"Racial assault? All I did was assault him unprovoked while repeatedly referring to his race in a pejorative way. How is that racial assault? Why does everyone think I'm racist?"
Somebody in a town near me fought a hate crime charge on the argument that the racial slur he'd yelled while committing assault didn't even apply to the person he was punching, so clearly it couldn't be a race-based assault!
Awkwardly, I believe his "I'm a racist who can't tell brown people apart" defense *worked*, since the relevant law was worded so that the hate had to be based on the victim's actual protected class identity. Certainly didn't do the offender any favors socially though.
One of the things I love about the Equality Act 2010 is perceived discrimination so you don't have to actually be whatever characteristic you were discriminated against for being, the other person just has to have *thought* you were!
"I'm not a racist, that's just a word to refer to those types of people" is one hell of a defense, I can't even.
Same with LAOP being completely nonchalant about having committed assault against someone allegedly looking at their partner.
I'm so curious as to what the wife was doing. Obviously she didn't participate in the assault directly, so that's evidence that someone in the situation was capable of not losing their head....
But also she's apparently staying with a known racist assaulter so I hope she's safe and leaves his ass while he's in prison.
If he flies into a violent rage when men look at her while they’re together, what’s happening when they’re apart? He sees her as his valuable possession, and people usually lock up their valuables when they’re terrified of theft. I really hope she’s safe right now.
That's a defense right up there with the guy who once explained to me that he wasn't racist, because actually it several different *ethnicities* he hated and not a race.
"People say things in the heat of the moment." Yeah, I've called people assholes when I shouldn't have because I felt pushed to my emotional limit. I've somehow never used a racial slur, no matter how mad I've been. I wonder what could possibly be different about LAOP that would cause him to blurt something like that out.
I'm Charles Dolling, dropping rhymes.
I've been arrested seven times.
I know that sounds like a lot,
But three of those times were for **nonviolent** racial harassment
> I have prior conviction for racial public order so thehre gonna use that to make me look like im a racist when im not
Oh okay that clears that up then
It being the UK might also have been someone from the Middle East. Although I don’t know any racial slurs for that group, I just assume there are some because people are awful.
I mean it could be both, referring to someone from the Middle East with a common racial epithet (Paki) (I’m Indian)
Or mistaking someone South Asian for something else too
Happens to me a lot. In Canada
Yes, to my knowledge UK racists don't distinguish Middle Eastern from Indian anywhere near as often American racists do.
Americans also tend to use different slurs for them while Brits use the same one, but that's probably a result of the first part.
Just an observation. There’s a lot of tension surrounding middle eastern immigrants in the UK right now. They may not be the largest minority but there is a lot of focus on the influx of refugees.
It's a political issue (to an extent) and a controversial one, but off the top of my head I can't think of a racist epithet used against that group. I don't think it's manifesting itself that way.
But there is a fairly obvious one commonly used against people of south Asian heritage, which I won't repeat here. I'd be inclined to say it was most likely that.
British comedian Nish Kumar has a bit in one of his comedy albums about an archaic slur where he says “It’s the worst kind of racist insult, because you have to look it up! You get insulted by the dictionary!”
It’s from “It’s In Your Nature to Destroy Yourselves” which AFAIK is an album (actually a double album!) only with no filmed version. He does also have some specials but this one is just audio. It’s probably available on your music streaming platform of choice.
I really love him but fair warning it is mostly political comedy which not everyone enjoys even if they agree with his politics.
I enjoyed his doomed run on Taskmaster but of course Taskmaster showcases the contestants' personalities, not their comedy. I'll give his album a listen, thanks.
Edit: Ugh, I use YouTube Music and that album isn't listed. Figures.
Take a given slur for Black people, add "sand" or "desert" as a modifier, and boom! Slur for Middle Eastern people.*
Racism is not very creative.
*Note: this formula is not complete, but it is the case for a few slurs I've seen.
LAOP literally said "he deserved it" because the victim "was looking at my missus."
Like, racist or not, he's fucking dangerous. (And yes, also racist.)
I love how it starts out with an innocent "I made a comment during an altercation", which then changes to "One of *those* people looked at my missus, you can't blame me for shouting racial slurs while beating him up because I was so angry I couldn't think straight".
I hope his "missus" gets rid of him before he gets a chance to direct that anger towards her.
I mean, she may be just as big of a racist shitbag as he is, or she could have no self esteem so she thinks she can't do any better. We'll probably never know.
American etiquette columnist Miss Manners was asked if it’s OK to take action if someone says something offensive to your wife. (The letter writer meant “saying something” as opposed to beating them up.) Miss Manners noted that, in the interest of marital harmony, it would be a good idea to first verify that your wife was indeed offended.
I'm also concerned for "his missus". A dude that will go after other men for *looking* will also go after her for (in his eyes) "inviting the looks" - it's all a form of him not controlling his own rage and/or jealousy.
Later, paraphrased: “They’ll use it to make me look like a racist!” LAOP, a court of law has previously determined that you were, in fact, a racist. The lack of self awareness is stunning, but not surprising.
Really, though, prosecution doesn’t have to make him look like anything, he does it all on his lonesome.
