Poles accuse Daily Mail of defaming community

[mr blur]

Poles in Britain have accused the Daily Mail ofdefaming their community in a letter of complaint to the press watchdog.

Many articles published on Polish migrants were likely to foster racial tension, the Federation of Poles in Great Britain said. The federation, the largest group representing Poles in Britain, says that of 80 articles published on the subject by the Daily Mail in the past two years, fewer than five were positive. Headlines such as "Are young Polish workers robbing their country of its future?"; "Britain is country of choice for many 'feckless' Poles" and "Polish Borat claims groping women is normal in eastern Europe", are among those that have caused fury.

The federation accused the newspaper in its letter to the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) of being unacceptably racist. "If the subject had been Pakistani or African immigrants, such a string of article headlines would have been considered blatantly racist and probably subject to a court summons," the letter said.

"This kind of shock reporting, week-in week-out, serves only to exacerbate the tension", the federation added. "They are slingshots aimed at Europe and the Government which rebound against Poles and other central Europeans in street abuse, fire-bombed homes and mob attacks, while the Daily Mail washes its hands of all responsibility."

<snip>

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/poles-accuse-daily-mail-of-defaming-community-796254.html

[non sociopath skin]

1. Good for them.

Hope they get the justice they deserve.

The gutter press's vehemence against both travellers and East Europeans that when it comes to xenophobia, there's no racial discrimination!

The Skin

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Nihil]

9. W.T.F.?

[LeftishBrit]

5. Do you really think that (fill in the blank) are good for the country?

English, Scots, Irish, Welsh, Asians, Afro-Caribbaeans, Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims...

You wouldn't dream of saying it about any of the other groups, certainly not on a liberal forum, so why do you think you can say it about Gypsies/ Travellers?

And the 'legal/illegal' bit is mostly just a smokescreen IMO. The Daily Mail and its readers mostly just don't want ANY immigrants. If they were really mainly concerned about legality, they would want to streamline the immigration and asylum-seeking processes, and make them easier for genuine asylum-seekers.

[Nihil]

8. Depending what "fill in the blank" do then either yes or no.

I appreciate it that you have at least explained your comment (unlike the
others so far) but the issue isn't "race" or "ethnicity", it is behaviour.

> Do you really think that (fill in the blank) are good for the country?
> English, Scots, Irish, Welsh, Asians, Afro-Caribbaeans, Catholics,
> Protestants, Jews, Muslims...

I haven't found that any of the above groups have behaved in the same way
as the gypsies/"travellers". In sharp contrast, each of the above groups
(and many more besides) have a marked tendency to be law-abiding, hard-working,
respectful & respectable citizens (albeit with the customary minority of
thugs, criminals and cheats that seems to represent "humanity" everywhere).
The same is simply not true of the majority of "gypsies" or "travellers".

> You wouldn't dream of saying it about any of the other groups, certainly
> not on a liberal forum, so why do you think you can say it about Gypsies

Apologies if it was too much of a broad-brush response but the romantic
image of nature-loving, honest "gypsies" bears no resemblance to the
majority who are in circulation today. I'm sure that there are some groups
whose behaviour is a shining example to us all but they are definitely the
minority.

[non sociopath skin]

10. I try to avoid thinking in cliches, whether "romantic" or racist.

The Skin

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[non sociopath skin]

20. Accusing someone who disagrees with you of stupidity?

Now THERE'S a novel debating technique!

:evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin:

The Skin

[Nihil]

21. Beats some of the alternatives ...

... such as accusing someone of racism :P

(FWIW, I tried to delete that response as you didn't deserve it
but I'd left it too late for the edit period. Sorry.)

[non sociopath skin]

22. I called in the moderators. And it seems they agreed with me.

Sorry, but that's good enough for me.

Thanks for conceding that I didn't deserve it. I'm very sensitive about racism, having seen my partner at the receiving end of it too many times.

Could we please "Keep the ball on the bottom" in future, please? Thanks.

The Skin

[LeftishBrit]

14. Surely all groups consist of good and bad individuals?

Seems trite to say; but also seems that we must keep saying it.

[Nihil]

16. So we should tolerate the Bush admin because of the good individuals?

Maybe we shouldn't protest the corruption of politicians as we know
that there are still some good ones in various governments around
the world?

We shouldn't complain about the behaviour of CEOs as there *are* some
good CEOs around ... damn rare but they exist.

At what point do people give up defending the majority for the sake
of the good individuals? 10% good? 5%? 1%? Never?

How can there ever be criticism of any party, any organisation, any gang
no matter how despicable as there will always be the possibility of
having some "good individuals" within it and it simply wouldn't be fair
to criticise the latter for the truth of the former?

My criticism of gypsies/"travellers"/(whatever PC term people want)
is founded on first-hand experience (i.e., from my direct encounters
with them) and on second-hand experience (i.e., from people who I know
and trust who have experienced it themselves), not from the likes of
the Mail or other gutter press.

In all of my encounters with them, there has been exactly ONE time
that showed me that there are good, clean, tidy, respectful people
in the travelling community.

That occasion is why I try to remember to use "majority" rather than
"all" as I'm sure they were not the only group to behave that way,
merely the only one that has "visited" anywhere near me over the years.

Thanks again for your polite response.

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. Please stop digging the hole you're in deeper and deeper

It's obvious you can't see that what you're saying is offensive. But I think it might be best to trust the reaction of all who have replied to you, and the deletion of your original message, to show that it's unacceptable.

[Nihil]

19. Fair enough ... (n/t)

[mr blur]

6. Do you really think bigotry and racism are good for the country?

Or is that just a pose you're striking?

[Nihil]

7. Try reading ...

... instead of knee-jerking ...

[mr blur]

12. I could say the same to you,

but I suspect that it would be a waste of time.

[LeftishBrit]

2. Good! Not before time!

They have defamed so many groups.

[fedsron2us]

11. They join a long list of groups and individuals going back over decades.

The Mail even ran a hate campaign against Stanley Baldwin in the 1930s because he cut off all the paper's privileged access to Downing Street.

[LeftishBrit]

13. Yes, it's a long list

Probably their most infamous action is serializing the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion' and generally being pro-Nazi in the 1930s. But they have been pretty consistent in the hatemongering, only varying the targets from time to time.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

15. Good

This hate-mongering against our eastern European neighbours has been outrageous these past four years. I hope they look into other papers such as the Diana Express, News of the Screws, The People.