loringa wrote: ↑Sun Jul 19, 2020 8:10 am
To be fair on David, he was only posting something which he hoped would amuse us; I don't think that makes him a racist, sexist or homophobe.
Thanks for that, Andrew They should look at the overall heading of these threads: "From the sublime to the ridiculous"
I would like to think I am not too racist; I was perfectly happy working side by side with Indians, an Italian (in Italy), Japanese (who now happens to be a Facebook friend), a couple of Moslems, an Iranian and a Jamaican that I can think of on the spur of the moment. I have been happy staying in a Chinese household, I worked in Africa and South America the latter being a real mix of races and I am married for 54 years to a lady who has OFFICIALLY been classified as "coloured"
For me it is totally a question of how a person behaves and I have come across just as many undesirable white Brits as foreigners
There are reasons why refugees and aspiring immigrants want to come to the UK, US, Australia rather than Hungary, Mexico or China, whatever the challenges they face before and after they arrive on these / those shores.
I would put language as a major factor; English is taught in schools in many foreign countries so people feel that they could get by more easily, but see below Also, of course, there are the social benefits which surpass most other countries
Historically, I also think that, by and large, the British Empire was a good thing which ended relatively, and I use that word advisedly, peacefully and promptly to reflect the wishes of the former colonies, dominions and territories. On the whole Great Britain was a better imperial master than most countries have been throughout history, and whilst we were clearly enthusiastic slavers, we were not only one of the nations to ban first the slave trade and later on slavery, but we were also one of the few actively to do anything about preventing its continuation.
Purely by chance I got to talk to a Ghanain retired Minister of Finance (because I recognised the drumming at JFK airport) He said that Britain made mistakes in Ghana but they only made one big one - they left. Under British rule they treated all the tribes the same with no preferences, people were all treated equally .........
in my experience young people simply don't 'see' colour in the way earlier generations did, my own included, but I am less certain about what can actually be 'done', at least my the Government and the institutions of the State.
I suspect that an element was fear of the unknown. The Jamaican I worked with used to shout in what sounded like a belligerent manner whereas in fact it was for him and his mates, their normal way of talking.
There has been a lot on nonsense talked about the Black Lives Matter movement, mainly in the right wing press both here and abroad, particularly in the United States. Of these, the most concerning is probably the 'All Lives Matter' counter-movement. Of course all lives matter but as a white person mine already does, we now need to make sure that other people, specifically black people, can enjoy the same treatment. Sadly, it probably takes a degree of violence and rioting to get people to take action. The Suffragists existed for half a century fighting for women'