In the "idealist's", or
the dreamers world of the mythical so-called global village, every race, every
ethnicity, every religion, every culture and all of the world's many and
disparate peoples would get along with one another, united in common aims,
strategies, languages, cultures, religions and lifestyles, thereby creating the
ideal of a truly multicultural and ethnically diverse world family.
Fortunately, or unfortunately,
depending on your individual point of view, this mythical global family
village, is entirely that; a myth, a fabrication, the product of delusional
minds, created in part by the sorts of great two dimensional social thinkers
and commentators, who always see the good, never the bad, always the upside, never
the down; and who steadfastly refuse to accept that such a world can never,
ever be created, simply because there is one great stumbling block to its
creation, the people themselves!
Even though the human race has
been interacting, interbreeding and trading with one another for thousands of
years, giving the various peoples of the world more than enough opportunity to
amalgamate or assimilate into one big happy family, instead, here we are in the
21st century, still separated by permanent national borders, defended by
powerful armies and protected by weapons of mass destruction, yet the
"idealist's" still cling to their deluded theories of
multiculturalism and the ethnically diverse world family.
If the theory of multiculturalism
and ethnic diversity had any sort of logical justification, then why did India
and Pakistan separate so quickly and so violently following the end of British
imperial rule in 1947 ; and why do they continue to threaten and fight with one
another to this very day? Why do hundreds, perhaps thousands of ethnic
minorities die every year throughout the globe, as a result of being attacked
by other minority groups, or followers of majority faiths? Why does Muslim kill
Muslim in any number of Middle East disputes, whether that be in Lebanon,
Egypt, Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq? If multiculturalism or ethnic diversity are
such ideas, why is the Korean peninsula still divided between north and south,
some sixty years after they fought a bitter and brutal war with one another?
If the concepts of
multiculturalism and ethic diversity don't apply to these particular countries,
then does that perhaps suggest that they are purely western concepts; and that
only those countries which are rich enough, developed enough, or perhaps
foolish enough, are the only ones that should actually implement such
ill-thought out and dangerous social theories? The term multicultural was only
ever really intended to be a descriptive one, illustrating that a particular
country contained a diverse number of differing cultures, but instead since the
1970's successive British governments and their various creative policy
advisers have attempted to turn it into some sort of real social experiment,
which has tried to purposefully integrate any number of disparate foreign
cultures into Britain, often without the agreement of and sometimes against the
wishes of the indigenous British population.
Sadly, like with most things
today, it seems to be the vocal minority, including these now largely
discredited multiculturalists and ethnic diversity campaigners, who were
allowed to set the agenda for everyone else, including the generally silent and
compliant majority that were often too busy getting on with their lives, to
fully realise that their country, its rich history, its culture, its traditions
and its native tongues were slowly but surely being taken away from them. One
cannot imagine that any other of the great historic nation states, such as
China, Russia, America, Canada, or anywhere else for that matter would willingly
allow their own native cultures to be rapaciously subsumed by foreign cultures
or practices, so why should we?
In the period 2010 alone there
were reported to be an estimated nineteen foreign born ethnic groups in the UK,
consisting of at least 100,000 individuals each, including migrants from
Australia, Bangladesh, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya,
Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Republic of Ireland, Somalia, South
Africa, Sri Lanka, United States and Zimbabwe. In total, there were estimated
to be approximately just under five million foreign born residents of the UK in
2010, compared to just over two million in 1951.
Now, in and of itself, one might
imagine that some five million souls, out of a total population of some sixty-odd
million might not appear to be that troubling, but often even the smallest
numbers can have a wholly disproportionate effect on the larger figure. In a
2011 ONS survey the largest migrant groups in the UK were said to have
consisted of Australians (107,000), Irish (457,000), Indians (729,000),
Pakistanis (457,000), Poles (643,000), Germans (297,000), Bangladeshis
(230,000), South Africans (200,000), Nigerians (190,000), Chinese (136,000),
Sri Lankans (120,000), French (137,000), Americans (189,000), Italians
(124,000), Jamaicans (143,000), Kenyans (133,000), Philippinos (137,000),
Somalians (102,000), (Lithuanians (107,000), and Zimbabweans (125,000)
Even if you discount the likes of
the Irish, Australians, Americans, Jamaicans, South Africans and even the
Kenyans, all of whom have had some sort of shared history with the UK, either
through being geographical neighbours, having a shared language, or a basic
understanding of Britain's cultural heritage, it still leaves some three
million people living here, whose various languages, cultures, traditions,
beliefs, etc have to be catered for and accommodated. One only has to consider
the rather thorny issue of Islam to recognise the immense cultural and
religious effect that even a relatively small community can have, especially if
is forced on a indigenous population.
