The Core

This is quite old but I've only seen it for the 1st time today.

When I saw it I truly believed it to be the ultimate troll. I was blown away by the dedication to the project and am amazed at how he kept a straight face.

Huge hat tip to the man - It's given me some guerilla marketing ideas too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBH7ZqEase0

I don't think it would go over very well; people would likely show up with guns.

Sad story Jason.

Another sad story - had a customer inquiry recently from a man with the first name Jihad. His inquiry included a fairly lengthy comment saying "Despite my name, I'm not dangerous." It would not have occurred to us to think that, but it saddened us to realize that in America in the Donald Trump era, a man has to apologize for his name and be worried that people won't want to do business with him.

All I can say is I don't plan to ever let my Southern Poverty Law Center membership lapse.

I should have added. They're still together but he doesn't speak with his brothers any more.

I hear you and I understand. I think mostly though because I grew up in Outer London in the 70s and 80s. In the UK at that time we had a large influx of Bengali and Pakistani coming to the UK. This happened after the large immigration from the West Indies in the 50's and 60s.

The country had reached out for immigrants to help with the drop in birth rates (The pill was to blame) and mixed with the changes occurring in what was Northern India and then the split of West and East Pakistan into Pakistan and Bangladesh meant i grew up with people of different colour, and they were simply normal and part of life. Cricket as a common sport helped a lot too.

However one of my grandparents, specifically my maternal grandmother (and thinking back, not my g'father) weren't so kind at seeing the changes, especially more Muslim immigrants, which the North Indian immigrants mostly were. As a kid I remember hearing their derision but as a kid ignored it and carried on playing...

As an adult I remembered this and although my g'mother was very old and had severe Alzheimers, alongside a myriad of other medical conditions, wasn't sure of the response when i introduced her to my new partner... A black American / English woman...

I needn't have worried as I doubt she remembered 5 minutes later and not so long after, she passed away (my g'mother not Katryna) .. however the concern I had reminded me of the time I 1st met my ex wife's grandfather....

It was a perfectly pleasant day, he was the life of the party and we spent a lot of time chatting as he loved to say lots about what he did during the war as he was a highish ranking officer at Hornchurch Airfield (Home to a Spitfire squadron that protected the East End of London and parts of Essex) where he was based... and then randomly during this chat he let out a howler....

"Hitler did have one thing right though, those bloody Jews..."

I remember those words well..

I looked to Sue (my girlfriend at the time who later became my wife) and she looked horrified. I smiled to reassure her.

Howard, for that was his name, didn't know that I was Jewish...

Howard died a number of years later but before Sue and I married, and as far as I know nothing was ever said to him about it. I never raised it again, that's for sure...

As I am typing this I started wondering, why did my Grandmother, my ex wife's Grandfather and not my other Grand Parents, have this point of view, or was it just some of them were more vocal than others?

My only answer is one of envy and jealousy....

All my grandparents (and grandparent in law) had it tough. There is no doubt about it. They grew up in the 20s and 30s, saw massive suffering, low income, disease and then came the war!

Howard had an easier time than many, but he was responsible for an airfield that was a massive target for the Luftwaffe ...He saw a lot of action, although on home soil, as it was regularly bombed, as was the whole area often.

 My grandmother was blown through the back door and hit a garden wall, breaking her back (she fully recovered in time) and before that worked in the "Secret" Plessey factory in the Tube tunnels between Redbridge and Newbury Park on the Central line.....

Quick Story Change
As an aside, I remember when Howard died. He was a stubborn old man when he was alive and still driving in his late 80s (not long before he died) and refused to give it up, even after having 3 car accidents. The 4th was the final straw though....

Anyway... when he died I helped clear his house.. The stuff we found!!!

In his bedside table was a Luger Pistol and a number of rounds. Off we went to the local police station and handed it in. This was a small provincial police station who only opened for part time hours. They weren't sure what to do with it, as they weren't equipped to deal with such things..... "That needs to go to Romford", the Sergeant said. "OK I said, I'll take it there now".... "No.... I can't let you take it away", he said.... "OK. Well if you can't take it in, and I can't take it to Romford (The local bigger POlice Station) then what are we going to do?

It ended up being taken in as lost property and kept in a metal rubbish bin at the back of the station until someone with appropriate credentials came to pick it up from the other police station.

Back to clearing the house out...

In the living room Howard had a bureau. It was jam packed full of "stuff" and no one had been in there for years. Another 3 pistols ( I have no idea what kind) & rusting ammunition.

Back to Upminster Police Station... I helped the PC on duty and told him it was best if he took it in as lost property!

A total of 3 rifles of some kind of another were found in the house and 3 grenades. All of them seeming to have dated from WW2 or thereabouts.

Eventually the house was cleared but the garden needed a lot of work to make the house saleable. In the middle of this 300 yard garden was an old derelict summer house. It was rotten and full of "stuff". As we cleared it, it mostly fell down but we did find a wooden box with brass corners. It looked like it was originally a quality item. We took it inside, opened it up and saw it was velvet covered with small glass vials inside....

