# Is offering tea and biscuits to bigots a good idea **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 30, 2013, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-offering-tea-and-biscuits-to-bigots-a-good-idea/659670 "2013-05-30T00:29:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-offering-tea-and-biscuits-to-bigots-a-good-idea/659670/21 "2013-05-30T12:09:11Z")
did they throw foam bricks as well? ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-offering-tea-and-biscuits-to-bigots-a-good-idea/659670/22 "2013-05-30T12:39:00Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > It’s a subtly different flavour of crass stupidity, as far as I can tell. I’ve watched interviews with representatives of the EDL - they don’t even seem to have the capacity to present a version of their viewpoint that _sounds_ mildly coherent. [“Muslamic ray guns”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL1jDcAHkc8) ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-offering-tea-and-biscuits-to-bigots-a-good-idea/659670/23 "2013-05-30T12:39:43Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > I’m not going to defend what I said. It means one thing to me and something else to others so what I meant doesn’t really count. So, how were the biscuits? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-offering-tea-and-biscuits-to-bigots-a-good-idea/659670/24 "2013-05-30T14:23:28Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > [“Muslamic ray guns”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL1jDcAHkc8) I don’t understand how this video became a meme. Yes he is a moron but he is obviously saying “rape gangs”, not “ray guns”. > [@Bridget Burke](#): > > So, how were the biscuits? Great. My favourite were the Hijabi Dodgers. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-offering-tea-and-biscuits-to-bigots-a-good-idea/659670/25 "2013-05-30T15:45:42Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > I’m not going to defend what I said. It means one thing to me and something else to others so what I meant doesn’t really count. That’s pretty much what I was trying to say. Thank you for the reasonable response. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-offering-tea-and-biscuits-to-bigots-a-good-idea/659670/26 "2013-05-30T22:11:05Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > I don’t understand how this video became a meme. Yes he is a moron but he is obviously saying “rape gangs”, not “ray guns”. Oh. I always thought he was saying “religions”. 🙂 Anyway, it’s a meme because he can’t string a sentence together, not just for that word. It’s funny that a bigot is exposed as actually being as stupid as you think. He is literally incapable of forming a thought _at all_. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-offering-tea-and-biscuits-to-bigots-a-good-idea/659670/27 "2013-05-30T22:37:35Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > **Is offering tea and biscuits to bigots a good idea** I dunno, most bigots I’ve met were more the coffee-and-donuts type. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-offering-tea-and-biscuits-to-bigots-a-good-idea/659670/28 "2013-05-31T00:59:33Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > If they put cyanide in them. Knock it off. [/Moderating] ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-offering-tea-and-biscuits-to-bigots-a-good-idea/659670/29 "2013-05-31T01:22:10Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > I dunno, most bigots I’ve met were more the coffee-and-donuts type. Yes, but they were American bigots. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-offering-tea-and-biscuits-to-bigots-a-good-idea/659670/30 "2013-05-31T01:43:28Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Yes, but they were American bigots. Well, of course, all foreign bigots are shoddy knock-offs unworthy of discussion. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2013, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-offering-tea-and-biscuits-to-bigots-a-good-idea/659670/31 "2013-06-02T08:42:10Z")
[not worth it] ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2013, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-offering-tea-and-biscuits-to-bigots-a-good-idea/659670/32 "2013-06-02T17:16:56Z")
I thought the tea-and-biscuits thing was going to be my favorite response to the EDL marches. Boy, was I wrong. No, that honor goes to this story, unlikely to be topped ever: [Far-Right Extremists Chased Through London by Women Dressed as Badgers](http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/473597/20130601/bnp-edl-hate-fascist-badgers.htm) One of the many reasons I love living in London. ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2013, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-offering-tea-and-biscuits-to-bigots-a-good-idea/659670/33 "2013-06-02T21:30:56Z")
I have no love for the EDL, but to be honest I don’t see them as England’s answer to the KKK. Really they are bunch of petty criminals (more orientated to violent crime than acquistive crime) and wannabe football hooligans united under an umbrella of a few precepts that actually have a fairly wide currency among working-class England. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2013, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-offering-tea-and-biscuits-to-bigots-a-good-idea/659670/34 "2013-06-02T22:52:56Z")
> [@Asympotically\_fat](#): > > I have no love for the EDL, but to be honest I don’t see them as England’s answer to the KKK. Really they are bunch of petty criminals (more orientated to violent crime than acquistive crime) and wannabe football hooligans united under an umbrella of a few precepts that actually have a fairly wide currency among working-class England. They’re violent bigots who attack non-whites. How are they not like the KKK, except for being more popular and more influential, though still hated by most in the UK? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-offering-tea-and-biscuits-to-bigots-a-good-idea/659670/35 "2013-06-03T00:24:56Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > They’re violent bigots who attack non-whites. How are they not like the KKK, except for being more popular and more influential, though still hated by most in the UK? If he is correct, then a significant difference would be the predilection towards crime. These days, while the KKK may be losers, they are not seriously involved in crime. (Most of the criminal racist elements have moved over to various prison-based gangs.) ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-offering-tea-and-biscuits-to-bigots-a-good-idea/659670/36 "2013-06-03T00:33:45Z")
Nearly twenty years ago, when, here in the USA, Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church were beginning their pickets, the church members went to Kansas City, to picket there. I have the TV video of WBC folks being offered coffee and donuts by members of the church they were picketing at. One WBC member asks the girl holding out the plate of doughnuts “Are those the ones with the AIDS virus?” She replies “I don’t think so.” ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-offering-tea-and-biscuits-to-bigots-a-good-idea/659670/37 "2013-06-03T00:41:38Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > I don’t understand how this video became a meme. Yes he is a moron but he is obviously saying “rape gangs”, not “ray guns”. From the context following it, he must have meant “rape gangs”; but to me it clearly _sounds_ like “ray guns” ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-offering-tea-and-biscuits-to-bigots-a-good-idea/659670/38 "2013-06-03T02:00:53Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > They’re violent bigots who attack non-whites. How are they not like the KKK, except for being more popular and more influential, though still hated by most in the UK? Well the KKK doesn’t like Jews or Catholics for starters. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-offering-tea-and-biscuits-to-bigots-a-good-idea/659670/39 "2013-06-03T02:26:46Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I thought the tea-and-biscuits thing was going to be my favorite response to the EDL marches. Boy, was I wrong. No, that honor goes to this story, unlikely to be topped ever: > > [Far-Right Extremists Chased Through London by Women Dressed as Badgers](http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/473597/20130601/bnp-edl-hate-fascist-badgers.htm) > > One of the many reasons I love living in London. I would think having them chase you around would be a recruiting tool. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-offering-tea-and-biscuits-to-bigots-a-good-idea/659670/40 "2013-06-03T02:54:01Z")
> [@Asympotically\_fat](#): > > I have no love for the EDL, but to be honest I don’t see them as England’s answer to the KKK. Really they are bunch of petty criminals (more orientated to violent crime than acquistive crime) and wannabe football hooligans united under an umbrella of a few precepts that actually have a fairly wide currency among working-class England. This. Aren’t the EDL just the National Front with better flyers? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-offering-tea-and-biscuits-to-bigots-a-good-idea/659670.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-offering-tea-and-biscuits-to-bigots-a-good-idea/659670.md?page=3)