Are The Elderly More Likely To Be Racist?

[jd_1984]

The elderly members of my family (70+) are the most wonderful, kind and on most issues, open minded people I know.
But, the way that they talk about foreign people, different cultures now seen in many areas of the UK and asylum seekers, is bodering on what people my generation would label as "Racist".
They have clearly seen more changes to this country and see it as a very different place to how it was when they were growing up. So, can we excuse their views? If I talked about "the new muslim family that moved in next door" the way my grandad does for example, I would be branded a racist. But he doesnt think he is being racist, its just how he sees the world today.

[Zacs-Master]

Whether you forgive them will be dependant upon your standpoint and personal views. For me, personally, I would.

[ummmm]

I don't think they are racist as such. They have just grown up using different terms to what is acceptable today.

[boxtops]

I don't think "the new Muslim family next door" is racist at all (it's not racist anyway, Muslim is a religion not a race) he's just describing them. We have Chinese and Czech people in our road and refer to them as such (if not by their names), to differentiate which families we're talking about.

However - people over 70 were brought up in a world where it was OK to describe people as they are (and sadly to use derogatory words about them too) and old habits die hard. I do believe sometimes though that people now take PC-ness to the other extreme, and look for offence where there isn't any. That example you gave isn't offensive to me at all.

[jd_1984]

boxtops - I agree with you. "The new muslim family next door" wasnt his actual words, just my example - he was fairly inappropriate about them!

[RATTER15]

Yes I would certainly say they are more racist, especially towards coloured people, working in care homes where a few of the staff were coloured it was not unusual to hear them called names by the residents and the word niqqer was used rather like a descriptive word rather than a deliberate insult, I think it is a sign of the times really. Fortunately the English staff always got on well with the foreign staff.

[Prudie]

They are more likely to have views that are considered 'racist' yes but I believe plenty of younger people feel the same behind closed doors.

[jd_1984]

My Grandad uses the "N" word, not as a racial slur, but that is just his way of describing them. He doesnt say "N" for dramatic effect or to get attention, he uses it as normally as we would use the word black to describe somebody

[jd_1984]

In hindsight the title of my question should have been... "Are the elderly more likely to be racist...but not realise they are?"

[Brenden]

Seems like everybody can have the word "racist or bigot" tagged on them for one view or another.

[rockyracoon]

My nan was very racist, she should have been named Alfreda Garnett. Bad really seeing as she married an Irish man and had kids, the kids weren't invited to birthday parties because of where their dad came from :(

[ummmm]

Racism is about how you feel, not the words you were brought up using.

[mrs_overall]

I had an elderly relative who used the N word. I wouldn't say she was racist, it was a generation thing.
She was homophobic.
One of the funniest things she ever said (just before she died age 103) was when she was talking about two sisters we know, one of whom is gay. She was confused over which sister was which and came out with the immortal line
"Which one of them is the Elizabethan?"

[sunny-dave]

I am oddly amused by this topic's listing in latest posts - it currently reads

"Are The Elderly More Likely To Be...

mrs_overall"

[mrs_overall]

Right, this is my last reply to this post!
Only you Dave, only you....

[jd_1984]

Haha good story Mrs O!

[Peter Pedant]

actually it is how he saw the world yesterday and sees no reason to change.
so you could call it rational

One of the 'old' world views I find fascinating is by and large the Egyptians, do not regard our glorious colonial occupation as particularly oppressive. IN 1956 we were unceremoniusly kicked out and Tahrir started, and their standard of living was the highest in the Arab world and by 1978 my first visit, it was the lowest - and didnt they know !

In India the Indian Civil Service wasnt corrupt up to 1948 - but my God the ICS has made up for lost time. I dont expect anyone under 30 to know that, they are scoring high if they know the British were in India for 200 y - you can 'do' English History of the 1700s without the Empire nowadays at school.

Birmngham Lib had well written up exhibiition on colonial peoples fighting for the King-Emperor 1939-45. British Guiana had 48, I thnk Suriname which wasnt British had three. I did wonder about Sareth Efrica not mentioned - hundred of thousands or Rhodesia - a later prime mininster was an RAF pilot, but thought it was politic since I was old, to keep my wonders locked away.

History is a social construct rewritten by every generation

[maggiebee]

My dad was 95 when he died. He was born in 1906 and served in WW2. The world was a very different place then and the language he used at times would be considered very un-PC or even racist these day. A couple of times I mentioned it he just laughed.

[ferlew]

Well, I distinctly remember remember a shade of pain with N..... Brown on the label. Often teamed with Bottle Green.
Circa 1957?

[FredPuli43]

For a start,the "N word" has acquired the tag of racism though it is still used seriously by black people in the Deep South, and the related, though now less offensive, word negroes was used by Martin Luther King, but that, in the singular, is barred by our censor filter. But because the N word was used insultingly by so many whites in the US, it is now forbidden, and the other word has, curiously, also come into disfavour.

Old people are more racist, and it's not a question of whether they use outdated words or not. They were brought up with the idea that black people were primitive and inferior to whites ( and British people were superior to everybody else!). Indians were superior to blacks, and made good civil servants for the Empire, but were still inferior to us. And Jews? Well, some of them were clever, but all were dishonest and they all stuck together. "By Jove, I wouldn't have a Jew in my golf club" was the attitude, and it was carried through. Many clubs would not admit Jews ,some had a quota. One to the north of London had neither policy, with the result that it rapidly became virtually a Jewish club (but it was a lot more luxurious as a result!)

And the whole thing was backed by a simple, apparently natural, distrust or defensiveness of anyone who is not like us.

[rabet]

When I was a child one of our neighbours had a chocolate Labrador named *** ~ imagine that today!