If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.
Read the community guidelines before posting ✨
Aged 16-25? Share your experience of using the discussion boards and receive a £25 voucher! Take part via text-chat, video or phone. Click here to find out more and to take part.
Options
"Multiculturalism has had it's day"
BillieTheBot
Posts: 8,722 Bot
Story.
I suppose the law of averages mean that I agree with something that Polly Toynbee and Trevor Phillips say.
I'm glad people are waking up to the idea that not all cultures deserve toleration if they do not fit into British ideals.
I suppose the law of averages mean that I agree with something that Polly Toynbee and Trevor Phillips say.
I'm glad people are waking up to the idea that not all cultures deserve toleration if they do not fit into British ideals.
Beep boop. I'm a bot.
0
Comments
i'm all for people staying true to their roots, and all that, but they have to bow a little to the british way of life.
if i was to move to japan, say, i would expect to have to learn japanese, and to fit in to their culture. and fitting in doesn't mean taking their culture on, necessarily, it just means respecting it, and being aware of it.
everywhere i go now, it seems that there have to be signs translated into other languages, because some immigrants can't speak english. you don't find this in many other countries. you go to live in france without knowing any french and see how far you get.
and if you point this out, you're being 'racist' or 'narrow-minded'. which annoys me. i don't mind people coming to live in our country, especially if they are escaping something horrible in their own country. i welcome them. but they should at least have the decency to respect us, and respect our culture, and at least try to learn our language.
Nothing has been stopping these people from learning English; it's just pure laziness!
Not just having a go at Brits, just using it as an example, this happens everywhere, there will always be a minority who for whatever reason stick to their own and have no interest in finding out about other cultures.
Can't understand it myself, I love to go abroad, hang out with the locals, eat in non-tourist places and always try to read up on the history and culture of the place I'm in but thats just me, most wouldn't be bothered and would just stick to their own. More fool them.
It assumes that British culture is a static unchanging thing. It also assumes that there is only one homogenous British culture. Neither of these are true. There are many different cultures overlapping each other, depending on where you live, your class, worldview etc. And none of these are static.
Look at how having a biryani, a balti or a kebab has become very British. Jungle, drum'n'bass and UK garage are uniquely British music genres, none of which could have come about without foreign cultures influencing and in turn being influenced by British culture. Its a 2 way street.
Personally you should have manners no matter your race, age or class.
As for culture, doesn't bother me. Some guy was lookin' for a place tp eat with his girlfriend and I suggested a Chinese resteraunt and he said "Oh, I like Chinese food but I fuckin hate the people"
I mean I don't see why people have a problem from either side...
Because it's always the same people, as I said I'm not targetting anybody, but the majority of the ones who come in to where I work are very rude, or come across that way.
Uh and I know they're immigrants because we know them, because they speak in another language and say they're from here or there. Nothing against 'em, but some of them give others a bad reputation because they're assholes.
In a bar in Wrexham. See, whilst some are Ok others don't feel the need to show manners for some reason and we've had a couple try and start fights by saying our country is stupid.
But the thing is, if people are uncomfortable in the first place with immigrants then it only takes a few pricks to reinforce this prejudice.
Manners are different in different cultures though. Afro-Carribean culture, for example, isn't always big on please and thank-you, but that doesn't mean its rude. Just different.
You get idiots in every group. I don't get your point.
Aye, but they are in our society. Like if we go abroad, we sometimes have to adjust our behaviour a little to keep with the customs. It's called respect and whilst personally I have no problem with immigration, they are being housed and fed and protected here, so why not learn a little more about our customs? just to show they're greatful and not to give themselves a bad name?
Huh?
Most Jamaicans and Trinidadians I know have manners!
Personally it doesn't bother me. I know its not rude, its just different. Thats enough for me.
It'd be really dull if we became a safe bland homogenous society.
IME, Afro-Carribean culture is a lot more "upfront" than English culture.
Well I and a lot of people i know appreciate manners. manners have been in existence in British society for a long time, i for one don't want to see them wiped out by a generation of immigrants and children who care for noone but themselves.
As for multi-culturalism, why should the majority tolerate the minority choosing to disrespect our laws and our own culture? I agree with the article, we should be come integrated and equal, yes celebrate diversity, but at the same time welcome integration, because at the moment the minority seem to be quite happy to be on the outside looking in which isn't acceptable.
Talk about missing the point. Wheres the evidence that immigrants don't care for anyone but themselves. You're assuming lots of things there, based on your own prejudices.
And see my earlier points about culture not being a monolithic static entity. It is plural and changing, always has been, always will be.
There is a minority of indigenous people who disrespect our laws and culture too.
Yes, we should be integrated and celebrate diversity. But there will always be a minority who reject the majority culture, whether they are immigrants or not.
As for immigrants learning our language, I think they should. It makes it easier for themselves and can help the less tolerant amongst us see that they are making an effort. At work there is a man who has been in this country for 40 years who still brings an interpretor with him every time he visits. I find that quite insulting. I would find that insulting if I were Spanish and a British migrant couldn't speak the language.
As for immigrants being 'rude' - have you ever stopped to consider what proportion of British people are rude? Most people come across as being rude and ignorant to shop keepers / bar staff etc at least once in their lives. It doesn't mean they are actually rude - they could be having an off day.
