I’d argue we are, mostly. A large percentage of us (me included) are children/grandchildren of economic immigrants from the 1950’s to the current day.
That in itself, shapes most people’s opinions not to “punch down”, but also our exposure to all the nations of the world in our country I hope has educated and enlightened the vast majority of us.
There will always be a minority of racists and bigots, but I think the vast majority of us don’t have any issue with people from myriad backgrounds.
Am I being over-idealistic, because I assume most people think like me?
There was a fabulous post recently asking about people’s take on Sikhs in the UK and 99% of the responses were glowing and affirming. That made me smile and proud.
Good, getting better – or a long way to go yet?
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Absolutely agree.
Good, AND getting better.
I think we’re less racist than most other countries. Still quite a lot of racists though.
Yes I would largely agree with that.
On the whole, I’d say yes.
People who don’t pander to media fearmongering are usually quite tame.
I’ve been to nearly 50 countries… the UK is the least racist place.
Yeah to a degree and it’s much better than how I remember things in the 90s and early 00s. Back then people were openly racist and proud of it.
I think a lot of issues are down to culture, which is why Sikhs are highly regarded. Not sure it would be as positive for other groups.
Everyone in British society is equal in that no one can be held answerable to anyone. That applies to natives but also foreigners.
Sikhs are lovely
Most people I know in the Uk, including my friends, family and coworkers, I would consider to be racially tolerant, however I do know a couple of people who are openly racist. They are definitely in the minority, but they exist.
But in answer to your question. Yes, I do think the UK is mostly racially tolerant.
Its the most racially tolerant society on the planet by a significant margin.
People who think otherwise haven’t travelled much.
Doesn’t matter what I think because since I was a child to now, when I tell my truth and my family and peers’ truth, people get defensive and don’t want to hear it.
It always reminds me of this: https://youtu.be/MJ1BQQpdX2c putting aside Jane Ellis’ problematic behaviour in general, this show was how it feels. Especially this delusional defensive lady https://youtu.be/MJ1BQQpdX2c?t=1899
edit: to emphasise it’s not what Jane was doing is how it feels, but interacting with the other participants.
I’m in no way saying things weren’t fucking awful in the not too distant past, nor excusing the atrocious racism that was everywhere, but I’m talking about the present.
Society, no, country maybe but it seems unlikely. I expect NI brings down the average, I think Canada would be higher ranked. It depends how you measure it too, Singapore has some racial policies which may seem weird to us but you have to admit that Singaporeans express their ethnic heritage a lot more than your average brit.
The UK is probably the most racially tolerant nation on earth
Depends where you go mate. Cities are more tolerant, countrysides are more intolerant. Had an old Zimbabwean neighbor get told to fuck off back to her own country once in the country – then again, I also had a white SA lady tell a Polish man the EXACT same thing in a city?
Yes, compared to other countries.
I mean, we don’t turn people away from restaurants for not being British.
I’m looking at you, Japan. (substitute ‘British’ for ”Japanese’ obviously)
I think you really have to go and live abroad to realise how well we’re doing, relatively.
Yes, often by a long way, and you don’t need to go far.
I’m “Jewish-but-look-Arabic” somewhere down the line, I think on my dad’s side but we don’t know much about the family history. I can pass for “brown” or “a bit tanned” which means I fit in when I’m in Spain. I’d heard about the Spanish being a bit racist but never experienced it, most people would speak to me in fluent Spanish assuming I was one of them. Took me going to Ibiza with my Vietnamese wife to realise. Not out and out racism, but funny looks, being ignored for service. We got to the point we’d deliberately get her to go into a place alone, she’d get ignored, I’d turn up and it all changed. Weird.
That said I turn into a rampant racist myself in Ibiza, against my fellow Brits…
It is racially very tolerant. Nobody in the UK judges you by the colour of your skin.
It is becoming culturally less tolerant as other cultures intrude more and more and seem to being given priority, and many are pushing back against the cultural impact of Islam and others.
