I'll start with the net and work my around to racism and the west. The internet was a great leveller especially forums and the like. You are attempting to communicate, sometimes in real-time using only one of your senses and with the added protection of anonymity. There were down sides but a good thing was people like me got hear what people said about other groups believing nobody representative of said group was present. Racism is rife, trust me, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. Ignorance of the affliction or denial, is however a problem. A lot of politically correct people take an anti-racist stance, but they're clueless. Almost like those green people the ones that drive to the bottle every other Sunday, I see them from my window. I don't have the heart to tell them it would take all the bottles they used in two years to counteract a single trip to the bottle-bank in their Chelsea tractor.
Warren what's his name, the chap that plays Alf Garnett, seems like a nice man. I saw him being interviewed once, he's very well spoken. He said he was in a taxi once and the driver praised him saying he was great. The driver loved the way he took the piss out of the wogs and the coons. To which the actor replied. “Actually I was taking the piss out of people like you.”
As for racism and offending others, for Stan2's bad Caribbean impression. In the real world, in my real local pub somebody may well have rendered him unconscious for the same. The little comments I made like 'Not you Jay, you're one of us.' I've heard addressed to me a thousand times. Do you know how offensive that is?
People from the West believe their standards are higher than others, hence we judge all others by that standard but the standards are not better they're just different. Y'all get involved by thinking your helping and your not, it ends up causing wars. Arranged marriages are bad right? But statistically they are more robust than their counterparts. Another annoyance, white people telling me not to call black people black, apparently they're coloured. Did anybody actually ask them what they want be called. And yes, I can see how telling somebody of a particular religion there is no Hell could be taken as offensive. What? Didn't you learn anything from the Salmon Rushdie episode. The West wants to police the world, it can't help itself. If for example in African-American new culture a man wants to call his woman, biatch and she's happy to answer him. What has that got to do with us? What right do we have to interfere? You don't get it do you? Let's take the N word. Most of you will find that offensive, you will not take it along with context and intent as most black people will. You do crazy things like try to stop N----- using the 'N' word as a term of endearment. How does that work? Sorry boss says we can't say it, and we shouldn't be talking while we bailing cotton.
This is the internet, a general common sense guide is to treat it as an alternate world. Never let your real life cross with your 'internet life' you actually risk exploitation and put yourself and family in danger. Over time in a forum or chat-room do you know how much information you actually give away? You say you live in a Wiltshire village, Stonehenge is just ten minutes away. You're husband's Dave – Thelma's husband Bob passed away, dreading the funeral on Sunday. A bit of cross referencing and obituary scanning and any one of 7 billion people know who you are and where you live. Now think back, did you actually mention when you were going on holiday?
So if you want to be real people, having real things you're welcome. Me, I'll crack a joke and just go back to being Michael Scott whoever he is.