We weren't sure what it was so started reading the typed notes. They were water damaged, but readable...

It seemed we had about 12 glass vials of various chemicals including mustard gas!!

The old man literally had stink bombs full of lethal chemicals just lying around in the garden summerhouse!!

The final  thing was a step by his back door. It was skew wiff and crumbling. I took a sledge hammer to it to break it up, before building it back again. Unfortunately there was something inside the concrete. It turned out it was a WW2 German incendiary bomb that had been dropped by the Luftwaffe but never went off. Howard, in his infinite wisdom, decided it was best not to move it, and built a step over and on it!

Pat, my mother in law, who grew up in that house said something along the lines of "We always thought dad was lying about that step..." Supposedly he told them jokingly, that there was a German bomb by the back door and to take care as they stepped over it.

That time the bomb squad were called!

That was my ex Grandfather in Law!!

random trip down memory lane over

So why did some deliver abuse and have the feelings they did to others that were different to them, and not others???

The only thing I can imagine is that some had felt persecution directly and others hadn't. They'd also seen horrors that happened because of it.

I say that as my grandmother converted to Judaism to marry my Grandfather. I didn't know about this until after her death... She was brought up Catholic but ended up falling in love with a Jew.

Howard, having not served abroad and my grandmother both had similar lives. Born in the East End, moved out towards Essex and had to fight for every small thing, before ultimately having to serve in their own way, during the war. They, in their opinion, had earned the benefits of being British and the outsiders coming in, hadn't "put in" the time or effort to the country through it's dark times...

But why didn't my Grandfather have these views?

I can only guess, but I think it was two fold. He was born in the UK to immigrants who fled the Pogroms in Eastern Europe. He also served in the RAF, not as a Pilot but as an early parachuter, sent in advance of other forces for reconnaissance... He never spoke about the war to me, other than one time, when I was an a grown man... Most of his time in the war was spent in Asia and he and 2 of his group were parachuted in to assess taking a Japanese POW camp...

Ultimately that was successful (unfortunately I don't remember the name of the camp, or even if he told me the name) but he said the horrors he saw as these soldiers, the Prisoner's of War were liberated stuck with him forever. I am sure there was much more he saw but simply couldn't ever speak of again...

So the difference.... He had been on the receiving end of persecution as a Jew, at what level I don't know, but Jews in the 20s and 30s weren't really welcome anywhere in Europe, even in so called "friendly countries" and had then seen first hand what man does to man, in the name of "being different"

It isn't a scientific overview nor is it likely to be close to the real reasons, but it's the only reasons I can imagine for the difference in opinions of these similar people, albeit with dissimilar circumstances...

I see Trump and those with his views, like my sister in law's boyfriend's brothers, being very similar and likely for the same reasons... They're fortunate enough to have never been on the receiving end of abuse and suffering like that, and have never directly seen it either...

flipping heck Jason, I never reallised you were so exotic 

I think a lot of people who say horribly racist (and other ist) things are not in reality racist, but they believe what they read and speak without thinking - my dad for example is open and friendly and does have both black and muslim friends so on a personal level he has no issues at all with race or religion, but he still lapses into daily mail propeganda occasionally. Its hard to deal wiith that - a gentle rebuke along the lines of "dad you can't say things liike that" "you know thats not riight" or "you donn't really believe that do you" is what I tend to do - some of you might thing I should be harsher but I was raised o respect my elders and I really do have trouble with bollocking him!

I did have a massive row with my sister in law about refugees at Christmas though. Zenophhobic b###h is definately not old enough to get away with that sh##!

I also say things I shouldn't sometimes, to be honest. Not about groups of people, because I don't think like that, but I am the type of person who would use a word which used to be ok and no longer is because I haven't realised.  Truth is I was never really exposed to anyone other than white, christian (of one type or another) people growing up. There were two black kids in my secondary school of 1200. On the flip side of that I socialised a lot in Brighton where the gender/sexuality mix was pretty out there for the 80's. Outcome of that is I really, genuinely, don't think about a persons colour, religion, nationality or personal preferences, nor do I bother to read about it much as it's a non issue to me - you are what you are and unless you're a d*ck thats fine by me.

But that does mean I have no idea at *all* what politically correct words are for anything, I had no idea until a friend (who is black British and also didn't know  until she did it accidentally when she was asked to cater for somethinng at work) that to (some?) black Americans serving watermelon is considered horribly racist ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watermelon_stereotype ).  I didn't understand the difference between Presbytarian and Church of England unil I innocently asked if someone would like to attend church while staying with me.  I'm totally idiotic about this stuff. It doesn't mean I don't believe in equality or care about everyones rights.

This just popped up in my FB feed. Yes, it is a parody, but parodies work because it "could be" real.

Religion!!

> Tolstoy

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

(and yes, I had to Google for it)

> Grand father.

I think that mirrors similar views to what Gurtie and I were saying. We may have older relatives that spout certain  things, but when push comes to shove, most of the times people come good.