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To: Electronic Telegraph <et.letters@telegraph.co.uk> Re: Race, immigration and political correctness Date: Tue, 17 April 2001 |
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Dear Sir/Madam, Like
most other people, I guess, I've been held back from commenting on anything to
do with immigration, race or race relations for fear of putting my foot in a
puddle (or rather, a vipers nest) of political incorrectness. However, the
article in last week's Telegraph, relating to an 11-year old boy being prosecuted
for "racially aggravated assault" following a name-calling incident
in the school playground, demands a response (Boy
on race charge over 'name-calling in playground', 12 April 2001). The
culture of political correctness in which we now live, though it be rooted in
admirable intentions, has undermined our once proud culture of free speech and
placed everyone of us under the oppressive tyranny of self-censorship. We
know from our history lessons that in the past our forebears often behaved
abominably towards people of different race or culture (as they also did
towards their own). Jews in particular suffered at the hands of Gentile
Europeans, despite (or perhaps because of) being so indebted to them (for
their religion, as well as for their cultural and scientific contributions to
European civilisation).
We
recognise now how badly our ancestors behaved, but in our efforts to be good
and make amends we are bending over backwards in the other extreme, or rather,
are being forced to by fanatics of political correctness. At
the risk of being bitten to death by the vipers of political correctness, I
have decided to stand up straight and speak my mind, preferring to die a free
man than live under the yoke of such tyranny.
Where
to start when all around me I see puddles (vipers nests)? I
shall start by pulling on a pair of Wellington boots and return to the article
about the reported case of "playground racism". The
boy, who was 10 at the time, allegedly called an Asian a "Paki
bastard" and punched him twice in the back after the Asian called him a
skunk and likened him to one of the Teletubbies, which was an apparent
reference to the boy's size. In
that kind of childish conflict -
which, of course, is not always restricted to children - it is natural and
usual to pick out one of your opponent's salient characteristics and include
it in the insult you throw at him: "You
fat *?!!"; "You big-nosed *?!!"; "You white *?!!" (in
Africa or Asia); You black *?!!" or "You Asian/Paki *?!!";(in
Europe).
It
makes the insult more offensive - which is what is intended.
However,
while it may be difficult to cope with references to physical imperfections
(being fat or having a big nose), the sensible reaction to being called
"white", "black", "Asian" or the like, is to
say, "Yea, "white", "black", "Asian" (or
whatever) AND proud of it! Unless you feel that your race is something to be
ashamed of, why should you take offence? Probably
because you feel that your adversary is insulting not just you personally, but
the whole ethnic/racial group to which you belong. A genuine racist, of
course, will mean to do just that, but in the vast majority of cases, I am
sure, this is not the case, and what we have is a misunderstanding - not
racism. I
am sure there are many situations and conflicts in which race, but not racism,
plays a role. The majority of "indigenous"
English people - at least of my generation (1949) and older - are very unhappy
about the huge numbers of immigrants that have settled in Britain during the
past 30 years or so. But if anyone dares to say anything they are accused of
being racist.
That
may be true in some instances - perhaps
when members of the National Front say it - but generally it
is not true. Most people simply prefer to live among others of their own race,
culture and history and start to feel unhappy and uncomfortable when the
immigrant population becomes more than a small minority.
Most people,
like
myself, have nothing against immigrants individually
(personally, I have often found them to be nicer than the average English
person), and one can understand why they wish to share the freedoms and
prosperity that the British people have created, but to most English people,
en masse they are an alien culture. And most people - whoever they are -
prefer to live among their own people, surrounded by the familiar culture they
grew up in. When
I occasionally revisit the London suburb I grew up in, it is like
entering foreign land, completely dominated as it is now by Asians and Asian
culture.
I
have nothing whatsoever against Asian culture. On the contrary, I think it is
great - in Asia, where it belongs; but not in Wembley, in the heart of England,
where I was born and grew up among my own people, who have now been largely
displaced by foreigners and their foreign culture. They are not even
neighbouring European foreigners with whom the English share more than 2000
years of history, but from another continent with a completely different
culture, religion and history.
Having
said that, I hasten to add that I am not about to suggest - as I presume a
racist would - that immigrants be asked to leave. Although it hurts, I have to
accept the situation, the loss of my native home to a foreign people and
culture, and come to terms with what has happened. But to do that I have to be
honest about how I feel. I
certainly have no wish to agitate against immigrants, because I know that as
individuals they are every bit as worthy and likeable (or not) as the English.
But I get angry when they, or their representatives, act as if they owned the
place, although - historically speaking - they have only been in the country 5
minutes; lecturing the indigenous population on how they have and have not to
behave and tyrannising them with their own liberal idealism, turned into a
cudgel of political correctness.
I
think I have written enough for one letter, although there is a great deal
more that needs to be said, of course. Whether one likes it or not, Britain is
now a multi-ethnic and multicultural society. Coming generations, unlike me,
will grow up with it and thus - hopefully - be better able to accept it.
Nevertheless,
I would like to point out that Britain is not America, where 99 percent of the
population are relatively recent immigrants. In Britain, at least 90 percent
of the population are still indigenous Europeans, who despite their mixed
origins (homogeneous Anglo-Saxons indeed! (I
refuse to keep quiet on race, says rebel MP, 29 March 2001)) have
inherited an immensely rich culture from their ancestors and share a history
that goes back to the stone age. |