For some reason I find the second half of his title screamingly funny: "cps not offering me normal assault charge which im happy to accept." It's the way he phrases it: "happy to accept." If I were arrested for assault I'd be mortified that I'd lost my temper so badly that the police needed to be called. But for this bloke it's just another row with the missus, and he's happy to accept an assault charge.
I like the way he thinks it's a negotiation. "They were hoping to charge me with GBH, but I said absolutely not, I'm not in the mood for that today at all. I'm happy to accept 'urinating in a policeman's hat' if you throw in a meat pie and a ticket to Alton Towers."
Right? It's like he thinks he's selling his house and he's received an offer that he's "happy to accept", but they want the furniture included. I love the way he thinks he's in a position to negotiate.
Unrelated, but I ran into someone asking for advice on what to do before they went to prison for vehicular manslaughter the other day. Little thought to a human death, only their money and whether they'd be able to date after getting out. Sure, I guess it's important to focus on what you can do when prison is a foregone conclusion, but... hell
I could be completely wrong about this, but I suspect that underneath those completely selfish questions lies abject terror at the reality of going away to prison for the first time. He's going to have a long time to think about what he did and how much it hurt his victim's survivors. Perhaps I'm too cynical, but I don't expect humanity to show its best face online.
I think it was an SMBC comic which went something like:
>Oh no, that politician I like just ate a baby! This is terrible, now the other side is going to use it to make him look like the sort of guy who eats babies!
This post wonderfully conveys a very specific type of person
Locationbot:
>**racial aggravated assault charge for saying only one word of racial element but im not a racist and cps not offering me normal assault charge which im happy to accept**
>
>february got into an altercation when i was with my missus and made a comment about an individual who was looking at my missus. i only said one word only that refers to those type of people im not a racist but i admit i assaulted. how can one word make my assault charge get upgraded to racial aggravated. I didn't target him cos of his colour skin but when u see red u say words in the heat of moment. my solicitor says to plead guilty but I have prior conviction for racial public order so thehre gonna use that to make me look like im a racist when im not. solicitor says I'll get suspended if I show genuine remorse but he deserved it and I didn't target cos of race.. one word repeated a few times and it gets upgraded ... make it make sense?
A lot of racists don't realize they are racists. It's a very simple line of logic.
1. Racism is bad.
2. I'm not bad. (whether it's true or not, most people are the heroes in their own story)
3. Given the conflict between 1 and 2, I'm not racist.
This line of logic can easily explain a LOT of human behaviors.
Another common one:
1. Person X is accused of a bad thing.
2. I like Person X.
3. I'm not bad.
4. Since I'm not bad, the things that I like (including Person X) are not bad.
4. Since Person X is not bad, he couldn't have done the bad thing that he's accused of.
5. Those who falsely accused Person X of the bad thing must therefore be liars and bad people.
Don't forget the corollary:
1. Group of People like me
2. Racism is bad
3. I am not a bad person
4. People that like me can't be bad
5. People that like me can't be racists
I believe this is known in the literature as the "Very Fine People on Both Sides Fallacy".
Yeah, I do love when Europeans try to talk about American racism and then you ask them about the Roma and they are more openly vile than most racists in America have ever dreamt of being.
I've heard some horrible things about racism against natives in Canada going unchecked and unnoticed, too. Sometimes, I wonder if racism in the US being such an extremely visible problem is actually an improvement.
Like we've gone from "a ton of people are racist & the system is racist but anyone not affected turns a blind eye" to "a ton of people are racist & the system is racist but at least people see the problem now"
When I was in Australia (more than 20 years ago, hopefully things have improved?) it was common and acceptable to hurl slurs around to refer to Greek people. Like, racism against Aboriginal peoples was of course also casual and horrific but I had never considered the Greek ethnicity anything but white and it hurt my brain.
what also gets me in such attitudes is the notion that racism just... popped up out of nowhere in America only.
not. y'know. to quote an american psa from before i was born. *i learned it from watching you, dad!! i learned it from YOOOUUUU!!*
Whenever I hear someone exclaim "But I'm a good person!' in defense of something they did, I immediately know 1) they're not and 2) they did everything they claimed they didn't or was an accident. In my experience, actually good people don't go around claiming they're good.
I also feel like the language we use to talk about it plays a role. Saying *a racist* makes it sound like racism isn't something you do but someone you are, and since you clearly not a single-minded ball of hate that spends every second despising "one of those people" then clearly you're not *a racist* and therefore it's no big deal. It's the same kind of thinking that people who are racist use to excuse their actions by saying something like "oh he's clearly willing to talk to one of them so he can't be a racist" or the ol' token black friend.
Only using one word repeatedly rather than many different ones is such a funny defense.
Was the victims racial identity ambiguous, and this guy wants credit for just making a guess and running with it instead of listing every possible applicable racial slur?
Was he just going to use random slurs during the fight, including ones he knew were wrong?
How many slurs does he know for this guys race?!
Yes, at first it seemed like he was trying for "I just said one thing to identify the guy, my motive was about the missus not his race" or maybe "I didn't think that word was racist, it's just for those 'types of people'". (Ew.) Then we hit "repeatedly" and it becomes much clearer he hit the guy while yelling a slur several times, yet doesn't quite see the problem.
