Whats the most uncomfortable/racist thing you witnessed abroad?

fakearms123

I went abroad with my basketball club to a summer camp in Massachusetts, US when i was about 16 years old, we went over to Boston first, stayed there for a few days before we left to go to the 2 week summer camp, anyway when we were staying in the YMCA in Boston we (group of about 10) decided to find an outdoor basketball court to practice before the camp, surely enough there were some nice black gentlemen occupying one the courts so we took the other court and played. We were all so pale and pasty it was embarrassing but we were good at basketball which made up for it.

The black gentlemen came over and started talking, in all honesty i knew it was english these boys were talking but it still sounded like beatboxing or something. Anyway they challenged us to a match and we were hestitant at first but we played, i was the youngest by about 2 years. They were doing these silly tricks and were trying crazy shots while we were playing as a team. We were beating them pretty badly and they were calling each other and us "b*tches", "p*ssies" and "n" word was flying around. We all felt really uncomfortable and after we won, we had to jog back to the hotel cause it started getting real sketchy near the end.

Have you ever just been so uncomfortable when your holidays?

Kiera

Abroad? I've witnessed some horrible stuff right here in Dublin.

Dunjohn

When I was in Warsaw two years ago, I accidently got myself trapped in a tour around a Boy Scouts museum and had to spend the next half hour studying the various exhibits intently and pretending I knew WTF was going on.

recylingbin

I was once traversing a basketball court in Boston when these irish punks challenged my workmates and I to a game of basketball just because we were black.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Kiera wrote: »

Abroad? I've witnessed some horrible stuff right here in Dublin.

But thats not the question!.

Abroad, I guess in Lebanon when I was told by a member of Hezbollah to cover up my Star of David necklace or I'd be shot dead

alwaysadub

I've noticed more stupidity than anything abroad. Questions i've been asked like: "where is Ireland"
"oh,you're from Dublin, it must be awful living there with the Troubles, do you get bombed much"
"you have very good English"

who what when

Went on holiday one year to spain with a crowd of lads, 6-7 of us altogether. Anyway one night we were in a pretty packed english bar and as usual we were pretty mullered. Then out of nowhere one of the lads (the smallest of the group) decided to sing some rebel songs!

At first i have to say i was feeling a bit nervous, didnt really know how it'd go down. But as the place slowely but surely emptied i started feeling more at ease and eventually we all joined in! A great little sing-song was had it has to be said.

Now as the last group to leave were passing us on the way out, a pretty big guy shouted over to us 'irish pricks'! It left us stunned needless to say. That would probably be the worst case of racism ive ever experienced!

PaddyBomb

In Ayia Napa and getting caught in the middle of two rival London gang fight. All the bars shut their doors and kept everyone inside. So many people got stabbed, it was crazy!

Mint Sauce

well there was this one time, at band camp...

prinz

A friend getting stalked by a self-harming looney who eventually was caught by the cops and the men in white coats (literally).

fontanalis

alwaysadub wrote: »

I've noticed more stupidity than anything abroad. Questions i've been asked like: "where is Ireland"
"oh,you're from Dublin, it must be awful living there with the Troubles, do you get bombed much"
"you have very good English"

Why are they stupid questions. The rest of the world doesn't need to know about ireland. Do most irish people know what's going on in countries like Denmark, portugal, Kyrgystan?

fakearms123

who what when wrote: »

Went on holiday one year to spain with a crowd of lads, 6-7 of us altogether. Anyway one night we were in a pretty packed english bar and as usual we were pretty mullered. Then out of nowhere one of the lads (the smallest of the group) decided to sing some rebel songs!

At first i have to say i was feeling a bit nervous, didnt really know how it'd go down. But as the place slowely but surely emptied i started feeling more at ease and eventually we all joined in! A great little sing-song was had it has to be said.

Now as the last group to leave were passing us on the way out, a pretty big guy shouted over to us 'irish pricks'! It left us stunned needless to say. That would probably be the worst case of racism ive ever experienced!

had a similar experience in spain with english, not much singing just shouting at us

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

who what when wrote: »

Went on holiday one year to spain with a crowd of lads, 6-7 of us altogether. Anyway one night we were in a pretty packed english bar and as usual we were pretty mullered. Then out of nowhere one of the lads (the smallest of the group) decided to sing some rebel songs!

