My brother (Scottish) has lived in England for double the amount of years that he lived in Scotland. Has been a member of his local running club for last 25 years.
We often discuss the difference in politics between Scotland and England. He was saying that around Brexit time there were a good few members who , especially on the whatsapp chats, were starting to bung in the jokes that were bordering on the racist as the talk of Brexit had seemed to open the normality of racist talk and jokes whereas before it just wasnt mentioned. He felt very uncomfortable that people he had been friends with for years were now comfortable showing their racist side.
These folk have been his pals for years, running club meets twice a week, travels to events together etc and suddenly he is feeling uncomfortable. Then last week he was telling me that a few of them have been asking him about the Scottish elections and why the support in Scotland is so strong for independence and he was trying to explain to them how Westminster and the like are perceived from a Scottish point of view. It then moved on to well what are YOUR thoughts on it and then followed up by comments around "well I suppose if you ddon't like it down here you could just go HOME in a casual way but the same way that the racist comments were dropped in to the chats.
Racism etc is not a football issue, its not a social media issue, its a society issue. One thing I would say though is due to social media, if you have a friend on twitter / facebook etc, it doesnt take too long to find out their feelings and beliefs on a whole load of subjects. I can only speak for myself, but if I go back 20 years I probably could not tell you the political views of any of my friends and family. I could probably list them all now.
|
Racism new
Racism new