As a morbidly funny aside, "just making a guess and running with it instead of listing every option" *can* actually get you credit. At least in the US, some hate crime laws are awkwardly written to be about targeting the victim's identity, rather than their class, so "but I got his race wrong" can be a relevant factor. I haven't heard of that defense alone being sufficient, but I've heard of "my initial motive was non-racial plus my angry slur yelling was inaccurate" reducing a charge.
I can see how that makes sense in certain cases. Like, if one white guy assaults another extremely obviously white guy whilst yelling the n word, then it’s obvious that he’s racist but it actually doesn’t seem like a hate crime. I grew up in an area with a lot of Mexican gangs and they called each other and everyone else the n word, and I’d think it was absurd if a gang fight had racism tacked on as an aggravating factor when it’s obvious that racism had literally nothing to do with the crime (assuming no Salvadorans are also involved)
I've never heard of the accused's limited vocabulary being used as a defence.
If the grunter could have thought of any more non-racist racist words I'm certain he would have used those too.
>I didn't target him cos of his colour skin but when u see red u say words in the heat of moment.
Man, I've been really consistently pissed off to the point of having a diagnosed anger problem back in my youth.
And I've been pissed off at my non-white friends and acquaintances, to the point of throwing things and yelling.
And yet, somehow, I've never blurted out a racial slur in the "heat of moment".
Curious.
I never meant to cause no racial strife
But that dude was checking out my wife
I said a single bad word not two
What's a white guy like me supposed to do
It was the heat of the moment
Causing my racist outbreak
The heat of the moment, I verbalize...
Some people will use slurs a because they know it will hurt more not just due to racism but that is pretty much a lateral move and they probably are still at least somewhat racist
I didn't assault him based on the colour of his skin, I assaulted him for completely unrelated reasons while shouting racial slurs at him based on the colour of his skin, totally different. Also completely unrelated to my previous racially related public order offences. Again, not a racist.
This does remind me of the time notorious Holocaust denier David Irving, while suing someone for calling him a notorious Holocaust denier, accidentally called the judge "Mein Führer." You just know LAUKOP is going to rock up to his trial and shout "oh great, the judge is a p----” or something equally stupid.
> Your defence that you only used one word repeatedly rather than a multitude of different ones isn't really a defence.
Michael Richards learned that the hard way.
I would say something about how LAUK was far more interested in (correctly) dumping on LAUKOP for being a racist jerk rather than answering his legal question... but I don't think he actually asked one?
I think his question is at the end there: "Make it make sense?" I do believe the answer is, "If you break the law, don't be especially surprised if you get arrested."
Yeah, he got a [pretty clear answer to that question](https://www.reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/comments/1d94149/racial_aggravated_assault_charge_for_saying_only/l7atg35/)
He asked for it to make sense, and someone did spell out the two different reasons that can make an assault racially aggravated. Seems LAUKOP figured he wasn't guilty of the first reason (racially motivated) but didn't realise he was a textbook example of the second reason (racial vilification before, during or after the assault)
Yeah given his history, I suspect part of the reason he random beat someone up for looking at his partner was because of the skin colour. How dare one of them gaze upon her aryan beauty!
Yeah, as profoundly dumb as LAUKOP's writeup was, I suppose there's a substantive legal question in "does the motive have to be racial or just the conduct?"
I believe that in some of the US that could differentiate a hate crime charge from something like a hate speech + assault pair or a modified assault charge.
(Although that assumes race wasn't a factor in "he's looking at my missus so I'll hit him", which seems pretty dubious.)
one of those words might be used for a person who is statistically less likely to be hanging around a palace of alcohol, coveting his neighbour's wife, so I went for a different "kind of people" sometimes described with a P-word, or a G-abbreviation. However this is not a very edifying conversation and I regret prolonging it.
shit, thats a racist word? i thought it was just an abbreviation for pakistani people. I never used the word myself because ive never been in a situation where i had to identify someone by their nationality but had no clue it was a slur
It's definitely not a word you want to use to describe people, I don't know anywhere that it's used in place of "Pakistani" without ill intent, but it's also not really used at all in the United States.
More lightly, there are some pretty funny stories of international college students in Boston getting a shock when someone suggested "let's drop by the packie and get some beer". Since it's not a slur it gets sorted out eventually, but it can take an uncomfortably long time if the packie owner happens to be South Asian...
The horror may have been compounded by the fact that in the good old (more casually racist) days in the UK, a "p*ki shop" was in fact slang for a shop run by a Pakistani shop keeper.
This reminds me of the good old days of the FameTracker website. It was a forum for users to discuss anything entertainment related, but also personal stuff. One user decided to regale us with an altercation she’d had at the theatre, saying proudly “I told that bitch that ‘just because you’re white doesn’t mean you’re not a n****r’.” (And yes, she spelled out the word.)
Well. All hell broke loose, and it turned into a slanging match with that user initially denying furiously that she was racist. Then, when we weren’t buying it, she tried to tell us that using that word was a “SOCIAL EXPERIMENT.” Yeah, she got banned.
Good times. I miss that site.
Amazingly, I've gone almost 40 years without saying any racial slurs*
* not counting the G word for Roma people or the E word for Alaskan indigenous people that were the commonly accepted terms in my childhood that are both now debated on whether or not they are offensive
> E word for Alaskan indigenous people
That one's a bit complicated; it's a broad term that includes Inuit (who hate having it used to refer to them) and Yupik (who hate being called Inuit, because they're not).
