nope! i didn't! it looks to me like i was trying to point out there are other voices on the subject with a more holistic an detached view than yourself! crikey, using outside sources in a wfcforum discussion. i won't do it again! apologies all round
No fair enough, I apologise, you didn't but I am not just referring to you. But, did you check out the source before posting it. Had you done so, you may have realised that the authors have a pretty heavy axe to grind. Nothing wrong with that, but it holds less weight, does it not, than an independent view. I almost always disagree with Clive and usually with Kelso, and mostly with Godfather. But at least I understand where they get their views from, and I respect them all the more for it. Well, I don't really respect GF's view on women ha ha!
it was rather ham-fisted but it was the best way i could write it in only one sentence. basically, i think that we should all be aware that we have fundamental limitations to our understanding of the experience of people in society. so, i think it's a bit rum of you to say that i can't have this opinion because i have fundamental limitations to my own experience of society, because that was the whole point.
You are at it now! Where did I say that you can't have an opinion? That is honestly the last thing I want and expect. You are saying that experience can be a hindrance and I am saying that lack of it can be a hindrance as well. Personally, if I have a third-hand view on something, I would welcome an experienced view.
apologies then! i completely misread an earlier post. as in very very completely. which given my earlier sarcasm makes me feel suitably stupid
Lol what are my views on women? except they are such a mixed bag! ZZ if you were a PC in the eighties then you will have come across plenty of institutionalised racism on a daily basis, I can guarantee it ... I used to occasionally drink in a pub where blacks wouldn't go and police used to socialise. After a few pints all you could hear was n****r this and c**n that. Complain and you'd almost certainly get more than you bargained for.
GF, I was, and I didn't. I am being totally honest here. I spent 2 years working in a large station in a very racially sensitive area. I just never saw it, or heard it, except from one copper who we called Adolf. But that wasn't institutional racism, that was individual, and to be frank, his bark was far worse than his bite as I never actually saw him act with racism in a real incident. I then worked in the drug squad where focus was purely on stopping the dealing, by blacks or whites. After that I wasn't involved in the street crime side of things. But from then on I was working in the upper echelons, and I can assure you, the focus I saw at the top was definitely not racially motivated. I left because I was fed up with the way the job was going, I was totally pissed off with it. I have no "pro police" axe to grind, if I saw stuff, I would tell you. Sorry, but that is the truth. PS, having read your post again, I probably have to backtrack. Yes, the language you have suggested was used, although not often. But, whilst not excusable, that sort of language was not such a total no-no as it is now. Nevertheless, I didn't ever hear it in anger, only socially.
Excellent post. I take back what I said about 'generalities' on another thread. Your recent posts on here are much more about direct experience and, like you, I always accept accounts of experience at face value and believe them unless proven otherwise. And I agree, personal experience is usually more informative than 'I read it in the newspaper' stuff. But seeing as you spent so long in the police then you must have loads of examples of specific incidents you had to deal with yourself which would be relevant to all sorts of threads. Personally, that's the sort of stuff I find the most interesting of all. No need to name names!
