologised because she was forced to by Miliband and going by the interview she gave to Sky News prior to speaking with him, she obviously did not think that she's said anything wrong and that people have taken her comments "out of context".

It should have been a no-brainer to sack her.

You've got the big deflect gloves on here, Falkirk,

In the context of the current Lawrence case, Miliband would not have given a nano-second of thought to your suggestion!

[steakbake]

It should have been a no-brainer to sack her.

Ed Miliband?

[Phil D. Rolls]

[/B]

Most people would recognise that Diane Abbott is quite used to running off her mouth.

However, your final para suggests you have never heard of the Stephan Lawrence case, which has been dominating the media these past few days??

What we now know is that white people have been sheltered for years and years (make that 18) by a corrupt white police force and only the admirable determination of a black family has brought this result about.

Yes, but the point was that all people in society have a duty to avoid behaving in a racist manner. I don't think there are many people who would deny the injustices that racism has caused, for that reason we should be careful that white people don't end up feeling picked upon - which is the impression that could be given if Abbot escapes censure.

This is the woman who said she should lead the Labour Party because she was a black woman, rather than because she had more ability than the other candidates.

[Dashing Bob S]

Dislike this woman intensely. Sums up everything whinging and obnoxious about the Labour Party. She's a grade A1 ********.

[Geo_1875]

She's an example of all thats negative about positive discrimination. Would never have been heard of otherwise.

[Pete]

She will probably get an eight match ban.

Pretty disappointing Betty and I feel you are trivializing this issue with that comment.



She should be utterly ashamed of herself.
Only days after the conviction of two of Stephen Lawrence’s murderers; this moron steps up to the plate!
Now every swivel-eyed white supremacist, bigot can point to her tweet and say “look at this” – and they’ll have a point.
Racism is wrong, no matter the colour of the skin of the person conveying it, and she should know that better than anyone.

I totally agree with your point of view and share your sentiments...but I have to question why the sentence in bold was included.
No doubt it's factually correct but this is a specific incident involving anti white racism from a black person...yet reference was made, in some context, to white supremacists.

Betty might have been trying to be witty with her comment and you might have been simply pointing out a fact but I believe frustration among the white population exists due to such points being made in such discussions.

Efforts to portray our society as all inclusive and multi-racial have gone beyond "balance" for a lot of people because it is so blatant. Every school class shot on the TV is arranged like a piano keyboard, the blatant non inclusion of race in reports of crime...especially ones of a sexual nature, "positive" discrimination in important offices...it's obvious what's happening and the reasons are well intentioned and sometimes valid.

However, the issue for a lot of white people is that this bias isn't being met with the real acknowledgement that black/asian(or any minority) on white racism is just as serious a problem. People can say that this race is suffering more than this race in relation to numbers of population etc... but that's non-personifying the issue...and actually defeating the purpose of the whole exercise?

People are continually being told that being colourblind is the right way when it comes to race...and I totally agree!
However, I think that the ones putting barriers and constraints in the way of this are often the people who think they have the best intentions.

[Big Ed]

Pretty disappointing Betty and I feel you are trivializing this issue with that comment.



I totally agree with your point of view and share your sentiments...but I have to question why the sentence in bold was included.
No doubt it's factually correct but this is a specific incident involving anti white racism from a black person...yet reference was made, in some context, to white supremacists.

Betty might have been trying to be witty with her comment and you might have been simply pointing out a fact but I believe frustration among the white population exists due to such points being made in such discussions.

Efforts to portray our society as all inclusive and multi-racial have gone beyond "balance" for a lot of people because it is so blatant. Every school class shot on the TV is arranged like a piano keyboard, the blatant non inclusion of race in reports of crime...especially ones of a sexual nature, "positive" discrimination in important offices...it's obvious what's happening and the reasons are well intentioned and sometimes valid.

However, the issue for a lot of white people is that this bias isn't being met with the real acknowledgement that black/asian(or any minority) on white racism is just as serious a problem. People can say that this race is suffering more than this race in relation to numbers of population etc... but that's non-personifying the issue...and actually defeating the purpose of the whole exercise?

People are continually being told that being colourblind is the right way when it comes to race...and I totally agree!
However, I think that the ones putting barriers and constraints in the way of this are often the people who think they have the best intentions.

I have genuine sympathy for people who are disadvantaged as a result of positive discrimination and I feel that it is very difficult for these people to make their concerns heard without being accused, at some point, of being prejudiced.
What makes their problem worse though, is that often, those seeking to defend them have their own ulterior motive of promoting racism.
The part of my post that you have highlighted is directed at these “defenders”. I’m not just talking about BNP types here: I am talking about the many people that I have encountered in pubs, at work, or just come across, who speak about minorities in an aggressive manner for no other reason than the colour of their skin.
These people need little encouragement and certainly not from someone in Diane Abbott’s position.

[IndieHibby]

When people say "she should be sacked", has she actually got a post from which she can be sacked?

If she is just an MP, is she claiming to represent her constituency by spouting off this way? (in effect, saying they are racist).

Other than voting her out, what recourse does anyone have?

Abbot is clearly either an idiot (which I don't think is true), or a dangerous mischief, in which case someone (Ed "no balls" Milliband?) needs to take repsonsibility for her.

Has he actually said anything about it (and his usual pointless whimpering doesn't count)?

[Future17]

When people say "she should be sacked", has she actually got a post from which she can be sacked?

If she is just an MP, is she claiming to represent her constituency by spouting off this way? (in effect, saying they are racist).

Other than voting her out, what recourse does anyone have?

Abbot is clearly either an idiot (which I don't think is true), or a dangerous mischief, in which case someone (Ed "no balls" Milliband?) needs to take repsonsibility for her.

Has he actually said anything about it (and his usual pointless whimpering doesn't count)?

I think she's Shadow Minister for Health - so could technically be sacked from that position.

Milliband did apparently tell her off, but I think he made an **** of it by making a ridiculous faux pas on Twitter the very next day.