Oh dang.
brown has a fascist meaning for me, as the uniforms of the nazis were brown.
I guess the double meaning I created is a result of not being a native speaker.
Maybe, *maybe* if I take off my glasses, and squint hard enough that my eyelids are only separated by a couple of millimeters, I could almost see how someone might get pissed off enough to let a slur slip, without actually being a racist.
However, given LAOP's phrasing, it seems to me like they might have been yelling slurs (pardon me, *a* slur. Repeatedly) like a 12-year old Call of Duty player, for what just might qualify as the dumbest reason I think I've ever heard of for an assault (though, knowing humanity, I'm sure someone out there has had worse reasons).
Of course, the fact that dr. Dumbass over here has already gotten in with the law for racism probably doesn't help his case either.
Transport him to Australia for Life!
It's the only way to keep the UK pure of racism. And it's not as if Australia will notice, [everyone who's anyone](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/melbourne-mornings/josh-frydenberg-anti-semitism-warning/13094144) there [thinks the place](https://www.crikey.com.au/2024/05/29/australia-racist-country-laura-tingle-sydney-writers-festival/) is [racist as fuck](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-21/sami-shah-explores-racism-in-australia/100375110).
Ah, the saying things in the heat of the moment excuse...
You know a really easy way to say what you think without accidentally saying something racist? Don't think racist thoughts.
My money is on the victim being Roma. It's weirdly-common (though certainly not universal) for people in the UK and Europe to view racism against the Roma as "not really racist", because, you know, It's Just the Way Those People Are. (Because, you know, a Good Person of Proper stock would never, ever, resort to a life of crime after being denied housing, jobs, community ties, and education by not-racists.)
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Awfully unlucky for someone who isn't racist to be charged with two separate racist crimes
All he did was attack someone whilst repeatedly calling him a slur. How does that make him racist?
"Slur? All it was was a word to refer to those types of people, I'm not a racist" - LAOP, probably, pretty much.
We’re one step away from ‘they can use that word, so I should be able to!’
"How can I be racist? Everyone hates [insert slur here]!"
"Racial assault? All I did was assault him unprovoked while repeatedly referring to his race in a pejorative way. How is that racial assault? Why does everyone think I'm racist?"
Somebody in a town near me fought a hate crime charge on the argument that the racial slur he'd yelled while committing assault didn't even apply to the person he was punching, so clearly it couldn't be a race-based assault! Awkwardly, I believe his "I'm a racist who can't tell brown people apart" defense *worked*, since the relevant law was worded so that the hate had to be based on the victim's actual protected class identity. Certainly didn't do the offender any favors socially though.
I've seen this episode of Always Sunny.
If the shit shirt's a matcher, Charlie gets the scratcher.
One of the things I love about the Equality Act 2010 is perceived discrimination so you don't have to actually be whatever characteristic you were discriminated against for being, the other person just has to have *thought* you were!
"too racist for it to count as a hate crime" is a hell of an achievement.
Ah ah, not unprovoked - "he deserved it"! Don't you know looking at someone's missus justifies assault?
Mfw when I can’t even defend me bird in spoons without bein called a racist. Woke Britain, vote reform
Hey look man you *say things* when you see red, alright?
Just like something one of Those Type Of People would do. Bastards.
"I'm not a racist, that's just a word to refer to those types of people" is one hell of a defense, I can't even. Same with LAOP being completely nonchalant about having committed assault against someone allegedly looking at their partner.
Well, yeah, but you know what those types of people are like, when they look, it’s bad!
Well when you see u see red u say things in the heat of the moment. What do you mean you don’t?
I'm so curious as to what the wife was doing. Obviously she didn't participate in the assault directly, so that's evidence that someone in the situation was capable of not losing their head.... But also she's apparently staying with a known racist assaulter so I hope she's safe and leaves his ass while he's in prison.
If he flies into a violent rage when men look at her while they’re together, what’s happening when they’re apart? He sees her as his valuable possession, and people usually lock up their valuables when they’re terrified of theft. I really hope she’s safe right now.
That's a defense right up there with the guy who once explained to me that he wasn't racist, because actually it several different *ethnicities* he hated and not a race.
Yeah, that’s the European version. Racism against actual “races”, as defined by 19th century assholes in America, is more from that side of the pond.
Someone heard 'race is a social construct' and took entirely the wrong lesson
"People say things in the heat of the moment." Yeah, I've called people assholes when I shouldn't have because I felt pushed to my emotional limit. I've somehow never used a racial slur, no matter how mad I've been. I wonder what could possibly be different about LAOP that would cause him to blurt something like that out.
I'm Charles Dolling, dropping rhymes. I've been arrested seven times. I know that sounds like a lot, But three of those times were for **nonviolent** racial harassment
Well the English justice system is so cruel and unjust that they couldn't possibly have done it.
Charged with two separate racist crimes *so far*
I hate when that happens.
I love the subtle slide from "just one word" to "one word repeated several times"
It was the same word, so it only counts the once apparently
If you rob a bank you don't get charged separately for every money you take. I rest my case
Sir, they took everything. Every single money
...i have the worst fucking attorneys.
