It's one of the annoying things, for me personally, the assumption that all yobs feel the same way. "Well, this bunch of yobs bashed up someone, so they'd all predisposed to it."
No, they aren't.
My dad was what I think of as a low level racist. He was amazed, amused, and confused by different cultures, and when he was pissed off with someone of another nationality, the racism would come out in the insults.
It would also come out in the normal teasing that he did with all his mates. That was the nature of his interaction - if he knew you, you were ripe for teasing. And the focus would be whatever he could grab, your height, your hair, the way you spoke, your nationality, etc. And he fully expected you to do the same to him.
Amongst his good friends, people he saw pretty much weekly, were Aboriginals, Hungarians, Maoris, Greeks, Italians, Chinese, etc. They'd come over and sit with him in his shed, chatting and drinking, for hours.
And on more than one occasion while out and about, he literally came to blows with people who insulted or attacked those friends. He was a man with a violent temper who drank too much, and more than once he went down fighting for one of his mates.
But I never once saw or heard of him wanting to hit someone just for being from another country or racial background.
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Date: 2010-01-26 02:38 am (UTC)No, they aren't.
My dad was what I think of as a low level racist. He was amazed, amused, and confused by different cultures, and when he was pissed off with someone of another nationality, the racism would come out in the insults.
It would also come out in the normal teasing that he did with all his mates. That was the nature of his interaction - if he knew you, you were ripe for teasing. And the focus would be whatever he could grab, your height, your hair, the way you spoke, your nationality, etc. And he fully expected you to do the same to him.
Amongst his good friends, people he saw pretty much weekly, were Aboriginals, Hungarians, Maoris, Greeks, Italians, Chinese, etc. They'd come over and sit with him in his shed, chatting and drinking, for hours.
And on more than one occasion while out and about, he literally came to blows with people who insulted or attacked those friends. He was a man with a violent temper who drank too much, and more than once he went down fighting for one of his mates.
But I never once saw or heard of him wanting to hit someone just for being from another country or racial background.