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Selective Petrol Sales

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Anonymous

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As it's almost the 12 month anniversary of the petrol crisis it reminded me of an urban myth that surfaced over those couple of weeks.
In our town we have a number of Asian owned petrol stations and while the shortage was low rumour spread throughout the pubs and clubs in the town that someone or other had been refused petrol because they weren't Asian.
I know the local newspaper tried to find out just which petrol station it was and people came up with a number of locations.
Predictably all were selling fuel to anyone who wanted it!!!
Anyone else heard this one???

:confused: :confused: :confused:
 
Oooooh, that one sounds very BNP-esque. And it was known the BNP were infiltrating the fuel protests for their own evil ends...
 
I heard the same rumour, but it was in Bolton, not Bury.
 
im sorry about this m8 but to me that sound a bit racist and although its just a rumour being repeted and you didnt start the rumour the passing on of it can cause serious reprocusions look at the recent riots in bradford all because of some stupid ill informed racists and those are the kind of rumours they spread and i dont think that urban legend or not this being a place that teenages who are very impressionable can visit, is the place to post im not haveing a go or flaming you im just letting you know im a little offended and im not asian
sorry m8
casio
 
You notice we're in a thread called "Urban legends and Folklore"? And that the original post made it clear that the rumour was untrue?

Just because something is distasteful or offensive, it does not follow that we shouldn't record or report it. Would you prefer that the holocaust was kept under wraps and not discussed because talking about it might inflame situations somewhere?

Besides, I would actually contend that racism is almost completely founded on urban legends and folklore. Like the 'tidal wave' of immigrants that we are told is 'swamping' us... or the perpetuation of loony myths about the use of cats in Chinese takeaways... or the 'fact' (and I have been told this by several otherwise intelligent folk) that Asians use their fingers instead of toilet paper, and that they always shake hands with their right as a consequence.

All baseless, fantastical, nasty, and virulent to be sure - and certainly not to go unchallenged - but it proves that folklore isn't always just about amusement and gullibility. Quite often, there is a sinister reactionary message behind it. This example of petrol crisis is a very good, contemporary example of a racist myth. What good will not discussing it do, exactly? You can bet your arse that a million forums are out there somewhere where this legend is being reported as fact, so it is our absolute moral duty to try and reach the truth behind such things. Stay quiet if you prefer, but that won't make the idiots propogating this stuff go away, will it?

All in all, I think it is perfectly valid to discuss Urban Legends of this sort. I think it would be more dangerous to let them go uncorrected - which the original poster made sure he didn't.

Chill your boots, man!
 
Aye, the way I read Philfort's original message was that he was trying to debunk a racist myth and show it up for the ridiculous lie it is, rather than "spread" it. The Urban Legend internet resource Snopes includes loads of very nasty racist/sexist/homophobic myths, the intention to be to discredit them.

I take on board what Casio's saying, but I think the users of this board are intelligent enough to appreciate Philfort's intention.
 
i said i wasnt haveing a go or flaming i just thought that in my opinion this wasnt the sort of thing that should be posted here thats all i do see the relevance of it all as an urban myth but just look at nothern ireland this morning people threw a pipe bomb at small children on their way to school i didnt see this so for all i know its an urban myth but it is more than likley true now no-one would say go on chuck another but if no-one says other wise then this sort of behaviour eventually becomes accectable as in the main have a lot of things im not saying cover them up or that they should turn a blind eye to things like the halocaust what im saying is urban myth or not if a 14-15yr old in a highly racially potentially explosive area such as bradford then if they read it and repeat it to one friend and they repeat it then the area would soon become over raught and potentially dangerous or even riotus i know this is an extreme way of looking at things but you never know

i know ive brought thing in to the conversation that didnt need to be brought up like the ireland thing and i apolagise for that and for the fact that it reads like a rant- its not ment to and im sorry for that too, im not having ago at anyone with this or flaming anyone intentialy or un intentialy with the above statement its just when youve seen the conciquences of the things which went down in bradford during the riots it does give you a strong moral opinion and im sorry to anyone ive offended with any of the statements ive made but i do feel strongly about this sort of thing as im sure you would if you lived through the night after night riots in bradford year on year on year and i think it show in the post i made

casio
 
Casio - I think we all get what you mean. Obviously, sensitive issues need handling sensitively and I don't think anyone would disagree with that part of your sentiment. We're all agreed that rumours like this are unpleasant and actively regressive in their sentiment. And if you have lived through the race riots, then your feelings have more pertinence.

But I also read your comments as being a suggestion that we shouldn't discuss it at all. To quote Edmund Burke: "For evil to triumph, good men have to do nothing."

If we can't say in this forum - a place with rationalism at its centre - that a myth is just a load of racist nonsense, and point out why, then where is our putative 14/15 yr old kid going to get their information... a BNP website? Some weirdo fringe fundamentalist organisation? We need to speak up, and say to anyone reading this: "think about it".

I would say that staying quiet, and letting dangerous myths propagate unchecked is the surest way to long-term misery. Racist myths are a boil that need to be lanced. Too much hatred and distrust is stirred up through this kind of stupid mythology and the deployment of subtle racist tropes.

Sure - some people will misinterpret what is written here, but the good that we can do by laying bare the fabric of such myths surely outweighs the chance of the odd misrepresentation...
 
lets have a heated debate -(mrs merton)lol

fair point m8
it's just something i feel VERY strongly about as i think that the posts demonstrated, i wasnt saying they should be kept off the boards just the wording of such posts to be thought about extremely carefully due to the reprocusions that ill informed and biased opinions can cause no i know that the opinions i have posted can be construed as biased but its a biased in a way of neutrality -neither racist nor non racist no thats not true i would say the posts i made were biased against racism
i take on board your point of view and hope you do the same
casio
 
Jeeeez, the last thing I wanted to do was to upset anyone Casio and I apologise if I did offend you.
I do appreciate your point but like Carps and Evilsprout have mentioned my intention was to debunk such nonsense, and dangerous nonsense it is too.
I too feel we shouldn't hold back on a myth subject because it is controversial in some way.
The story will be passed on nevertheless and it would be totally irresponsible to just let it circulate and gain credibility by not discussing it.
I do understand your concerns though!!!
 
fair enough m8
i wasnt having a go at you though or saying dont post that sort of thing just becareful with the way of wording things like that
ie
tomato
tomato
both are spelt the same both mean the same but can be said differently
thats all i ment
casio
 
On a general note, isn't it just as dangerous --and contrary to good, Fortean practise-- to dismiss an unpleasant rumour as untrue, simply because the alternative is too unpalatable to contemplate?

Surely our intention should be not to discredit such a rumour out of hand, but to uncover the facts at it's roots and the seed from whence it sprung.

To allow an insidious myth to propagate unchallenged would be irresponsible; but to allow a dangerous truth to persist because we lack the stomach even to question it's veracity borders on the criminal.


Mirar.
 
Fair point. But as I mentioned in my first posting in this instance the local newspaper received a number of locations and discovered that all of them were selling petrol to anyone who called.
 
i think we (mainly me) all have let this thread get a bit out of hand and think after the terrible happenings in america which in my opinion put all the petty arguing of right or not right to post in to perspective and in my opinion i think its about time to close this thread and if a mod wont do it then i'll make a start
this is my last post in this thread
i hope you all do the same not out of being forced but out of respect for the dead and their families
thankyou
casio
 
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