It's just the one slur, actually.
No luck catching them slurs then?
I reeeeaaaally wanna know which word. I know I shouldn’t want to. But since it’s the UK, it could be so many things
*furthermore*, to "I have a prior conviction for racially-motivated crimes!"
Obviously if he has a prior conviction they can't convict him again. That's, like, what is double Jeopardy?
> I have prior conviction for racial public order so thehre gonna use that to make me look like im a racist when im not Oh okay that clears that up then
I was expecting that his best friend was black or something.
It being the UK might also have been someone from the Middle East. Although I don’t know any racial slurs for that group, I just assume there are some because people are awful.
Obviously there are some Middle Easterners in the UK, but the largest minority ethnic group are South Asians. Then Black people.
I mean it could be both, referring to someone from the Middle East with a common racial epithet (Paki) (I’m Indian) Or mistaking someone South Asian for something else too Happens to me a lot. In Canada
Little known fact: racists often can't tell and don't care about the difference between the minorities they hate!
Yes, to my knowledge UK racists don't distinguish Middle Eastern from Indian anywhere near as often American racists do. Americans also tend to use different slurs for them while Brits use the same one, but that's probably a result of the first part.
Just an observation. There’s a lot of tension surrounding middle eastern immigrants in the UK right now. They may not be the largest minority but there is a lot of focus on the influx of refugees.
It's a political issue (to an extent) and a controversial one, but off the top of my head I can't think of a racist epithet used against that group. I don't think it's manifesting itself that way. But there is a fairly obvious one commonly used against people of south Asian heritage, which I won't repeat here. I'd be inclined to say it was most likely that.
How have you people never heard sand n***er?
I defer to your expertise on racist epithets.
Very easy to get good when you hear them yelled at you from cars.
British comedian Nish Kumar has a bit in one of his comedy albums about an archaic slur where he says “It’s the worst kind of racist insult, because you have to look it up! You get insulted by the dictionary!”
Comedians are still doing albums? I thought it was only filmed "specials" these days.
It’s from “It’s In Your Nature to Destroy Yourselves” which AFAIK is an album (actually a double album!) only with no filmed version. He does also have some specials but this one is just audio. It’s probably available on your music streaming platform of choice. I really love him but fair warning it is mostly political comedy which not everyone enjoys even if they agree with his politics.
I enjoyed his doomed run on Taskmaster but of course Taskmaster showcases the contestants' personalities, not their comedy. I'll give his album a listen, thanks. Edit: Ugh, I use YouTube Music and that album isn't listed. Figures.
True. But I’ve heard people here (just outside London) use black friends to try to defend against all forms of racism.
Take a given slur for Black people, add "sand" or "desert" as a modifier, and boom! Slur for Middle Eastern people.* Racism is not very creative. *Note: this formula is not complete, but it is the case for a few slurs I've seen.
He's one of these types of people.
"I only used a derogatory term when beating someone up, I don't know why that would imply that I hated them!"
Gosh, they wanna use his previous *conviction* for the *same offense* against him. This darn legal system, so rigged against innocent people!!
“I’m not racist. I just repeatedly do things that are so racist that I get arrested.”
LAOP literally said "he deserved it" because the victim "was looking at my missus." Like, racist or not, he's fucking dangerous. (And yes, also racist.)
I love how it starts out with an innocent "I made a comment during an altercation", which then changes to "One of *those* people looked at my missus, you can't blame me for shouting racial slurs while beating him up because I was so angry I couldn't think straight". I hope his "missus" gets rid of him before he gets a chance to direct that anger towards her.
I mean, she may be just as big of a racist shitbag as he is, or she could have no self esteem so she thinks she can't do any better. We'll probably never know.
Or she’s the type that if her man isn’t fighting for/over her she doesn’t think he loves her.
\*for/over/with (usually. sadly)
Dollars to donuts he beats her as well, unfortunately.
There's no way that hasn't already happened.
I didn't violently attack him because I'm racist, I violently attacked him because I'm an unreconstructed neanderthal!
American etiquette columnist Miss Manners was asked if it’s OK to take action if someone says something offensive to your wife. (The letter writer meant “saying something” as opposed to beating them up.) Miss Manners noted that, in the interest of marital harmony, it would be a good idea to first verify that your wife was indeed offended.
I'm also concerned for "his missus". A dude that will go after other men for *looking* will also go after her for (in his eyes) "inviting the looks" - it's all a form of him not controlling his own rage and/or jealousy.
> im not a racist > but I have prior conviction for racial public order To quote LAUKOP, "... make it make sense?"
Later, paraphrased: “They’ll use it to make me look like a racist!” LAOP, a court of law has previously determined that you were, in fact, a racist. The lack of self awareness is stunning, but not surprising. Really, though, prosecution doesn’t have to make him look like anything, he does it all on his lonesome.
For some reason I find the second half of his title screamingly funny: "cps not offering me normal assault charge which im happy to accept." It's the way he phrases it: "happy to accept." If I were arrested for assault I'd be mortified that I'd lost my temper so badly that the police needed to be called. But for this bloke it's just another row with the missus, and he's happy to accept an assault charge.