In total there are estimated to
be a couple of million practicing Muslims living in the UK, most of whom are
centred around a number of our major towns and cities, which on the face of it
would seem to suggest that Islam itself poses no real threat to our country's
culture, heritage or indeed the way we live our lives. But that's not the case,
is it? The events of 7/7 proved that conclusively, as has all of the other
attempted Islamic terrorist attacks that our security services have
successively managed to foil in subsequent years. Such extreme events aside
though, just how many millions of pounds are being spent and wasted every year
in translation services, because migrants who have come to live in our country,
from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Poland, Lithuania or wherever, are just too
lazy or indifferent, to learn the basic English language? How many Muslim women
or girls are being physically abused, or forcibly married each year, simply
because their religion or their culture states that it's right or proper to do
so? The thing is, we don't live in Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, or any of those
other Islamic countries where such cultural practices exist, we live in
Britain, with an entirely different set of values and a completely different
cultural heritage.
Why should a religion with such a
comparatively small number of adherents in Britain, when weighed against the
total numbers of people living in the UK, affect the way all of our children
are educated or entertained? Why should our animal welfare rules be specially
adapted for, what is after all, a relatively small religious community? Why
should annual celebrations, such as Christmas parties, be adapted or cancelled,
simply because they "might" offend a member of a minority group,
which is foreign to our country?
The answer is of course that they
should not! There is absolutely no justification for anyone, be they local
councillor, national politician, religious leader or individual believer, to
enforce what are fundamentally foreign practices onto the wider indigenous
population, even when they try to justify them under the guise of social
cohesion, multiculturalism or ethnic diversity. The ritual slaughter of
animals, forced marriages, female genital mutilation, religious courts, the
public and vitriolic denunciation of other religions, or the advocating of
cold-blooded murder against members of our Armed Forces, none of these things
belong to Britain's rich cultural heritage; and neither should we expect to see
them added to it, through the influence of foreign migrant communities.
Were a British born citizen to
choose to live abroad, they would fully expect to have to learn the native
language of that country, respect its laws and customs; and if necessary
curtail some of their own personal practices that might otherwise prove wholly
unacceptable to the native peoples of that particular land. One has only to
consider how Saudi Arabia might treat any Christian evangelist who was foolish
enough to try and convert a member of the Islamic faith. What would be the
reaction to a westerner who publicly denigrated a member of the Pakistani or
Indian armies? Would an Islamic country purposefully alter its national
holidays or ceremonies in order to accommodate the feelings of a foreign
community within its own national borders? We all know the answer to such
questions, yet so many immigrants come to the UK each and every year with an
arrogant determination not to offer the same sort of basic courtesy to the
native British population.
Of course it would be naive in
the extreme to believe that all such unwelcome changes are purely the result of
the immigrant communities themselves, as they are not. Ever since the 1970's
and the time of the Wilson administration, successive governments have
deliberately pursued a largely unannounced and undemocratic program of cultural
change, without giving the British public any sort of say on the matter. Our
membership of the European Union aside, the centrally driven erosion of our
shared cultural history and our traditions is most evident in the steady
decline of our schools, our churches, our governments, our communities and most
importantly, our own sense of national self worth. There was a time when being
"British" actually meant something, but increasingly this has become
less and less so, as we have allowed ourselves to become slowly immersed in our
new multicultural and ethically diverse society, which does not have a history
of its own and seems to stand for very little really.
It is perhaps hardly surprising
then that as each year passes we move further and further away from the
remarkable country that we once were, to the unremarkable country that we're
almost certain to become. The more that we allow ourselves and our society to
become diluted and demeaned by unwanted foreign influences, the harder it will
be for us to hold onto those cultural traditions and practices that once made
us a unique people in our own right. Quite how we do that is open to debate,
but unless we find an answer to our present predicament, we're in serious
danger of finding ourselves in a foreign land that we once knew as
Britain.
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