I personally find the number of 'natives' in this country who choose to disrespect our laws to be of greater concern. Let us not pretend that we as a people are perfect, because we're not. I find large groups of white, British youths far more intimidating that immigrants who I've found to be, from working with them, 'off' because they're in a strange place where the majority of people are suspicious of them.
Exactly. It's the same as if we go abroad, we should learn the language and customs, for example what could be seen as insulting.
Aye, there are a lot of rude people about, but then if a white person is rude then it doesn't give white people such a bad name as say if an immigrant is rude, which is what I am getting at. We have had trouble with those guys who come in, they've tried to start it a few times and the Portugese guys come across as real slimy. Maybe they don't mean to, but they do and if you're a young woman who has to walk home after a late shift in the bar, it can make you feel real uncomfortable.
Whether it's the intention of those guys to come across as rude ain't the issue. They have as much right as anybody else to be in the UK (in my opinion at least) and maybe they are perfectly respectable people... but the fact that some of them don't appear to have learned our customs or language is what riles me.
When in Rome, do what the Romans do as far as manners are concerned. That's what I think... and it goes for everybody, no matter their socio-economic grouping, religion or skin colour. Manners go a long way.
I mean you work your ass off in a job it's nice to have a 'please' or 'thankyou' off somebody, it shows respect, if nothing else.
The worring thing is that what if people refuse to integrate... then ghettos are created? :eek2:
As I've previously noted, we British folk don't even have a culture of our own. What one white British person thinks is 'normal' may not be deemed 'normal' to the next guy. I've just been speaking with a friend who works with a man from china. He doesn't sleep with his wife except to procreate, and this is normal in his culture (or so he tells her). I don't find that normal, but many white British Catholics do. We don't have one culture. Our culture is not homogenous.
What has always stuck with me, living in Bradford, is the attitude that the community gives off, especially young Pakistani and Bangaldeshi males. During the Iraq war they were in Centenary Square burning the Union Jack, just after September 11th they were claiming that "America and Americans deserved it" (this whilst working for a US-based company). Arranged marriages, especially when they export young girls back "home" in order to marry and return to England, is a big problem; as Ann Cryer, MP for Keighley, says, it is just importing poverty, and it ruins education.
I think it's always about respect. Just as the ex-pats who go to Saudio and drink show no respect for where they are, people who come here and refuse to learn English and who burn the UK's flag show no respect for where they are. The difference, unfortunately, seems to be that whereas ex-pats caught drinking are rightly punished for their lack of respect, people burning the Union Jack or firing fireworks at the police are not, because "it is racist". In France if you don't make a stab at the language you wil be shunned, and that is how it should be everywhere- I find it insulting that there are more signs in a foreign language at my local railway station and supermarket than there are in English, just as the French find it insulting to see English people marching up to them, demanding that they speak English rather than French.
There is a general culture in the UK, though; or a framework, anyway. It is courteous to say please and thank you, there is a general tolerance of different tastes and cultures, and there is a general belief in democracy and a fair go at things. There are extremes who don't believe in that, but most people will agree that democracy is good, being polite is good, and beating up foreigners because they are foreign is bad.
There is a huge difference between people as people and people in their roles in society. I've known people whose roles I disagree with, but I've like them as people.
i'm speaking as the granddaughter of immigrants. my grandma never became 'british', even though she lived here for 50 years. everything she did was as near to the culture of the country she'd left as she could manage to make it. even down to silly things like the way she made her sandwiches. but she did respect the country which had taken her in, and she made a real effort to do things like learn english.
it would have been stupid, and also downright rude, for her to move to england, and then complain about all the english people. i'm not saying we're the greatest nation of people or anything, but if you don't like something, surely moving to live in a whole country full of it is a ridiculous move?
"The problem is that these f****** people are rubbish in their own country and they come over here; they bring nothing except problems; they have no interest in learning about us or our ways; they just live among their own."
This is not a quote about immigrants in Britain, but an angry Spaniard telling a Times reporter what he thinks about the 300,000 Britons living in the Costa del Sol. It is not only in Britain that newcomers are resented for holding on to their heritage and culture.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1189324,00.html
So all of the Pakistani and Bangladeshi community behave like this do they? Again, you assume that there is one homogenous culture in Islam as well. There isn't.
I would think that anyone caught throwing fireworks at the police would be punished, whatever their race. Unless you have evidence to the contrary?
And since when was burning the UK flag an offence? Its fair political comment IMO.
I don't think it is "Fair political comment" because it makes no political comment. In my opinion if you do not respect a country enough to respect it's flag then you should not be living in that country; burning the flag is not a protest against Blair, it is a protest against every single one of us.
And if you can't respect us, you shouldn't be here. That goes to English people burning the UK flag too.
BlackArab- that's the point. A lot of the ex-pats on the Costa Del Sol don't have any intention of learning Spanish or being Spanish, they just want the sunshine and the cheap cigs and booze. But not all are like that, just as not all young Muslim men think rioting with police is a fun way to spend a Saturday evening. But a lot do, and people see the majority, or even a loud minority, and tar everyone with the same brush. Unless you have NEVER done it, about anyone, then you can't criticise it in others- merely try to show them how they are wrong.