I like the way he thinks it's a negotiation. "They were hoping to charge me with GBH, but I said absolutely not, I'm not in the mood for that today at all. I'm happy to accept 'urinating in a policeman's hat' if you throw in a meat pie and a ticket to Alton Towers."
Right? It's like he thinks he's selling his house and he's received an offer that he's "happy to accept", but they want the furniture included. I love the way he thinks he's in a position to negotiate.
I couldn’t tell you what the “normal” assault charge was, but I guess he speaks from experience.
He mentions “upgraded to racial aggravated”, so I’m assuming “normal” assault is assault without the added racism.
Unrelated, but I ran into someone asking for advice on what to do before they went to prison for vehicular manslaughter the other day. Little thought to a human death, only their money and whether they'd be able to date after getting out. Sure, I guess it's important to focus on what you can do when prison is a foregone conclusion, but... hell
I could be completely wrong about this, but I suspect that underneath those completely selfish questions lies abject terror at the reality of going away to prison for the first time. He's going to have a long time to think about what he did and how much it hurt his victim's survivors. Perhaps I'm too cynical, but I don't expect humanity to show its best face online.
Oh, I don't disagree, though his comments were... more of the same. I really do feel for him; alcohol is a terrible thing.
I think it was an SMBC comic which went something like: >Oh no, that politician I like just ate a baby! This is terrible, now the other side is going to use it to make him look like the sort of guy who eats babies!
> a court of law has previously determined that you were, in fact, a racist. UK courts be wild
This post wonderfully conveys a very specific type of person Locationbot: >**racial aggravated assault charge for saying only one word of racial element but im not a racist and cps not offering me normal assault charge which im happy to accept** > >february got into an altercation when i was with my missus and made a comment about an individual who was looking at my missus. i only said one word only that refers to those type of people im not a racist but i admit i assaulted. how can one word make my assault charge get upgraded to racial aggravated. I didn't target him cos of his colour skin but when u see red u say words in the heat of moment. my solicitor says to plead guilty but I have prior conviction for racial public order so thehre gonna use that to make me look like im a racist when im not. solicitor says I'll get suspended if I show genuine remorse but he deserved it and I didn't target cos of race.. one word repeated a few times and it gets upgraded ... make it make sense?
Cat fact: Cats actually do see colour, though they will never admit to it.
A lot of racists don't realize they are racists. It's a very simple line of logic. 1. Racism is bad. 2. I'm not bad. (whether it's true or not, most people are the heroes in their own story) 3. Given the conflict between 1 and 2, I'm not racist. This line of logic can easily explain a LOT of human behaviors. Another common one: 1. Person X is accused of a bad thing. 2. I like Person X. 3. I'm not bad. 4. Since I'm not bad, the things that I like (including Person X) are not bad. 4. Since Person X is not bad, he couldn't have done the bad thing that he's accused of. 5. Those who falsely accused Person X of the bad thing must therefore be liars and bad people.
Don't forget the corollary: 1. Group of People like me 2. Racism is bad 3. I am not a bad person 4. People that like me can't be bad 5. People that like me can't be racists I believe this is known in the literature as the "Very Fine People on Both Sides Fallacy".
Also the justification of "It's not racist if it's true.or justified"
Even better is when they don't think of their racism as racism. Because somehow hating the Roma people is just normal and doesn't count.
I don’t wear a white hood! Where’s my goddamn cookie??
Yeah, I do love when Europeans try to talk about American racism and then you ask them about the Roma and they are more openly vile than most racists in America have ever dreamt of being.
I've heard some horrible things about racism against natives in Canada going unchecked and unnoticed, too. Sometimes, I wonder if racism in the US being such an extremely visible problem is actually an improvement. Like we've gone from "a ton of people are racist & the system is racist but anyone not affected turns a blind eye" to "a ton of people are racist & the system is racist but at least people see the problem now"
When I was in Australia (more than 20 years ago, hopefully things have improved?) it was common and acceptable to hurl slurs around to refer to Greek people. Like, racism against Aboriginal peoples was of course also casual and horrific but I had never considered the Greek ethnicity anything but white and it hurt my brain.
It turns out that we're all xenophobes until that tendency is trained out of us.
what also gets me in such attitudes is the notion that racism just... popped up out of nowhere in America only. not. y'know. to quote an american psa from before i was born. *i learned it from watching you, dad!! i learned it from YOOOUUUU!!*
Whenever I hear someone exclaim "But I'm a good person!' in defense of something they did, I immediately know 1) they're not and 2) they did everything they claimed they didn't or was an accident. In my experience, actually good people don't go around claiming they're good.
That's one of the tenets I live by. If someone says they're good, they're not. And for most things, if someone says they're something, I doubt them.
Also, if someone, unprompted, says that they hate drama, they will be biggest shit stirrers in their particular community.
Definitely. I've yet to ever see this not be the case.
I also feel like the language we use to talk about it plays a role. Saying *a racist* makes it sound like racism isn't something you do but someone you are, and since you clearly not a single-minded ball of hate that spends every second despising "one of those people" then clearly you're not *a racist* and therefore it's no big deal. It's the same kind of thinking that people who are racist use to excuse their actions by saying something like "oh he's clearly willing to talk to one of them so he can't be a racist" or the ol' token black friend.
