Oprah Swiss Racism Row

[icyfroth]

Good morning all

A Swiss luxury boutique denied any wrongdoing Friday after US chat show queen Oprah Winfrey claimed she had been the subject of racism when a shop assistant allegedly refused to show her an expensive handbag.

Oprah's widely publicised claim comes amid a row over racism in Switzerland, where a move to ban asylum seekers from some public facilities including swimming pools and gyms has sparked a storm of protest.

Oprah Swiss Racism Row

She did not directly describe the incident as racist, but recounted it after telling King of a "racist moment" in New York years ago when she and her hairdresser were refused entry to a luxury store which had been robbed previously by two black people.

Switzerland takes in more asylum seekers than any other European country as a proportion of total population -- four or five times more than France, Italy or Germany.

and we think we've got it bad

But over the past three decades, Swiss voters have regularly backed tougher asylum laws, most recently in a plebiscite in June that removed desertion from the military as grounds for receiving a safe haven.

sounds like a good move

[katydidthat]

As a skinny white woman in her 50s, I would be totally surprised and appalled if I went into a shop and asked to see an item and was told that I didn't have enough money to pay for it, and could therefore not look at it.  

If there was any concern that my gentle handling of the bag might hurt it, I would seriously be questioning the quality and the price of the bag ... does anyone want to buy a shonky bag for $38,000?  

As a person who ran a store which sold jewellery ... I encouraged all customers to hold and fondle the jewellery ... no matter the cost ... if an item was going to fall apart or be damaged, I'd rather it happened in the shop rather than after the customer took it home.  

You can't tell who is rich or poor ... you can't judge your customers by their clothes, or their colour.  

[topsidesoul]

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@lightningdance wrote:
The severe backlash against illegal immigrants & the soft immigration laws have made some countries in Europe a nightmare for the original inhabitants. France. Nederlands, Spain, Switzerland & the UK have massive social problems due to this phenomenom.

They are realising that it gt totally out of control under soft Socialist regimes &now they are paying a very high price for social unrest & a massive immigrant underclass who are now filled with resentment.

This has been a grave concern of mine for the last 6 years when Labor allowed oner 50.000 illegals to sail in & we are seeing very early signs of the huge mistake that is.

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Please show us numbers of people arriving by plane.

I would say many many more.

These problems are already here while we are whining about 'boat arrivals'.

Suburbs that were once made up of  whiet Australians are now dominated by another and these people did not all come by boat.

So while we are complaining about economic refugees coming in the back door, economic refugees are coming in the front door in many more numbers .

Cannot drive my car without someone from another country nearly crashing into me. Apparantly turning a car and staying in one lane is new to someone who has managed to get a full license or a taxi license.

Had a family member abused by an Indian 'Aussie post contractor' when he was asked not to drive onto our lawn.

If those in parliment were really caring about society, rather than praying on peoples bias for votes or to throw mud , they would address this fact.

[tommy.irene]

Name one RICH or famous person that posts on the Ebay threads... this is the middle class and poor  fourm..

[cherry*135]

Yes, there are lots of high fashion shops that would snub customers judging by their clothes.

If you have to ask the price, you can't afford it type shops.

Car dealers can be the same, they just don't let anyone look at/test drive mega expensive cars.

[cherry*135]

Is this the Oprah mega expensive handbag thread or the refugee/immigration debate thread?

[cherry*135]

As a skinny white woman in her 50s, I would be totally surprised and appalled if I went into a shop and asked to see an item and was told that I didn't have enough money to pay for it, and could therefore not look at it.  

Would you actually do that though? Go into a Louis V shop and ask to see a handbag worth $1000's that you know you could not afford?

[izabsmiling]

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@am*3 wrote:

Is this the Oprah mega expensive handbag thread or the refugee/immigration debate thread?

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________________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Am3,

read the opening post... Oprah, bags ,racism and asylum seekers are mentioned .

[patchoo78]

Did she go in looking  like this?                                    Or like this?

This is very important; the implications of which we don't have time for in this thread.

You know those t-shirts that say "Some dudes marry dudes, get over it!"? They probably should make one

that says "Some people are racists, get over it"

Complete non-issue

[izabsmiling]

Patchoo wrote:This is very important; the implications of which we don't have time for in this thread.

It's not a very important implication as far as I'm concerned 

though why do you say that we don't have time for it in this thread ?

or is it more that you have decided that it is all a non issue ?

[polksaladallie]

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@lightningdance wrote:

This has been a grave concern of mine for the last 6 years when Labor allowed oner 50.000 illegals to sail in & we are seeing very early signs of the huge mistake that is.

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Most asylum seekers arive by plane.  Why do you never mention them?