3 ms·

Obviously I won't dispute your experience, and I'm sad that you have to go through that. It's never something we've experienced in any part of the UK so far, an

Obviously I won't dispute your experience, and I'm sad that you have to go through that. It's never something we've experienced in any part of the UK so far, and we often speak in non-English (well, me not very well - as a typical British person, English is my only fluent language). However, I should add that when I was growing up 20+ years ago (also not in London), this kind of thing was much more common. Indeed, it was quite a lot worse. A roll of the eyes was probably the best you could expect. Some of the more unsavoury characters would walk around at night looking for members of particular immigrant groups to beat up, and people would talk about this as if it was perfectly normal and fine. Thankfully, that is no longer remotely acceptable. The long term trend has been greatly softening attitudes towards immigration. Perhaps the divisive Brexit campaign has knocked it back a bit, but when I compare us now to even 10-15 years ago, it still feels like we're practically a different country to how we were when I grew up.

the_mitsuhiko 5y ago
> The long term trend has been greatly softening attitudes towards immigration. I strongly dispute this. The UK has anything but a softened attitude towards immigration in recent years. It was bad enough that it made me leave because I felt the longer term trend is not going to be good for me and my family and I'm a white European. You might not see it as much if you're not directly affected, but the discourse on the news and social media in the UK has degraded greatly since Brexit and that even happens on some rural public busses now. I think the UK both wants to think of itself as world open, but a huge part of the population does not like it. Now it's conflicted of what it wants as a country.
- CodeGlitch 5y ago
  > I think the UK both wants to think of itself as world open, but a huge part of the population does not like it. Now it's conflicted of what it wants as a country. Yes isn't it great that we live in a democracy, and have the population decide which direction they would like the country to go in.
  - the_mitsuhiko 5y ago
    Unfortunately you only have one country and it hosts a population that’s split right in the middle on that issue.
  - piva00 5y ago
    Sure, but as far as I understand democracy, for it to really work you need well informed citizens. I would say that metric isn't trending up in most countries on Earth at this moment.
    - CodeGlitch 5y ago
      Agreed, but hasn't that always been the case? I'm not sure a better solution exists either. Perhaps a series of questions before you're allowed to vote that tests your understanding of the principles of the choices you are voting for? Also I'm guessing you are suggesting that voters who voted leave where uniformed? (Please correct me if I'm wrong). I still don't believe that to be the case. The run up to the election there was wall-to-wall coverage on the subject across TV, radio and the internet.
rich_sasha 5y ago
Well, again, it's hardly a big burden on me. It's the change I'm remarking on, not some absolute levels of hostility. But for record, this experience is from benign and safe environments - playgrounds in nice part of the city, National Trust parks etc. I have certainly felt at times it is best not to appear "foreign" in less polished places, and probably wouldn't attract attention to being from Poland. Funny story (in hindsight), from way back when - ironically before the word "Brexit" even existed. Around 2006 or 2007, I was (almost) mugged at knifepoint in South London. The muggers realised I'm not local, and asked me where I'm from. For whatever reason, I said "Czechoslovakia" - a country that hadn't existed for O(15 years). The muggers saw my old tattered phone and finally let me go, saying they were just messing. I sometimes wonder how that could have gone had I said I'm from Poland.

the_mitsuhiko 5y ago

> The long term trend has been greatly softening attitudes towards immigration. I strongly dispute this. The UK has anything but a softened attitude towards immigration in recent years. It was bad enough that it made me leave because I felt the longer term trend is not going to be good for me and my family and I'm a white European. You might not see it as much if you're not directly affected, but the discourse on the news and social media in the UK has degraded greatly since Brexit and that even happens on some rural public busses now. I think the UK both wants to think of itself as world open, but a huge part of the population does not like it. Now it's conflicted of what it wants as a country.

CodeGlitch 5y ago
> I think the UK both wants to think of itself as world open, but a huge part of the population does not like it. Now it's conflicted of what it wants as a country. Yes isn't it great that we live in a democracy, and have the population decide which direction they would like the country to go in.
- the_mitsuhiko 5y ago
  Unfortunately you only have one country and it hosts a population that’s split right in the middle on that issue.
- piva00 5y ago
  Sure, but as far as I understand democracy, for it to really work you need well informed citizens. I would say that metric isn't trending up in most countries on Earth at this moment.
  - CodeGlitch 5y ago
    Agreed, but hasn't that always been the case? I'm not sure a better solution exists either. Perhaps a series of questions before you're allowed to vote that tests your understanding of the principles of the choices you are voting for? Also I'm guessing you are suggesting that voters who voted leave where uniformed? (Please correct me if I'm wrong). I still don't believe that to be the case. The run up to the election there was wall-to-wall coverage on the subject across TV, radio and the internet.

rich_sasha 5y ago

Well, again, it's hardly a big burden on me. It's the change I'm remarking on, not some absolute levels of hostility. But for record, this experience is from benign and safe environments - playgrounds in nice part of the city, National Trust parks etc. I have certainly felt at times it is best not to appear "foreign" in less polished places, and probably wouldn't attract attention to being from Poland. Funny story (in hindsight), from way back when - ironically before the word "Brexit" even existed. Around 2006 or 2007, I was (almost) mugged at knifepoint in South London. The muggers realised I'm not local, and asked me where I'm from. For whatever reason, I said "Czechoslovakia" - a country that hadn't existed for O(15 years). The muggers saw my old tattered phone and finally let me go, saying they were just messing. I sometimes wonder how that could have gone had I said I'm from Poland.