Irish Times article on racist taxi drivers

mehmeh12 · 24-02-2010 12:27PM #1

This article http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2010/0223/1224265025549.html really just pisses me off.

In particular this bit ' “If today I go to a taxi rank myself and I pass the queue there and I take a passenger, that story will spread all over Dublin: ‘a black taxi driver picked up a fare illegally and left us’. So that would bring attention to all the black taxi drivers, whereas I am the one who did that. When an Irish taxi driver does something, the story won’t go anywhere, because they are the majority.” It is hard to generalise about Irish taxi drivers, he says, but very easy to generalise about foreigners.'

What do people think on this comment? Sadly I believe that this comment is true-how often we hear about some small minority taking our jobs or apparently sponging off the welfare state whereas in reality it the the white heterosexual Irish male catholic majority that go unchecked by social standards, who are then free to blame the problems of the country on weaker minorities who are easier to target.

MikeC101 · 24-02-2010 12:34PM

mehmeh12 wrote: »

in reality it the the white heterosexual Irish male catholic majority that go unchecked by social standards, who are then free to blame the problems of the country on weaker minorities who are easier to target.

Ah yes, the target group that it's still acceptable to blame things on.

Do you not think it's a little ironic that you complain about people generalising about groups of people, and then go on to say that?

The taxi driver situation is due to a combination of increased immigration during boom times, a change in taxi licensing policies and taxi driving being a job that a lot of immigrants will take up.

mehmeh12 · 24-02-2010 12:37PM

mehmeh12 wrote: »

This article http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2010/0223/1224265025549.html really just pisses me off.

In particular this bit ' “If today I go to a taxi rank myself and I pass the queue there and I take a passenger, that story will spread all over Dublin: ‘a black taxi driver picked up a fare illegally and left us’. So that would bring attention to all the black taxi drivers, whereas I am the one who did that. When an Irish taxi driver does something, the story won’t go anywhere, because they are the majority.” It is hard to generalise about Irish taxi drivers, he says, but very easy to generalise about foreigners.'

” It is hard to generalise about Irish taxi drivers, he says, but very easy to generalise about foreigners.' Thats what im saying the majority of the people in country even when they do wrong things do not get discriminated against.

WindSock · 24-02-2010 12:46PM

Taxi drivers? Racist? :eek:

Well I never!

MikeC101 · 24-02-2010 12:47PM

mehmeh12 wrote: »

” It is hard to generalise about Irish taxi drivers,

The amount of threads that pop up here about Irish taxi drivers would tend to say otherwise...

mehmeh12 wrote: »

he says, but very easy to generalise about foreigners.'

Naturally. It's obviously far easier to generalise about a minority - especially if they stand out in any way, eg look or sound different.

mehmeh12 wrote: »

Thats what im saying the majority of the people in country even when they do wrong things do not get discriminated against.

That's the nature of discrimination really - it's harder to generalise about a majority - but if you break it down into groups, "all males under a certain age wearing hoodies = thugs", "white males between the ages of 18 - 35" = alcoholic binge drinkers" it does go on.

stovelid · 24-02-2010 12:47PM

Discriminating against taxi drivers on the basis of race is disgusting.

I dislike all of them equally.

Karl Hungus · 24-02-2010 12:47PM

MikeC101 wrote: »

Ah yes, the target group that it's still acceptable to blame things on.

Yeah, damn those white Irish catholic males, coming over here, taking our jobs and our women! :mad:

MikeC101 · 24-02-2010 12:50PM

Karl Hungus wrote: »

Yeah, damn those white Irish catholic males, coming over here, taking our jobs and our women! :mad:

But you know what I mean - it's very easy for people to start posting about how outraged and disgusted they are by people generalising about *insert minority here*, then say "it's the white Irish catholic males that get away with everything" without a trace of irony.