At first i have to say i was feeling a bit nervous, didnt really know how it'd go down. But as the place slowely but surely emptied i started feeling more at ease and eventually we all joined in! A great little sing-song was had it has to be said.

Now as the last group to leave were passing us on the way out, a pretty big guy shouted over to us 'irish pricks'! It left us stunned needless to say. That would probably be the worst case of racism ive ever experienced!

so you go into an english bar and start singing songs about how the english are all bastards? and a reaction left you 'stunned'?

stovelid

Has to be The Brits.

Whenever I visit England, I conduct Irish history tests on random citizens in the street.

When they (a alarmingly high number of them) complain that they can't answer some of the more detailed questions, I smugly tell them, "maybe you should have raped a different country then?".

Hazys

I love the racial undertones in these posts, claiming the others where the ones being racist.

Mint Sauce

'green hills' santa ponsa, anyone whoes been there will understand

:eek:

fontanalis

stovelid wrote: »

Has to be The Brits.

Whenever I visit England, I conduct Irish history tests on random citizens in the street.

When they (a alarmingly high number of them) complain that they can't answer some of the more detailed questions, I smugly tell them, "maybe you should have raped a different country then?".

How do you do on the Brit test?

Handsome Bob

Twas in Melbourne, Australia. We get into the taxi, tell the bloke where we want to go and he then mumbles (but very audibly), "****ing Irish".

Other than that, nothing major. I've seen more racism in Ireland than I have abroad, and in what you might think were sophisticated settings too.

who what when

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

so you go into an english bar and start singing songs about how the english are all bastards? and a reaction left you 'stunned'?

Well if you think about it all we were doing is recounting historical events through the medium of song! If english people dont like to see themselves portrayed as the bad guy then maybe they should have re-evaluated theyre foreign policies in the past!

brianthebard

fontanalis wrote: »

Why are they stupid questions. The rest of the world doesn't need to know about ireland. Do most irish people know what's going on in countries like Denmark, portugal, Kyrgystan?

Most people in Ireland know basic stuff like people in Canada speak English* not Canadian, they speak Portugese in Brazil, Spanish in the rest of South America, etc. Fair enough Dublin was bombed at one stage during the troubles so I'll let that one go but the troubles have by and large been over since 1998, and it was obviously huge news in the US with Clinton's involvement so there's little excuse for that either.
































*if you point out that there are also French Canadians I will slap you super hard!

IvyTheTerrible

About 5 years ago on holidays in France, there was an English couple who were friends of friends of the people I was staying with. The woman was introduced to me, and then started in on a drunken rant about how the Irish are scum. She was a cow in general though so didn't bother me too much.

Other than that, I've never really experienced any racism.

stovelid

fontanalis wrote: »

How do you do on the Brit test?

It takes 800 years to do so I skipped it.

FearDark

You do know about the French-Canadians, right?
Pffffft :rolleyes:

Ickle Magoo

People who think Brit = English...

IITYWYBMAD

Kiera wrote: »

Abroad? I've witnessed some horrible stuff right here in Dublin.

I think all of us have, however the premise of the question involves "abroad". Hence the title.

I played hockey in South Africa in 1994, just after apartheid was abolished . I will never forget the way the indigenous black people were treated. They were looked down upon with such disdain, it was horrible. Too many examples to give, but I remember one guy telling us how he could not get any good "staff" since the emancipation, all in the presence of a black girl serving us food on his veranda. It was cringing.

IITYWYBMAD

Ickle Magoo wrote: »

People who think Brit = English...

Brit does = English. It also = Welsh, Scot and (in the context of the UK) UK and N.I.

Whats the prob?

bonerm

fakearms123 wrote: »

I went abroad with my basketball club to a summer camp in Massachusetts, US when i was about 16 years old, we went over to Boston first, stayed there for a few days before we left to go to the 2 week summer camp, anyway when we were staying in the YMCA in Boston we (group of about 10) decided to find an outdoor basketball court to practice before the camp, surely enough there were some nice black gentlemen occupying one the courts so we took the other court and played. We were all so pale and pasty it was embarrassing but we were good at basketball which made up for it.

