Why is?

[dieweener]

I have a black friend who has been going to Glastonbury for years, but every year refuses to camp, so goes home every night (luckily she lives close).

Sounds ridiculous, but maybe it is true, for some reason black people don't like to camp.

[mandypants]

I love camping, as do a small minority OF the minority, lol.

Edited June 3, 2009 by mandypants

[Ed209]

That's one of the things that was brilliant about having Jay-Z there last year. It was still very white but I noticed a considerable increase in the number of different ethnicities at glasto. Made a really nice and welcomed change.

[eFestivals]

You mean black?

doh. Indeed I did.

[dieweener]

Perhaps that's exactly it! It could be proportional, after all, when most of us are at home we are in the minority in our love of festivals and camping in the mud! Makes perfect sense really.

[eFestivals]

I have a black friend who has been going to Glastonbury for years, but every year refuses to camp, so goes home every night (luckily she lives close).

Loubie....?

If so, she broke her camping duck last year.

[pie_and_a_pint]

Funny that people are mentioning the fear of camping thing in relation to this - I was in a meeting earlier this week at work with the diversity team, and we were chatting about holidays. Two (Asian) women there were really excited when I said I was going to Glastonbury - but they both said they loved watching in on TV but could never imagine camping for even one night becuase it was 'terrifying' and 'horrible'. I do wonder if there is a link between the white middle class crowd at festivals and the white middle class crowd at Brownies, Guides and Scouts...

[mandypants]

Oh and if the majority are middle class then I'm in my own little minority, being very much NOT middle class, having lived on a council estate for 18 years

[abu hamster]

Whilst dressed as Father Christmas I got hugged by a group of really cute Japanese girls!

Didnt notice any difference either way because of the JayZ factor!

[dieweener]

Funny that people are mentioning the fear of camping thing in relation to this - I was in a meeting earlier this week at work with the diversity team, and we were chatting about holidays. Two (Asian) women there were really excited when I said I was going to Glastonbury - but they both said they loved watching in on TV but could never imagine camping for even one night becuase it was 'terrifying' and 'horrible'. I do wonder if there is a link between the white middle class crowd at festivals and the white middle class crowd at Brownies, Guides and Scouts...

[pedmills]

Loubie....?

If so, she broke her camping duck last year.

[.jay.]

i would say the ethnicity of the crowd at glasto reflects the nation on the whole myself.

[pie_and_a_pint]

I bet it's cus of Scouts and Rainbows and Guides and all the other stuff. Even if you weren't in it, you had mates who were saying how good the camping trips were.

[eFestivals]

Umm...unless this is a nickname I have not heard then thats a different person. The girl I'm on about is called Lauren.

ahhh, different person then. There was a fair chance it wasn't, that part of Somerset is hardly any sort of ethnic ghetto. .

[.jay.]

I have a black friend who has been going to Glastonbury for years, but every year refuses to camp, so goes home every night (luckily she lives close).

Sounds ridiculous, but maybe it is true, for some reason black people don't like to camp.

Edited June 3, 2009 by .jay.

[pedmills]

Jesus Christ that's brilliant!

nothing to do with the fact she lives close by at all then no?

even if she didn't camp because she didn't like camping i would never then even entertain the idea that it must be a black thing.

as for the general mood this thread has taken and not picking out any posts or members in particular i genuinely am amazed by some peoples totally inability to see past the colour of their friends and instead of asking just make assumptions.

i mean come on is there really such a thing as a black thing or asian thing etc? why do we seem to so easily think that individuality goes out the window when race and colour is involved.

i would say the amount of people who genuinely like to go camping are in the minority regardless of race or colour i know out of all my friends i would say over three quarters would prefer not to camp if given a choice.

[stuartbert two hats]

But it might possibly be a valid point, even if its just because more white people went to scouts etc

[pedmills]

When in hole, stop digging

[eFestivals]

i mean come on is there really such a thing as a black thing or asian thing etc? why do we seem to so easily think that individuality goes out the window when race and colour is involved.

does anyone genuinely think you can take a huge group of people of varying background and class etc who only hve one thing in common "the colour of their skin" and you can point to them and say "they don't like blah blah blah" is there genuinely people out there that think this is not only ok but plausible?

but there's more to what they have in common than just the colour of their skin - there's culture too. And very many non-whites have different ideas of what they consider to be fun than whites do.

I live in a city with a relatively high non-white population (Bristol). Yet when I'm out and about in town, the places that I tend to go don't have anything like the same ethnic mix as the city as a whole does - (as a generalisation) the whites do what whites like to do, while others are very obviously doing something different.

[staggerlee]

I remember saying this to my friend loads last year. Doesn't bother me either way really just find it strange and wonder why. As Neil said, is it a matter of culture or are the majority of black and Asian people unintentionally priced out by the festival? The number of black or Asian people I saw last year was extremely small, however this year an Asian friend is staying in my tent.

[staggerlee]

but there's more to what they have in common than just the colour of their skin - there's culture too. And very many non-whites have different ideas of what they consider to be fun than whites do.

I live in a city with a relatively high non-white population (Bristol). Yet when I'm out and about in town, the places that I tend to go don't have anything like the same ethnic mix as the city as a whole does - (as a generalisation) the whites do what whites like to do, while others are very obviously doing something different.

Edited June 3, 2009 by staggerlee

[.jay.]

I had never considered that idea until I had read multiple posts saying something along those lines. I know one person makes no difference really, but I just thought it was funny that out of many friends I know who live close, she is the only one who flat out refuses to camp. In hindsight I was making a huge generalisation. But it might possibly be a valid point, even if its just because more white people went to scouts etc

[.jay.]

but there's more to what they have in common than just the colour of their skin - there's culture too. And very many non-whites have different ideas of what they consider to be fun than whites do.

I live in a city with a relatively high non-white population (Bristol). Yet when I'm out and about in town, the places that I tend to go don't have anything like the same ethnic mix as the city as a whole does - (as a generalisation) the whites do what whites like to do, while others are very obviously doing something different.

[pedmills]

what in the name of jebus has scouts got to do with anything?

is that a white thing too?

or is not going to such things a black thing?

how do we know how many ethnic minorities go to scout, cubs, brownies, guides etc?

surely this would depend on where it is we live and what the ethnic make up of our area is wouldn't it?

i know when i was a kid there was not many asians or black kids or oriental kids for that matter in my scout troop BUT! then again there wasn't many in my school or in my swim club or in many other things i did in a group format BUT then again what kids there were of my age in those ethnic groups actually DID do most of the things i did you know why? BECAUSE THEY ARE KIDS AND THEY LOVE TO DO THOSE THINGS!

if anything seeing as there was a small minority of ethnic children in my town when i was growing up surely the fact all the ones i knew (which was pretty much all of them) the fact that they did all the tings i did such as scouts ect means that percentage wise they were more likely to do such things than the white kids!

i am so perplexed by all this white thing black thing malarkey!

[.jay.]

and as i said before i myself am not above doing this, when a black friend of mine does or doesn't do something and i wonder if that's because they're black and it's a so called black thing, but then of course i realise i'm being daft and forget about it, but when you are on here and you write things down for all to see they have a more permanent sense about them.

you can't really think aloud on places like this and not expect peoiple to pick you up on it