I wasn't taught to be a racist. I had to study hard for it.
And what material did you study for tht purpose?Best,Alistair
Usually it's knowledge that can only be taught if your parents are also brother and sister.
I suspect that people may be naturally inclined to trust and protect people who look more similar to them. That is not a big reach from looking out for your family, which is clearly instinctive. From an evolutionary standpoint it makes some sense.On the other hand, a lot of the stereotypes and beliefs that people have about their own race and other races are clearly taught. Go to a big city in northern U.S. and a big city in southeastern U.S. and you will see some racism in both but the way people treat each other in the one case will be completely different from the other.
You'll notice that racists tend to be highly fearful of outsiders and are openly hostile. These behaviors are a defense mechanism due to perceived threat and harm.
The threat and harm is not always perceived. It can be as a result of an actual event or events.
I speak as someone who lives in an area that has become a drop in centre for the unwanted scum of eastern Europe and Asia and to make things worse, we open our gates to the Romanians in December.
But I am a culturalist, in that I do believe that there are quite large differences in the acceptability of cultures, and that there are better and worse ones
It can indeed, but it often isn't.
Plenty of people come to and go from Britain who are able to (and do) contribute constructively to the societies to which they choose to relocate, so any attept to tar all immigrants with the same negative brush is simply not amenable to detailed scrutiny.
If there's an unproportional amount of crime from a certain cultural group, you can either call that just a statistic because that group hasn't had the same economical opportunities (yet), or you blame the culture/genes.
Well, not in your neck of the woods. The Roma have not got as far as the Borders yet, but when they do, you might change your stance as well as your lawn mower which has just been stolen.
And plenty do not.Something like 0.68% of our population was not born here, but over 7% of our prison population was not born here. Clearly, when you open your doors to all and sundry you let in a considerable undesirable element.
Yes, of course there are cultural and economic problems that may be aggravated by immigration, but would you seriously advocate massive reductions not only in immigration but also in emigration if you had the power and authority to do so?
It isn't just how they look, you perceive them as different.
I don't blame people for wanting to leave England, as it has been reduced to an overcrowded hovel.
The "White Flight" has been going on for years and will no doubt continue as we let in hoards of undesirables who's only intention is to better themselves by fleecing the benefits system.
Try visiting Boston or Wisbech and knocking on a few doors to get the opinion of the locals. A couple of journalists did and the response was pretty incredible.
I generally don't deal drugs in broad daylight or carry a knife to go out mugging.
If I had a child, I am pretty sure that I would not use it to go begging or sell fake goods on street corners or use it to screw the benefits system.
I not only look different to the likes of Eastern European Gypsies, I am different in every possible imaginable way.
And please, let has not have any of this "poor discriminated against minority" crap. Mansions are being built in Romania on the back of "earnings" in the UK.
The "White Flight" has been going on for years and will no doubt continue
You may start to encounter trouble with that. It appears all the ones worth having left some time ago. The standard has dropped quite markedly in recent years.
But such corrupt practice occurs widely everywhere, regardles of race or racism.
Not on this level it doesn't. This is a systematic attack on our Country the like we have not seen since the flood of Nigerian bank scams.I really hope an illegal camp sets up in your garden. When your cat has been eaten, your car vandalized, your shed emptied, your house halved in value and you have been beaten up a few times, perhaps you might have a more balanced view.Thal
Maybe you'll have a more balanced view, if you can't afford a cat, no car, your house is a shed, beaten up a few times since there's no real government and only things of value are your family and your -accordion-?
Not so much a problem in UK as in Zimbabwe and what will eventually happen in South Africa.Mugabi's henchmen might take all the land, but when they don't have the ability to farm it, they will all begin to starve.
Not on this level it doesn't. This is a systematic attack on our Country the like we have not seen since the flood of Nigerian bank scams.
I really hope an illegal camp sets up in your garden.
When your cat has been eaten
your car vandalized
your shed emptied
your house halved in value
and you have been beaten up a few times
if even as many as a mere 10% of British citizens in the world who currently live outside Britain were to decide to relocate to Britain, as they are legally entitled to do, the increase in the British population would be vastly greater than it has ever been at the height of immigration and would cause far more problems than have previously been caused by population movement in Britain.
It is now universally accepted amongst most sane people that Immigration was encouraged by the Labour government to change the make up of our Society for ever and "wipe the right's face in it". They provided a cheap workforce so low skilled vacancies were filled and Labour could carry on paying thousands of scroungers benefits to retain their votes. It was predicted that 13,000 Polish would come to England, but that now seems to be more like 700,000.
are you suggesting that successive British governments have wilfully conspired to try to undermine Britain by encouraging uncontrolled immigration in the hope that such immigration would achieve such ends?
Go and talk to the Met Police
and ask why they have asked for assistance from the Romanian Police to cope with their own people in London.
Statistical evidence is not required.
You need to edit your last post to get the quotes right; I often make mistakes like that myself!
It is if reliable and credible crime figures are to be considered as part of a discussion of the matter rather than merely being content to make blanket staements and assumptions.
Why on Earth would anyone want to come back here???The very fact that they are entitled to do so should warrant greater care in who we let in from Europe and Asia.
There is no such thing as reliable crime figures as they do not include the ones that people cannot be bothered to complain to the Police about. I have little trust in any figures that are published, but the percentage of immigrants in our prison population is revealing enough.
As to Poles, there were already many in Britain long before the predictions that you mention, a lot of them having come to tht country after the war in which some had served on Britain's side.
Do also remember that some crimes are committed against immigrants, too.
Indeed, there were many. But we have allowed in some 600,000 over 10 years and now we have the Romanians and Bulgerians waiting to come over.
Where are all these people going to live when we already have a huge housing shortage??
Where are the hospitals to cope with their needs when the NHS is busting at the seams and some trusts are bordering on bankrupcy??
Where are the schools to educate their children when class sizes are larger than ever??Where are the doctors to look after the ill, when it takes weeks to get an appointment at some surgeries already??What roads are they going to drive on when we suffer so much from gridlock already??We neither have the space nor the infrastructure to cope.
Snuggled away in your comfy remote cottage, you seem to have developed a strange stance to the problems faced by this Country.
Where I live is far from "comfy" although it is indeed remote, but my stance on these matters is no different now to what it was when I lived, as I did for almost a quarter century, in the City of Bath, so location has nothing to do with my thoughts on these issues.
Well, in order to glean a more balanced view on our immigration issues, I would recommend a weeks vacation is Wisbech, Peterborough, Boston or even better, Gravesend. No doubt, you would not lower yourself this far.
A bit of personal experience goes a long way to appreciating the problems of uncontrolled immigration and when you have recovered from a nice dose of TB (which was almost unheard of in this Country 10 years ago), you might have a different perspective.
Now, please get back to swilling wine with your Guardian reading friends and leave me to my work.
When I was in London in the 70's it was full and during recent visits it has become worse.