The black gentlemen came over and started talking, in all honesty i knew it was english these boys were talking but it still sounded like beatboxing or something. Anyway they challenged us to a match and we were hestitant at first but we played, i was the youngest by about 2 years. They were doing these silly tricks and were trying crazy shots while we were playing as a team. We were beating them pretty badly and they were calling each other and us "b*tches", "p*ssies" and "n" word was flying around. We all felt really uncomfortable and after we won, we had to jog back to the hotel cause it started getting real sketchy near the end.

Have you ever just been so uncomfortable when your holidays?

Another victory for the Ayran race. Go white-boy, it you're birthday!

alwaysadub

fontanalis wrote: »

Why are they stupid questions. The rest of the world doesn't need to know about ireland. Do most irish people know what's going on in countries like Denmark, portugal, Kyrgystan?

No,but most of the questions were asked by people from the UK who i met on holidays. Most grown adults would have a basic notion of the history and language of their neighbouring countries. Bar the where is Ireland one, i got asked that a few times in America.

brianthebard

FearDark wrote: »

You do know about the French-Canadians, right?
Pffffft :rolleyes:

footnote reading fail.

fontanalis

brianthebard wrote: »

Most people in Ireland know basic stuff like people in Canada speak English* not Canadian, they speak Portugese in Brazil, Spanish in the rest of South America, etc. Fair enough Dublin was bombed at one stage during the troubles so I'll let that one go but the troubles have by and large been over since 1998, and it was obviously huge news in the US with Clinton's involvement so there's little excuse for that either.
































*if you point out that there are also French Canadians I will slap you super hard!

I'm from Donegal and I've had Irish people ask me if we use sterling and if Donegal is in Connacht.
But my point was on the world stage Ireland is small fry and most people probably only get snapshots and as for language, people being surprised about Irish people having good English isn't that crazy in most European countries the languages tend to go thusly (with some regional exeptions like the Basque region and Belgium)
England - English
France - French
Spain - Spanish
Italy - Italian
Portugal - Portugese
Scotland - Pictish (oh sorry the Irish wiped that out)

Funky Kingston

FearDark wrote: »

You do know about the French-Canadians, right?
Pffffft :rolleyes:

While working in Quebec I got a ton of refrences about the 'Fighting Irish' from alot of the Quebecois .... one guy asked me not to punch in him in the face once becuase apparently i will automatically pick a fight with him....because i am Irish .

For a finish i also got sick of the alcoholic references too.... 'oh shes irish , she will drink EVERYTHING '

yes i will ..... after i punch you in the face

Ickle Magoo

IITYWYBMAD wrote: »

Brit does = English. It also = Welsh, Scot and (in the context of the UK) UK and N.I.

Whats the prob?

Exactly, Brit = English, Welsh, (some) Nordies & Scots. The prob is when people use Brit as a disparaging way of talking about the English - usually ironically followed by some statement about the ignorance of other nationalities.

saywhatyousee

i was in florence train station last august
went up to a ticket checker at the gate
and asked him what platform was the train to poggibossi
(i bought the return ticket in poggibossi smaller station)
i asked the man at the gate
he snapped no INGELSE and started to walk away
i said no no i am from irlanda
he turned around and oh im sorry i taught u where english platform 5(in perfect english)

i taught that behaviour was completly un accetable
if i happened to be english what would he expect me to do walk
if it was a bar i could sort of understand but no in a public place like a train station

IITYWYBMAD

Ickle Magoo wrote: »

Exactly, Brit = English, Welsh, (some) Nordies & Scots. The prob is when people use Brit as a disparaging way of talking about the English - usually ironically followed by some statement about the ignorance of other nationalities.

Ahhhhh...as in when people talk disparagingly in any way about any group of people...hardly racist to call an English man a Brit though, is it?

