The worst example of racism I've seen outside the US, was when I went to Europe and heard them talk about Romani peoples. 0 to Klan member in 10 seconds.
Came here to say this and not surprised someone already did. The proof that isntrael has little to do with German/ European guilt is their treatment of the Roma people. They are so racist against them that they don't even think of it as racism.
my only direct interaction with any Romani people was from a girl I knew who was purchased as a baby by a Romani man and used as a sexual toy for her entire childhood
And why do you think that is? Perhaps a community that has been disenfranchised, looked down on as worse than the scum of the earth, and often enslaved or lynched throughout their miserable history in miserable Europe might have its own severe issues, not least amongst them being- when not being outright persecuted by authorities, facing criminal levels of neglect by them, the sorts that allow baby-selling and worse to occur.
It seems that the (myth? maybe not entirely, hell if I know) of "child-stealing Roma" is prevalent- but on the other hand, what about when it goes the other way around? I certainly have heard of, and there are many documented cases of, the kidnapping of Roma children, from their biological parents, often not for any good reason other than public hysteria and discrimination over the matter (and them having "white" features)- by the states of Europe (which generally on the other hand seem utterly loath to recognize any Roma as citizens, no matter their personal history and heritage- and which seem to treat their communities with about the same amount of human dignity people grant cockroach infestations- burning their camps down, driving them out, keeping them basically segregated). Frankly, it seems to me that the child stealing and selling tends to be inflicted the other way around more often than not- a war certainly seems to constantly be waged on the Roma, by the countries which- by all rights, they should be afforded citizenship and protection by. It seems incredibly reminiscent of the ongoing treatment of indigenous peoples here in Canada and other settler-colonial Anglo societies (as someone raised in the prairies and who had many first nations childhood friends, classmates, etc- all being raised by white families, some in rather questionable conditions- and I'm not that old by the way- 27- and I know full well these dynamics continue to exist in full force) except there isn't the (apparently incredibly effective, however possibly occasionally based in reality) blood libel of "baby-snatching" against the natives here.
Being subjected to inhumane conditions, social exclusion, and poverty, tend to breed inhumane results- this is true of any ethnic, racial, or religious group, most particularly when they are excluded from the means, and/or lack the numbers, to establish their own permanent spaces with genuine autonomy, to at least weather out the persecution together. The last 500 years of accursed European history plaguing the rest of humanity, in the Americas, Australia and Oceania, with chattel slavery and systemic destruction of other cultures, is a testament to that- even the centers of historical civilization have been brought low (China, India, the Fertile Crescent, Iran, Mesoamerica, the Andes) and those nations seen for most of history as the heights of culture, prosperity, and dignity have been defiled. Even more so when for the Roma, most of their lot in life seems to be running about effectively stateless, dehumanized, and persecuted in clear violation to various internationally recognized human rights.
Did you seriously just write three massive paragraphs defending the purchase of a baby for use as a sexual toy?
If that's your takeaway from my post (which was not what I was saying at all)- then all I have to say to you is, go to hell, literally, I hope you die like the Nazi you are, painfully, without dignity, and with the same amount of humanity you grant others.
That's what I should have said all along, in hindsight. Go to hell
You know well enough that's not what I said at all- if your friend even ever existed. Go die in a ditch.
I'm not going to play your games of reframing whatever I say in a completely inaccurate context. Go somewhere else where it actually works- or better yet, go die.
You need to get a grip, foaming at the mouth nazi trying to take a single tragedy and use it to spite an entire group of underclass oppressed minorities.
You cant even comphrend the larger picture or as the above poster explained, the factors that cause them to reproduce acts of criminality; I bet you dont have same disdain for your own country men, despite them likely doing much worse on a wider scale.
Coming from the person who defended generational racism because one bad thing happened once.
I have a close friend who was kidnapped and kept as a fucking slave by a gang once. That gang's ethnic makeup? Romani. It's a horrible story and I hate the people who subjected my friend to that shit and gave him PTSD with a burning passion and hope they die in a ditch. And yet, when talking about the extreme racism Romani people face, I don't decide to defend it because a handful of horrible people did something horrible to my friend. It's not that fucking hard to separate general systems of oppression from individuals and their actions. You even acknowledged how extremely limited your knowledge of Romani people is, and yet still chose to defend racism.
This is the most hilariously bad faith interpretation of a comment I've ever seen on the internet, congratulations
A European expressing concern for oppressed minorities is like Bill Cosby expressing concern for the rights of women.
