Science & Tech
Louis Dor
Mar 26, 2016
A Facebook post, which mocks racist attitudes, has been shared thousands of times for its satirical message.
The post attacks assumptions about people and cultures, and how society discriminates against people, by telling the fictional story of how the author is persecuted for being a white, middle-class man.
The story follows a man in Glasgow who is antagonised by a Muslim woman, some Asian men, a Sikh man and some black teenagers, for reasons such as Christianity, the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal and societal attitudes to clothing.
For instance, he is effectively asked to apologise for Dunblane, presumably on behalf of white people, riffing off certain recent events:
This random Muslim woman in one of those headscarf things comes up to me on George Square and asks me a garbled question. I didn't understand it at first so I had to ask her to repeat it, and she says, 'What do you have to say about Dunblane?'
I thought she was trying to GET TO Dunblane, so I asked if she wanted me to look up directions on my phone, and she said, 'No, IDIOT. What do you have to say about the Dunblane shootings?'
I was confused to say the least: 'Dunblane? Uh... I have nothing to say about Dunblane.' It was really weird, because she actually seemed pretty angry about something. Then she said, 'Why not? Don't you think it was wrong?'
And I said, 'Of course it was wrong, but that was 20 years ago, and, um, I wasn't really involved with it in any way. I was 14-years-old in 1996, I didn't even live in Scotland then!'
You can read the full status by Emlyn Pearce, below:
WHAT IS UP WITH ALL THE MUSLIMS AND BLACK PEOPLE IN GLASGOW TODAY???This is the worst day ever. I am currently hiding...
Posted by Emlyn Pearce on Wednesday, 23 March 2016
The status has been shared over 25,000 times and liked by over 40,000, praised for its message of understanding that individuals are unique and discriminating upon people for superficial reasons is nonsensical.
Pearce has previously written a takedown of anti-immigration sentiment, pointing out that there are British people living all over the world, and has previously written about online trolling for the Independent.
Pearce told indy100 his status was prompted by some Islamophobic reactions to the Brussels attacks:
As a white man I never get confronted about things white people have done.
I'm South African - apartheid was based on Christian ideas and, as a result of that, children were shot on their way to school, people disappeared, people were thrown out of planes into the sea - terrible crimes were committed in the name of Christianity.
I've seen the good and the bad of Christianity in South Africa and so I get really frustrated at this idea that we see the whole of Islam as one thing when in reality any complex ideology can be used or misused.
Pearce said he's received an array of responses:
From right wing racists saying 'this is ridiculous, you're being naive', all the way through to Muslim people who have misinterpreted it and think I'm attacking people. You get every type of reaction, but I think the discussion is key, and off the back of something I've written, is great.
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