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York Vision has been made aware of a large group chat of politics students, described as being an unofficial course chat, in which “blatantly racist” jokes, alongside deeply problematic images, were shared. This resulted in other members calling out the “way out of line” messages.
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Three students were involved in sending the messages, all of whom had nicknames pertaining to political leaders past and present. One of the students, known as ‘Uncle Dave’, a supposed reference to David Cameron, described Hitler as a “rational consumer”, prompting ‘Julius’ to call him a “utility maximiser”. ‘Mrs Farage’, the other student involved took the conversation further, saying he “was a real go getter”.
The conversation continued when Mrs Farage shared a meme with the words “I went black, he never came back”.
In response, Uncle Dave shared a 1-10 scale titled “Using the scale provided, rate how much you like kids”. The scale ranged from the McCann family, the parents of the missing Madeline McCann, at 1, to the late sex offender, Jimmy Saville at 10.
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Mrs Farage followed up with a photo of Harvey Price, the disabled son of Katie Price, who has recently been subjected to intense public mocking. In this photo, he is seen wearing a jumper with the words “mommy’s little spastic” overlaid, as well as a photoshopped image of “Harveyboy Tannedspastics” edited from the popular Haribo sweet.
The Holocaust then became a feature, with Uncle Dave sharing a picture of Gordon Ramsey, the television personality known for his intimidating cooking style, shouting at Hitler “put them back in the fucking oven! They’re so undercooked they’re writing fucking diaries!”, referencing the late Anne Frank.
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Such chat continued, with Uncle Dave sending an image of Hitler with the text “I burned SIX MILLION calories in 4 years. Whats my secret? Check out this free shoah video”, and then an image of Harvey Price with the words “Whats black and screams? Harvey Price answering an iron”.
Julius tried to “lighten this up”, sending various pictures including a screenshot of Minecraft with the caption “Robinwilliams was slain by Robinwilliams”, a reference to the late actors untimely death, which appears to trivialise suicide.
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Dominique Samuels, a first year politics student, condemned the jokes, and responding to Vision’s request for a comment Samuels said, “I’d just like to say that I woke up horrified to these disgusting messages and I just could not stand by idly and let such disgusting things about disabled people, black people and the Holocaust be condoned as if those jokes were appropriate, because nobody else seemed brave enough to actually speak out. I’m glad that once I did speak out, many people in the chat were there to support me and condemn the things said.”
Others in the group chat echoed her concerns regarding the “distasteful” jokes, saying “I’m sorry I know it happened earlier but I can’t stay quiet on it, those things were absolutely disgusting and distasteful. … Tbh I think they need to be deleted and if anything like that is posted again then you’ll probably get reported. I’m sorry to get involved but I can’t just sit back and watch people get away with this kind of blatant racist and poking fun at a child with disabilities.”
At this point, Mrs Farage was then removed from the group, and Uncle Dave left it.
Another student commented, “as BAME officer of my college this is disgusting to see, therefore I will be reporting this too alongside Dominique Samuels”.
Samuels finished, “it is truly disappointing that in this day and age such issues are still ongoing within our society, most notably amongst our young people, which demonstrates that much more is needed to be done. The two main people involved I have reported to the University and I am confident that the correct action will be taken.”
Due to the ongoing complaint, Vision has agreed not to reveal the real names of those involved so as not to influence or prejudice the investigation.
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A University of York spokesperson said: “The University has a zero-tolerance policy towards racist, sexist or bigoted behaviour. Any students who are found to have breached the University’s code of conduct will face disciplinary measures.
“We are committed to promoting diversity and equality on campus and creating a positive environment which is fair, welcoming and inclusive.”
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Isn’t it a bit too much to report these students for what they joke about in their spare time? If it’s an unofficial chat among friends, I don’t see how the university can feel the need to shut it down by fining them. I definitely see the connection between ‘inappropriate jokes’ and acceptance of racism down the road, but the fact that this person reported the matter so quickly is unbelievable to me. I guess we should all be afraid of making any kind of joke in the private sphere now.