Racism is in the eye of the victim not the perpetrator

The ABE Nation takes a hit:

HMV have withdrawn 'Anyone But England' banners from its Scottish stores after complaints to police that they were inciting racial hatred.

The high street chain put up large window displays and stocked T-shirts featuring the slogan 'ABE' in the run-up to the World Cup.

Two opposing views:

However, they were besieged by calls from angry members of the public and the Campaign for an English Parliament (CEP) made a complaint to police in Fife that the company were inciting racial hatred.

An officer from Fife Constabulary visited an HMV store in former Prime Minister Gordon Brown's constituency of Kirkcaldy earlier this week and bosses quickly agreed to remove the banners from all their stores north of the border.

"Racism is unacceptable no matter who it is directed against, including English people."

Mr Parr said HMV's decision to stock the ABE shirts and make window displays during the World Cup was 'criminally irresponsible'

"There has been a lot of attacks on English people in Scotland during previous football tournaments and anti-English racism remains a problem.

"There is enough tension around the World Cup without a big national company like HMV stirring it up."

versus:

Tam Ferry, a spokesman for the Association of Tartan Army Clubs, said: 'This is just political correctness gone mad again.

"Football is all about rivalry and having a bit of banter. Have the police got nothing better to do than take away a bit of fun from people?

"There's bigger problems in this country that they should be dealing with rather than this."

A good rule of thumb, in cases like this, is always to give the benefit of the doubt to the opinion of victim (rather than the justifier/apologist) of the alleged racism. So, correct decision by HMV.