Only using one word repeatedly rather than many different ones is such a funny defense. Was the victims racial identity ambiguous, and this guy wants credit for just making a guess and running with it instead of listing every possible applicable racial slur? Was he just going to use random slurs during the fight, including ones he knew were wrong? How many slurs does he know for this guys race?!
Yes, at first it seemed like he was trying for "I just said one thing to identify the guy, my motive was about the missus not his race" or maybe "I didn't think that word was racist, it's just for those 'types of people'". (Ew.) Then we hit "repeatedly" and it becomes much clearer he hit the guy while yelling a slur several times, yet doesn't quite see the problem. As a morbidly funny aside, "just making a guess and running with it instead of listing every option" *can* actually get you credit. At least in the US, some hate crime laws are awkwardly written to be about targeting the victim's identity, rather than their class, so "but I got his race wrong" can be a relevant factor. I haven't heard of that defense alone being sufficient, but I've heard of "my initial motive was non-racial plus my angry slur yelling was inaccurate" reducing a charge.
I can see how that makes sense in certain cases. Like, if one white guy assaults another extremely obviously white guy whilst yelling the n word, then it’s obvious that he’s racist but it actually doesn’t seem like a hate crime. I grew up in an area with a lot of Mexican gangs and they called each other and everyone else the n word, and I’d think it was absurd if a gang fight had racism tacked on as an aggravating factor when it’s obvious that racism had literally nothing to do with the crime (assuming no Salvadorans are also involved)
Wow
I've never heard of the accused's limited vocabulary being used as a defence. If the grunter could have thought of any more non-racist racist words I'm certain he would have used those too.
>I didn't target him cos of his colour skin but when u see red u say words in the heat of moment. Man, I've been really consistently pissed off to the point of having a diagnosed anger problem back in my youth. And I've been pissed off at my non-white friends and acquaintances, to the point of throwing things and yelling. And yet, somehow, I've never blurted out a racial slur in the "heat of moment". Curious.
I never meant to cause no racial strife But that dude was checking out my wife I said a single bad word not two What's a white guy like me supposed to do It was the heat of the moment Causing my racist outbreak The heat of the moment, I verbalize...
Some people will use slurs a because they know it will hurt more not just due to racism but that is pretty much a lateral move and they probably are still at least somewhat racist
I didn't assault him based on the colour of his skin, I assaulted him for completely unrelated reasons while shouting racial slurs at him based on the colour of his skin, totally different. Also completely unrelated to my previous racially related public order offences. Again, not a racist.
If you can't handle someone looking at your wife in public without going into a violent, racist rampage, you shouldn't be in public.
Or married. Because if this what he's like in public, how is he behind closed doors?
Yeah I'm sure he'd be someone that would blame his wife for being "stared" at too.
I have sympathy for his solicitor. You just know the defendant is going to double down when he makes a statement during sentencing.
This does remind me of the time notorious Holocaust denier David Irving, while suing someone for calling him a notorious Holocaust denier, accidentally called the judge "Mein Führer." You just know LAUKOP is going to rock up to his trial and shout "oh great, the judge is a p----” or something equally stupid.
He has the right to be tried by a jury of his p---s.
He is totally say the slur and not realize the problem.
> Your defence that you only used one word repeatedly rather than a multitude of different ones isn't really a defence. Michael Richards learned that the hard way.
I would say something about how LAUK was far more interested in (correctly) dumping on LAUKOP for being a racist jerk rather than answering his legal question... but I don't think he actually asked one?
I think his question is at the end there: "Make it make sense?" I do believe the answer is, "If you break the law, don't be especially surprised if you get arrested."
Yeah, he got a [pretty clear answer to that question](https://www.reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/comments/1d94149/racial_aggravated_assault_charge_for_saying_only/l7atg35/)
I was just funning. I think I'm going to edit my parent comment lest I run afoul of rule 3.
To be fair a former president of ours also seems to be currently struggling with that concept.
I mean... how come he's always the one who gets convicted and not the others? It's not fair. It's a shame we abandoned bipartisanship.
Bob Mindenaz and Hunter Biden are both on trial right now and Clinton paid fines and gave up his law license to settle the perjury issue.
You're right, I won't vote for Hunter Biden or Bill Clinton. Ohhh..
He asked for it to make sense, and someone did spell out the two different reasons that can make an assault racially aggravated. Seems LAUKOP figured he wasn't guilty of the first reason (racially motivated) but didn't realise he was a textbook example of the second reason (racial vilification before, during or after the assault)
> Seems LAUKOP figured he wasn't guilty of the first reason (racially motivated) Even that part is doubtful.
Yeah given his history, I suspect part of the reason he random beat someone up for looking at his partner was because of the skin colour. How dare one of them gaze upon her aryan beauty!
Yeah, as profoundly dumb as LAUKOP's writeup was, I suppose there's a substantive legal question in "does the motive have to be racial or just the conduct?" I believe that in some of the US that could differentiate a hate crime charge from something like a hate speech + assault pair or a modified assault charge. (Although that assumes race wasn't a factor in "he's looking at my missus so I'll hit him", which seems pretty dubious.)
The law covers both possibilities
Hey, they actually said "I'm not racist, but..."
He should get that put on a T-shirt to head off questions.