WindSock · 24-02-2010 12:54PM

In fairness, the taxis need stricter regulations. It is easier to pick on the minorities, especially Africans. I never hear people picking on the Asians though. Do Asian taxi drivers get picked on as much?

mehmeh12 · 24-02-2010 12:54PM

Yes but if you go on to read the full article the main thrust of the argument is the us and them typology between the black minority and white majority. Yes the recession has no dought brought about the worst in people due to dwindling resources-thats a given. But the racist overtones that are present can no dought be also replicated in other situations in Irish society.

What trace of irony?

stovelid · 24-02-2010 12:56PM

WindSock wrote: »

I never hear people picking on the Asians though. Do Asian taxi drivers get picked on as much?

How many African ninjas have you heard of?

MikeC101 · 24-02-2010 12:56PM

WindSock wrote: »

I never hear people picking on the Asians though.

That's cos they're all hard working and good at math, and probably not going to take our women.

(Except for the evil Fu Manchu ones of course.)

Karl Hungus · 24-02-2010 12:57PM

MikeC101 wrote: »

But you know what I mean - it's very easy for people to start posting about how outraged and disgusted they are by people generalising about *insert minority here*, then say "it's the white Irish catholic males that get away with everything" without a trace of irony.

No no, I do get your point and I agree with you. But everyone makes generalizations all the time, it's part of human nature and it's not something that's going to go away. People are just more aware of generalizing when other people get butt-hurt about it. But what do I know? I'm a white male, age 18 to 49. Everyone listens to me, no matter how dumb my suggestions are.

moonpurple · 24-02-2010 01:01PM

what troubles me is that the next Obama could have his dad driving a cab in Dublin just now...

not loosing sleep, but it troubles me:rolleyes:

WindSock · 24-02-2010 01:04PM

stovelid wrote: »

How many African ninjas have you heard of?

Be careful out there...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEtIoGQxqQs

billymitchell · 24-02-2010 01:05PM

I dont think I have gotten into a taxi in the last year or two and the taxi driver hasn't given out about the black taxi drivers using illegal plates, taking fares where they shouldn't be.......blah de blah de blah
If its not black taxi drivers, its the taxi regulator they are giving out about!!

At this stage, if a taxi driver starts on about one of these topics, I usually start winding the fookers up....

"Jaysus, that taxi regulator did a great job in sorting out the transport situation in this town. Years ago you couldn't get a taxi for love nor money, nowadays there are plenty around the place. Have to say, fair play to the immigrants for coming into our country picking up the slack. I cant believe people actually give out about them...."

That speech usually goes down a treat

WindSock · 24-02-2010 01:05PM

moonpurple wrote: »

what troubles me is that the next Obama could have his dad driving a cab in Dublin just now...

not loosing sleep, but it troubles me:rolleyes:

Why?

antodeco · 24-02-2010 01:05PM

If I saw a "large" man driving a taxi he will described as that. If I meet someone who is tall, he will be described as that. If I meet a Chinese person, they will be described as that.

hidinginthebush · 24-02-2010 01:07PM

moonpurple wrote: »

what troubles me is that the next Obama could have his dad driving a cab in Dublin just now...

not loosing sleep, but it troubles me:rolleyes:

Karl Hungus · 24-02-2010 01:13PM

moonpurple wrote: »

what troubles me is that the next Obama could have his dad driving a cab in Dublin just now...

not loosing sleep, but it troubles me:rolleyes:

Um, what?

Darksaga87 · 24-02-2010 01:15PM

Sometimes the black dude's are more craic than the average thick fat lump of shíte paddy you meet on a rank who loves nothing more than to piss and moan about his own useless life.

I got a nigerian guy home one night and we are all pretty hammerd and started singing in his taxi, so he stuck on his bob marley CD and we all started singing "no woman no cry" He blared that fuker out of it!!
I know if I got Jimmy the gimp home, he would have the radio and would be wistleing to his sad ole self and ya know the only reason he is working at 4am is to avoid going home his manky wife.

Especially the sad ole thick in my town who tells everyone who gets into his car about his time in the SAS/Green Berets/Army rangers.
Man I slagged that muppet down so bad im sure im in his sucide letter.