Ickle Magoo

saywhatyousee wrote: »

i was in florence train station last august
went up to a ticket checker at the gate
and asked him what platform was the train to poggibossi
(i bought the return ticket in poggibossi smaller station)
i asked the man at the gate
he snapped no INGELSE and started to walk away
i said no no i am from irlanda
he turned around and oh im sorry i taught u where english platform 5(in perfect english)

Had that quite a few times abroad as well...followed by cries of "Nooo! Scozzese!!!" - probably explains why we're always pushing for distance from the whole "brits" thing... :pac:

conorhal

Meself, being both unintentionally racist and homophobic on a trip to Switzerland!

When in the US I'm usually conscious to avoid referring to cigarettes as 'fags', much less so elsewhere.
As a Dubliner I'm also fond of expressing incredulity with the time honored phrase, 'me hole!', occasionally changing it up with a bit of rhyming slang .

Needless to say, the two obviously gay black lads holding hands on a tram in Geneva were both confused and nonplussed when I replied rather loudly to the question, "are fags more expensive here then at home?", saying "FAGS? THEY ARE IN ME SWISS ROLL!"

20goto10

saywhatyousee wrote: »

i was in florence train station last august
went up to a ticket checker at the gate
and asked him what platform was the train to poggibossi
(i bought the return ticket in poggibossi smaller station)
i asked the man at the gate
he snapped no INGELSE and started to walk away
i said no no i am from irlanda
he turned around and oh im sorry i taught u where english platform 5(in perfect english)

i taught that behaviour was completly un accetable
if i happened to be english what would he expect me to do walk
if it was a bar i could sort of understand but no in a public place like a train station

Italians are pricks about speaking Enhlish. But if you put even the minimal effort into trying to speak Italian to them you will usually get a bit of respect and they will turn the conversation English. Unless they can't speak English of course :-)

Claasman

In one of my first jobs in Australia, on the first day at smoko, my south african manager told the group how he saw 'a bus stop of n|gger children' on the way to work and wanted to 'mow them all down' with his ute. He wouldnt even watch a film or tv programme with a black person in it.

He had some scary sh1t to say about what was going on in sa aswell.

Ickle Magoo

IITYWYBMAD wrote: »

Ahhhhh...as in when people talk disparagingly in any way about any group of people...hardly racist to call an English man a Brit though, is it?

Who said anything about it being racist to call an English man a Brit? Who said anything about calling English men anything apart from you? I said people who think Brit = English ie consider no other nationality when bandying around the term Brit disparagingly...

I'm talking about people who say "Them brits...*insert reference to english football fans/english holiday makers/oliver cromwell here*" while in the same breath decrying the ignorance of other countries not knowing all about Ireland...

Ya see.

Thirdfox

Ireland is a tiny country - and not so important on the global stage so it's not surprising that people don't know much about us - from what I gather people know the:

1. IRA/Bombings
2. U2
3. Guinness
4. Celtic Tiger (though that's old news - just like the bombings)

It's not unusual that I have to say "we're just beside England" in terms of geography... how many Irish people know where Azerbaijan is?

The most racist thing I've witnessed - a Japanese person being refused entry into a club for his race in a Chinese university, made me quite angry at the time. The only time I've walked out of a lecture theatre in protest was in a separate incident at the same university... there's a lot of bad blood left over from WWII between Japan and its neighbours but that doesn't excuse the racism directed against the Japanese people...

Kev_ps3

Kiera wrote: »

Abroad? I've witnessed some horrible stuff right here in Dublin.

Why do some people on here always turn discussion back onto Irish/Ireland when we are discussing something foreign:rolleyes:

Sofa King Great

The most uncomfortable thing i have witnessed is the amount of Irish/British/Americans who assume it is acceptable to go up and speak in english to someone in another country where English is not the first language and gets annoyed when they respond in Spanish/French/Italian!

who what when

Thirdfox wrote: »

Ireland is a tiny country - and not so important on the global stage so it's not surprising that people don't know much about us - from what I gather people know the:

1. IRA/Bombings
2. U2
3. Guinness
4. Celtic Tiger (though that's old news - just like the bombings)

It's not unusual that I have to say "we're just beside England" in terms of geography... how many Irish people know where Azerbaijan is?

