Are Irish People Racist?

**eoinh** · 02/03/2004, 11:58 AM

Not just to people of different cultures and creeds but also towards Eastern Europeans and anybody with a different accent.
The more i listen to people talk in Ireland about "THEM" and the way we will be swamped is frightening.

And all this from a country with a huge emigrant population

As one foreigner said in an article today in the IT about attitudes to them " i love ireland but i hate the f ucking irish".

**max power** · 02/03/2004, 12:33 PM

i hate everybody equally...and i'm not afraid to admit it.....

**Macy** · 02/03/2004, 12:43 PM

Definitely, although maybe ignorant as much as racist. Having said that, there are plenty of people that try to be so PC that they're pathetically patronising...

**liamon** · 02/03/2004, 12:50 PM

We're incredibly racist.
And I don't think an explanation of "sure, we don't know any better" makes it ok.
Ignorance is not an excuse.

**Macy** · 02/03/2004, 1:02 PM

Originally posted by liamon
Ignorance is not an excuse.

Never said it was.... Ignorance is just as bad as Racism.

**Dodge** · 02/03/2004, 1:18 PM

Its not active rascism, its just lazy, ignorent rascism.

**the 12 th man** · 02/03/2004, 1:54 PM

i think that we are the same as every other country now in that we have our share of racist people mixed in with non racists.
there was a time back in the begosh and begorrah days when
we were deemed to be the friendliest people in the world.
but now im afraid we are just the same (in our attitude to non nationals) as everywhere else.i think though that we are no worse either.
this is the way of the world.

**tiktok** · 02/03/2004, 2:47 PM

Yeah, we're very racist.

Unless you come from abroad to one of our hotels, money filling your pockets, then we break out the attractive Irish brogue and give you the Cead Mile Failte's.

It's one of the things about this country that disgusts me. Most of it is based on ignorance though, so with a little education it's a situation we could improve. At the rate we're going though, the future looks bleak.

**lopez** · 02/03/2004, 3:10 PM

No. We have a large minority of racists, but the majority are certainly sophisticated enough to see the benefits of immigration (you can see this within this forum). Back in 1998 a Dublin street got behind a black family continually harassed by local Gards and petitioned this to stop. This is a sign of a mature society: Not a racist one.

BTW, my MA thesis was on black immigration into Ireland. Free attachments available for any intellectuals interested (PM me). Duncan Gardner recommends it (I think???).

**liam88** · 02/03/2004, 3:10 PM

On the positive side a survey recently published in the newspaper said the 7 out of 10 people in Ireland are not opposed to Britain-I'm sure it was much higher in the past.
We still probably are the most friendly people in the world and internationally we're not off in wars and things.
Like it's been said though-everywhere has i's share of racists

but I don't think "Irish" as a whole are

**liamon** · 02/03/2004, 3:33 PM

Originally posted by lopez
No. We have a large minority of racists, ...... attachments available for any intellectuals interested

A large minority of racists makes us a racist nation.

And I have very little time for people who consider themselves to be "intellectuals". Damned Arts graduates.

Originally posted by Macy
Never said it was.... Ignorance is just as bad as Racism.

I appreciate that you also do not approve of ignorant behaviour. However, you and Davros belittled the charge of racism by explaining that it was just ignorance. THat's why I felt the need to argue the point.

**Macy** · 02/03/2004, 3:54 PM

Originally posted by liamon
I appreciate that you also do not approve of ignorant behaviour. However, you and Davros belittled the charge of racism by explaining that it was just ignorance. THat's why I felt the need to argue the point.

Don't think I belittled anything - ignorance is a cause of racism. Tackle the ignorance with education, and you'll go a long way to reducing racism.

**Peadar** · 02/03/2004, 5:21 PM

Is it not racist to say that "Irish people are racist."?
There are people on this island who are racist, just as there are in every part of the globe. Education is the only way to remedy such issues as racisim and I feel that as more and more children, with origins from outside Ireland, join our schools we'll find attitudes changing. In general I don't think that there's a lot of hate in Ireland and people are very adaptive.
The tabloids love to blow racism out of proportion in order to sell their rags.

**persianpaddy** · 02/03/2004, 5:36 PM

Hi Guys, my first post here... didn't intent to JOIN the board but saw this discussion and thought of dropping a line.

As a [bleedin] foreigner living in Dublin, I must admit that I have never been subjected to any active act of racism in the 3 years that I've been livin here. I don't really think that I can call Irish people RACIST. Very very few people are actively racist here. However there's a certain degree of Xenophobia here, which is actually quite understandable to me! As someone mentioned in this post, one of the reasons is that unlike many other European countries, Ireland had never had a colonising past. Therefore there was far less number of foreigners coming here and contributing to the economy in comparison to, say, France or England. In those countries people are USED TO seeing foreigners and they know that they're not gonna take away their jobs or women!

In Ireland majority of people simply aren't used to that and start freakin out when they see foreigners coming here... Also, in fairness Ireland can be categorized as a neuvue rich country (no offence meant, just a fact!) and people aren't used to this amount of wealth. Probably in the back of their mind they still don't feel safe enough and think that all these foreigners are gonna bring ireland back to the misery that it was up to 90s!

Well that was my 2 cents hope I haven't offended anyone.

PS : Anyone knows where can I play indoor soccer in the southside of the city?!? That's why I can here!!

**eoinh** · 02/03/2004, 5:44 PM

what part of Iran are you from?

Up esteghlal!

**Éanna** · 02/03/2004, 5:48 PM

I don't think its so much clearly definable racism in the way it is in other countries. In general Irish people are very parochial, and there's a lot of NIMBYism going on here- I think its not a hatred of foreigners, such as a "they're grand as long as they don't bother me" attitude, which unfortunately allows a small minority of blatant racists to exploit the situation.

**persianpaddy** · 02/03/2004, 5:49 PM

Originally posted by eoinh
what part of Iran are you from?

Up esteghlal!

Tehran.

And forget about Esteghlal!!! Persepolis forever!

How come u know abut then though?!

**persianpaddy** · 02/03/2004, 5:50 PM

Originally posted by Éanna
I don't think its so much clearly definable racism in the way it is in other countries. In general Irish people are very parochial, and there's a lot of NIMBYism going on here- I think its not a hatred of foreigners, such as a "they're grand as long as they don't bother me" attitude, which unfortunately allows a small minority of blatant racists to exploit the situation.

Now that's PROBABLY what I was trying to say as well, if only I knew what NIMBYism means

**eoinh** · 02/03/2004, 5:56 PM

Originally posted by persianpaddy

Tehran.

And forget about Esteghlal!!! Persepolis forever!

How come u know abut then though?!

Thats from years of reading world soccer

Esteghlal and Pirouzi are the two iranian teams i know.

BTW have you seen that film "TEN" set in Tehran. Not a bad film.

**persianpaddy** · 02/03/2004, 6:00 PM

Originally posted by eoinh
Thats from years of reading world soccer Esteghlal and Pirouzi are the two iranian teams i know.

BTW have you seen that film "TEN" set in Tehran. Not a bad film.

Yes you're right. Pirouzi is more commonly known as Persepolis though, people's name is persepolis, Islamic Republic's name is ugly pirouzi

Yes I have seen TEN indeed! It's a very good film I think.

I was going to see it in Irish Film Centre here. Didn't manage to get there till the last day. They were showing it on screen 1 and they were showing "last days in dublin" on screen 2. And they were both on their last show. And guess which one was sold out!! Don't tell me the Irish are Racist then

I had to watch it on DVD!