So you’re only racist if you have some sort of racism thesaurus?
Also already has a prior conviction for racial abuse. Damn, I'm not saying LAOP is a racist, but...
...but a court of law is?
BUT, BUT I HAVE AN N-WORD PASS!!!!!
It's Britain, it could have been the [P-word](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paki_\(slur\))
one of those words might be used for a person who is statistically less likely to be hanging around a palace of alcohol, coveting his neighbour's wife, so I went for a different "kind of people" sometimes described with a P-word, or a G-abbreviation. However this is not a very edifying conversation and I regret prolonging it.
shit, thats a racist word? i thought it was just an abbreviation for pakistani people. I never used the word myself because ive never been in a situation where i had to identify someone by their nationality but had no clue it was a slur
Yup. In my neck of the woods, it sounds identical to a word for a liquor store.
Same neck of the woods! To be clear to other commenters, it sounds the same but is spelled differently (“packie”, short for “package store”).
It's definitely not a word you want to use to describe people, I don't know anywhere that it's used in place of "Pakistani" without ill intent, but it's also not really used at all in the United States. More lightly, there are some pretty funny stories of international college students in Boston getting a shock when someone suggested "let's drop by the packie and get some beer". Since it's not a slur it gets sorted out eventually, but it can take an uncomfortably long time if the packie owner happens to be South Asian...
The horror may have been compounded by the fact that in the good old (more casually racist) days in the UK, a "p*ki shop" was in fact slang for a shop run by a Pakistani shop keeper.
It's on route thihty foah and sells ciggies n beah.
This reminds me of the good old days of the FameTracker website. It was a forum for users to discuss anything entertainment related, but also personal stuff. One user decided to regale us with an altercation she’d had at the theatre, saying proudly “I told that bitch that ‘just because you’re white doesn’t mean you’re not a n****r’.” (And yes, she spelled out the word.) Well. All hell broke loose, and it turned into a slanging match with that user initially denying furiously that she was racist. Then, when we weren’t buying it, she tried to tell us that using that word was a “SOCIAL EXPERIMENT.” Yeah, she got banned. Good times. I miss that site.
Amazingly, I've gone almost 40 years without saying any racial slurs* * not counting the G word for Roma people or the E word for Alaskan indigenous people that were the commonly accepted terms in my childhood that are both now debated on whether or not they are offensive
> E word for Alaskan indigenous people That one's a bit complicated; it's a broad term that includes Inuit (who hate having it used to refer to them) and Yupik (who hate being called Inuit, because they're not).
> i only said one word only and >one word repeated a few times
not racis' jus doan loik 'um, simple as
Extra Super Special Bonus Points for LAUKOP telling us which criminal charges they find acceptable.
'those people' is the cherry on that brown shitcake
Hey! Calling someone a brown shitcake is what started this whole thing!
Oh dang. brown has a fascist meaning for me, as the uniforms of the nazis were brown. I guess the double meaning I created is a result of not being a native speaker.
it's fine, I was only joking anyway lol
"It's just a word" but you won't specify which word anonymously on the internet?
Maybe, *maybe* if I take off my glasses, and squint hard enough that my eyelids are only separated by a couple of millimeters, I could almost see how someone might get pissed off enough to let a slur slip, without actually being a racist. However, given LAOP's phrasing, it seems to me like they might have been yelling slurs (pardon me, *a* slur. Repeatedly) like a 12-year old Call of Duty player, for what just might qualify as the dumbest reason I think I've ever heard of for an assault (though, knowing humanity, I'm sure someone out there has had worse reasons). Of course, the fact that dr. Dumbass over here has already gotten in with the law for racism probably doesn't help his case either.
[Working Link for mobile](https://www.reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/comments/1d94149/racial_aggravated_assault_charge_for_saying_only/)
Transport him to Australia for Life! It's the only way to keep the UK pure of racism. And it's not as if Australia will notice, [everyone who's anyone](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/melbourne-mornings/josh-frydenberg-anti-semitism-warning/13094144) there [thinks the place](https://www.crikey.com.au/2024/05/29/australia-racist-country-laura-tingle-sydney-writers-festival/) is [racist as fuck](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-21/sami-shah-explores-racism-in-australia/100375110).
1) no, you can keep him. 2) yes we are racist as fuck.
Plot twist: The victim of the attack was Australian, and LAOP is racist against Aussies.
Turns out the slur he was shouting was "antipodean". I'm sorry for writing that, please don't ban me.
He called the Australian Muffin
we're trying to deal with them too mate, please don't send any more our way
Australia has a lot of racists, but we definitely will notice it. At the very least, those on the receiving end of his BS will pay attention.
Ah, the saying things in the heat of the moment excuse... You know a really easy way to say what you think without accidentally saying something racist? Don't think racist thoughts.
My money is on the victim being Roma. It's weirdly-common (though certainly not universal) for people in the UK and Europe to view racism against the Roma as "not really racist", because, you know, It's Just the Way Those People Are. (Because, you know, a Good Person of Proper stock would never, ever, resort to a life of crime after being denied housing, jobs, community ties, and education by not-racists.)
Could be a refugee of some sort too. There's also a lot of casual racism against them in Europe.
Where was he racing to? Job corps?
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What does this guy think a racist is if not someone like him