TwoShedsJackson · 24-02-2010 01:20PM

antodeco wrote: »

If I saw a "large" man driving a taxi he will described as that. If I meet someone who is tall, he will be described as that. If I meet a Chinese person, they will be described as that.

If someone's white with no other major distinguishing features, just an average white guy, do you mention he's white when describing him to someone else?

Nodin · 24-02-2010 01:22PM

So the guy is basically lamenting that (due to consequences) he can't go and break the law as easily as another ethnic group? The fact that this is even part of his train of thought means he go fúck off as far as I'm concerned.

No, he's saying that if he acts the mickey, all of his skin colour get the blame.

mehmeh12 · 24-02-2010 01:23PM

Nodin wrote: »

No, he's saying that if he acts the mickey, all of his skin colour get the blame.

Whereas if a white person does it no one looks the other way.

WindSock · 24-02-2010 01:30PM

TwoShedsJackson wrote: »

If someone's white with no other major distinguishing features, just an average white guy, do you mention he's white when describing him to someone else?

If I am in a country or place where white is the minority, yes.

IrishManSaipan · 24-02-2010 01:37PM

Why are there so many people of african origin working as taxi drivers compared to their numbers in catering/construction/retail? Why are we importing taxi drivers from non EU countries?

MikeC101 · 24-02-2010 01:37PM

TwoShedsJackson wrote: »

If someone's white with no other major distinguishing features, just an average white guy, do you mention he's white when describing him to someone else?

If it was in Ireland I'd usually describe him as being from Dublin / Cork / wherever if I could place the accent. I'm not really able to do that with other nationalities, so I'd probably just refer to African/Eastern European/English or whatever.

MikeC101 · 24-02-2010 01:41PM

IrishManSaipan wrote: »

Why are there so many people of african origin working as taxi drivers compared to their numbers in catering/construction/retail? Why are we importing taxi drivers from non EU countries?

Taxi driving is a job immigrants tend to do, for various reasons. Or at least so it seems, in a lot of other countries (thinking of America).

Possible discrimination in other industries - African people might not be hired as much by potential employers? With a taxi as long as you can get a license and a car, you're pretty much in business.

Edit: Plus, if you see a white face in a taxi as you walk by, it probably doesn't really register with you - they might not be Irish though, but you don't think that. With a black driver though, people are probably a bit more likely to notice / think of them as "non-Irish".

IrishManSaipan · 24-02-2010 01:49PM

MikeC101 wrote: »

Taxi driving is a job immigrants tend to do, for various reasons. Or at least so it seems, in a lot of other countries (thinking of America).

We have more taxi drivers in Dublin than they do in New York. So we didnt actually need to import more drivers. There's more Irish taxi drivers then ever before.

MikeC101 wrote: »

Possible discrimination in other industries - African people might not be hired as much by potential employers? With a taxi as long as you can get a license and a car, you're pretty much in business.

The test is quite difficult. It would be much easier to get an average job. So why taxi driving?

IrishManSaipan · 24-02-2010 01:52PM

Darksaga87 wrote: »

Sometimes the black dude's are more craic than the average thick fat lump of shíte paddy you meet on a rank who loves nothing more than to piss and moan about his own useless life.

Tell me about it.

Thank heavens we are importing highly qualified Africans to teach whitey a lesson.......

MikeC101 · 24-02-2010 01:58PM

IrishManSaipan wrote: »

We have more taxi drivers in Dublin than they do in New York. So we didnt actually need to import more drivers. There's more Irish taxi drivers then ever before.

It's not like the government is actively importing taxi drivers. If there are too many taxis, then the licensing method needs to be looked at. I'd imagine market forces should set the optimum number of taxi drivers without need for this though.

IrishManSaipan wrote: »

The test is quite difficult. It would be much easier to get an aberage job. So why taxi driving?

I don't necessarily agree with that - you're oversimplifying it by assuming it's much easier for any individual to get an "average job", or that people would prefer an "average job." Maybe, for the people who end up working as taxi drivers, it isn't.
Or maybe they were already taxi drivers. Or maybe they want to be taxi drivers. Maybe it's a job they like?

Irish Times article on racist taxi drivers

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