Living in a society brings us in contact with many people. Some of those people look different from how we look. Some of those people speak differently than we speak.
Some of us deal with that reality better than others.
A British woman’s racist, profanity-filled diatribe was captured on video by another passenger on the train on which she was a passenger. A train filled with folks who looked and spoke differently than she.
Now that the video has gone viral the police have taken the woman into custody “for her own protection”. She has received death threats. Her mental health is being questioned.
The video is painful to watch and to hear.
But here is what struck me as I watched: she is relatively calm as she spews her hate. The small boy on her lap (presumably her son) shows no emotion.
The reactions of those in the train with her, however, are quite different. One woman, who by her looks would be a target of this woman’s comments, yells at her quite angrily; another man stands up, seemingly ready to physically confront her. He is comforted by a woman as he sits back down in his seat. Another woman, identifying herself as being the same background as the ranting woman, tells her very angrily to stop. The angry tension within the entire train is evident on the faces, body positions, and words of those around her.
The woman who is instigating all of this continues on, remaining relatively calm through it all.
Although I couldn’t read many, there a many hate-filled comments on the youtube site.
How depressing to realize how many people have such hatred within themselves. Unbelievable that this hatred is just below the surface in so many folks. It’s no wonder that our world is such a mess.
Just My Life 
The huge influx of immigrants into the UK has caused some hard feelings, just as it has in other parts of Europe and in the US. Because my daughter lives in London, I’m there a lot, and I’ve even had an African cab driver railing about the “troublemaking Jamaicans.” That woman was an extreme case of what a lot of people believe. She declared her hate publicly. Most people do this in private. The tragedy is that her son will grow up being taught these things, and the cycle will continue.
By: Life in the Boomer Lane on December 2, 2011
at 10:41 pm
Yes, this hatred seems to be rooted in fear and feeling a way of life being threatened by newcomers. But I also blame the media (at least in the US) for fanning the flames of this fear into hatred. The right-wing “news” networks, by publicly encouraging these thoughts to be vocalized, have legitimized such hatred.
By: chlost on December 3, 2011
at 12:59 pm
I’m speechless … and feel very sorry that her little boy is stuck with all that. Even if he does manage to break that cycle and grow up to be tolerant, living around so much negativity is horrible. 😦
By: dragonfae on December 3, 2011
at 6:50 am
Yes, it is particularly sad that hatred is passed on to the next generation.
By: chlost on December 3, 2011
at 1:01 pm
I’m with Fae. How sad for that little boy to end growing up with her as a parent and role model. It’s so disturbing that she is just so calm as she spews that garbage. I suppose this stuff has been happening for ever, but I much preffered growing up in an age before You Tube and cell phone cameras so we were at least shielded from crap like that.
By: TheIdiotSpeaketh on December 3, 2011
at 10:10 am
How very, very sad. The woman clearly needs some kind of intervention. I’m surprised but thankful that no one attacked her. Her little one must have heard it many times to sit so calmly through her diatribe. I wonder what kind of hateful words she grew up listening to.
By: yearstricken on December 3, 2011
at 11:08 am
You’re right, she learned it somewhere, too. Do you think that being on the receiving end of hatred will make an impact?
By: chlost on December 3, 2011
at 1:02 pm
I think if people are hateful to her, it will only feed her hatred. It’s a terrible cycle of people transferring hate. But I think it is possible to change. Not easy, but possible.
By: yearstricken on December 8, 2011
at 9:16 pm
Agreed–the fact that the silent, innocent boy was sitting on her lap makes the situation a million times more heinous than it already is–such a horrible shame.
By: reelingintheyears.wordpress.com on December 4, 2011
at 6:42 pm
I thought it was interesting that he was so calm during all of the exchange. Almost spooky.
By: chlost on December 5, 2011
at 11:04 am
I was watching the face of the ranting woman – she had a tic-like mouth movement. Maybe even tardive dyskensia from antipsychotics? At any rate, there really was no sense in others lowering themselves to her level. I think the best thing would have been if she’d been met by a wall of indifference.
And oh, her poor child.
By: secret agent woman on December 8, 2011
at 8:33 pm
I didn’t watch the video. I normally don’t censor for self-protection but this time I thought I should. I knew a child of a mother who was very very angry and often engaged in diatribes of a different sort. I also found it spooky how silent the child became, thinking the child had practically disassociated to take themselves out of that space. I have to wonder if it’s a survival tactic the children of such people learn. Like yearstricken, I’m thankful that others didn’t resort to violence. It can further legitimate the hate. Sigh.
By: Rose on January 5, 2012
at 8:58 pm