The most racist thing I've witnessed - a Japanese person being refused entry into a club for his race in a Chinese university, made me quite angry at the time. The only time I've walked out of a lecture theatre in protest was in a separate incident at the same university... there's a lot of bad blood left over from WWII between Japan and its neighbours but that doesn't excuse the racism directed against the Japanese people...

The japanese killed at least 10 million chinese during world war two.
Thats a good enough reason to hold a grudge as far as im concerned!

Dyr

Funky Kingston wrote: »

While working in Quebec I got a ton of refrences about the 'Fighting Irish' from alot of the Quebecois .... one guy asked me not to punch in him in the face once becuase apparently i will automatically pick a fight with him....because i am Irish .

No no no, it because everyone punches french candians in the face.

NOGMaxpower

Kev_ps3 wrote: »

Why do some people on here always turn discussion back onto Irish/Ireland when we are discussing something foreign:rolleyes:

while in Belfast (technically abroad) I was attacked and chased by a mob of loyalists. they seemed to just know I was a southerner and it was as if they were trawling the streets looking for trouble.

Needless to say I ran as fast as i could as they threw stones/bottles at me, they still chased me while i drove away shouting Paddy, Taigh, free stater etc chants of hang him etc.

I've been to Belfast hundreds of times with no issue, admittedly I stayed in mostly nationalist areas. but in this case i was in the city centre near where the bus tours start strolling back to my car from the shops.

FearDark

brianthebard wrote: »

footnote reading fail.

I really have to start putting these::pac::pac::pac::pac: into more of my posts for you people.

IITYWYBMAD

Ickle Magoo wrote: »

Who said anything about it being racist to call an English man a Brit? Who said anything about calling English men anything apart from you? I said people who think Brit = English ie consider no other nationality when bandying around the term Brit disparagingly...

I'm talking about people who say "Them brits...*insert reference to english football fans/english holiday makers/oliver cromwell here*" while in the same breath decrying the ignorance of other countries not knowing all about Ireland...

Ya see.

Ahh, apologies..I do see. I was under the misapprehension that the was a thread about the most uncomfortable/racist thing you witnessed abroad?

As for the answers to your questions:

1) Who said anything about it being racist to call an English man a Brit You. In answer to the OP.

2) Who said anything about calling English men anything apart from you? You in post number 24.

3) I said people who think Brit = English ie consider no other nationality when bandying around the term Brit disparagingly... Ahhh, as in Brits?

4) Who said Brits hate the scottish? Nobody FFS, get over yourself!! You and your kilt wearing brothers....*




*I may have invented that part!!

Ickle Magoo

IITYWYBMAD wrote: »

Ahh, apologies..I do see. I was under the misapprehension that the was a thread about the most uncomfortable/racist thing you witnessed abroad?

Ya...I am abroad. See?

IITYWYBMAD wrote: »

1) Who said anything about it being racist to call an English man a Brit You. In answer to the OP.

Quote me, I think you'll find I did nothing of the sort. The OP asks "most uncomfortable/racist" - I went with the former...

IITYWYBMAD wrote: »

2) Who said anything about calling English men anything apart from you? You in post number 24.

Nope again, I didn't mention English men... I said people followed by two nationalities...

IITYWYBMAD wrote: »

3) I said people who think Brit = English ie consider no other nationality when bandying around the term Brit disparagingly... Ahhh, as in Brits?

Aye, that's the one.

IITYWYBMAD wrote: »

4) Who said Brits hate the scottish? Nobody FFS, get over yourself!! You and your kilt wearing brothers....*

*I may have invented that part!!

Hmmmm, I think you may have....

NOGMaxpower

There's a Korean player called "Gook"

savage wha

IITYWYBMAD

NOGMaxpower wrote: »

There's a Korean player called "Gook"

savage wha

He's the Wan allright..I also think he's got the Ghey!!

fullstop

irish-stew wrote: »

'green hills' santa ponsa, anyone whoes been there will understand

:eek:

And for those of us who haven't, are you going to tell us or leave it all cryptic?