The UK is one of the least racist countries on Earth, and certainly one of the few where racism is actually taboo and there are genuine societal consequences for it.
USA has elected leaders that openly call foreigners “scum”, “scavengers” etc.
Most Asian countries are racist. Especially India.
Africa witnesses horrendous genocides of various ethnic groups.
South America has a lot of issues with racism.
Not saying UK is perfect, nowhere is, but compared to some other places the contrast is stark.
I always thought so, but then last summer gangs were dragging people who looked like me out of cars and screaming that they wanted to kill them.
Immigrants is too broad a term but the bigots paint everyone with the same brush.
A large portion of immigrants have been due to Britain having an Empire and drawing in workers from all over it’s dominion and later Commonwealth. So I don’t have much time for the racist wasters who talk the “Go back to your own country crap” as they don’t understand their own history.
There needs to be a sensible discussion about illegal immigration as that erodes people’s tolerances due to the perception. How much it impacts the country economically I don’t really know but it can’t be good. Likewise a sensible discussion about integration.
Lived in 5 countries (US, Myanmar, Italy, Denmark, and UK) and traveled to over 60. UK, while hardly perfect, is the best integrated society I’ve encountered. If only we could do something about the food…
Race and racism are constructs way too complex to simply claim that Britain is the ‘least racist country in the world’ as some of these top comments are doing. I can’t be bothered to engage with this topic just wanted to let you guys know that it’s really not as simple as you are making it
Maybe, but certainly talks much about racism.
I think so but I think its trending more intolerant
As an international student, I totally agree with this! People here are really kind and welcoming.
I think that unless you’re a member of a minority racial group living within the UK, you probably don’t have the life experiences that would be necessary to make an informed judgement on the topic.
I’d challenge most comments in this thread saying there is none to say what their ethnicity is. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was white.
Sure, in comparison the UK is a tolerant place compared to other countries, but that doesn’t mean the problem of discrimination doesn’t exist.
If you trust academic research, there’s plenty of studies out there exploring the endemic issue of disparities between different ethnic groups in the UK:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/09/britain-not-close-to-being-a-racially-just-society-finds-two-year-research-project
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/more-than-a-third-of-people-from-minority-groups-in-the-uk-have-experienced-racist-assaults-survey-finds
I am not a white British person, and I’ve been discriminated against plenty of times, twice have people shouted to me “get back to your country” without any provocation.
Also at work I was treated very differently than my white British peers and there was nothing I could do about it – sure there’s regulations, but imagine being bullied, and then losing your job, and then also have to spend months proving they discriminated you… It’s simply not worth it. Better to just focus on yourself and find a place that is better.
I do have to say it is however, a great place to live and my positive experiences far outweigh the negative ones. I love living in this country and the life I’m building here
We’re not very racist at all given our population. The people who say most brits are racist are socially inept and have no clue what racism actually means
People don’t understand commenting that there are different types of racism against different racial groups. So for saying “the UK is the least racist” well that could be true for x group vs y group whereas the next country has high racism against e group against f group…
For example Russians may have a harder time in Europe for racism currently, where in Thailand no one bothers them, yet in Thailand they’re actually more racist than Europe but it’s instead directed towards another racial group (not Russians) for example.. So from the Russian’s perspective it’s a veery toleraant place but from the other (the group it’s directed at) it’s the least tolerant in the world for example…
Of all the nations I’ve been in, (reasonably well travelled) the uk is easily the least racist nation I’ve been in.
There will be idiots that have a problem with someone for all sorts of skin colour related issues. There are white people who hate black and brown people, just as there will be brown and white people that hate white people. Racism doesn’t have a skin colour, and it’s certainly not all one way.
Like anything, it just depends where you are, and who you talk to. I’m not going to say an entire cake is all good to eat when there’s a speck of dog crap on the icing.
Consider this, our main right wing party has elected a black woman who was born in another country as its leader.
In how many other countries could you see that happening?