I am not going to like writing this piece but there is an underlying truth that needs to be discussed. For too long we in the UK have been at the mercy of the political correctness brigade even to the point where we cannot even have a joke at the expense of people of different cultures. I am talking about the tweet put out by Diane Abbott which said: 'White people love playing 'divide & rule'. When you look at the context of which it was meant, and I agree that this was the basis of her tweet, it is a reasonable statement to make. English foreign policy in Europe, and then later during the Empire building of the UK, has been to divide and rule.
So why the big stushie? I believe it was not only a chance to make the Labour party look racist (really?!) but also a chance to enforce the 'don't say anything about race' brigade. In a way it it the same with the underlying culture within the establishment of suppressing the national pride of the constituents of the UK. We are not all the same and never will be. If we cannot laugh at our differences then what is the point of celebrating the different cultures within the UK like the Highland games, Eisteddfod or the Notting Hill carnival?
From my point of view, and I agree that in context she was completely right, what it shows is that she didn't think before she tweeted. What you might be able to say in a context of an intellectually inspired discussion, round a dinner table or in the pub, and what you can tweet, in 146 (or thereby) characters, are two different things.
ReplyDeleteShe's a relatively senior politician, albeit in opposition. She should have known what kind of stooshie this had the potential to cause. She didn't stop to think. She has bad judgement: exactly what we don't want in political leaders.
If I were a politician I don't think I would tweet at all. It seems to me to be something that is full of potential for falling down big holes.
It's a pity we have to be so politically correct about all sorts of things. Unfortunately the "rules" on political correctness were brought in to stop the "No Blacks, No Irish, No Dogs" attitudes that prevailed and were sickening and shameful to right thinking people.
Rules haven't stopped people thinking like that though.
After the storms my street was covered in litter blown from bins. I met an old man from my block who was bemoaning the mess, and blamed "the foreigners". Never mind that the only "foreigners" in the block are a delightful couple of Hungarian students, who are quiet, respectful, clean and friendly, and that I spent the better half of last year trying to get a white, Scottish drug dealer who smelled worse than a drain and had up to 50 charmless customers a day, all white and local, spitting and shooting up on the stairs, peeing and being sick in the street, evicted.
No no, Old Steve decided it was foreigners what had caused the wind, and left all the bins without their lids.
Another elderly man last year told me that a fight in the street which had caused a man to be taken to hospital and placed in intensive care had been the fault of Poles. It turned out to be a guy from Forfar "what done it". But of course as the old gossip had told everyone it was a Pole (because it suited his imagination and prejudices that it was), the idea has kinda stuck.
But of course racism and hatred and ignorance are not exclusively white or Scottish. I'm sure there are plenty of minority ethnic racists.
Tris,
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you are saying. I have the same problem in my block where even some of the black(?) and Indian(?) residents are complaining about the Somalians who have moved in. Strangely enough, I have the same problem with a 'white' drug dealer whose 'customers' are causing havoc. I suspect that nothing is being done about him because he is a police 'grass'. C'est la vie.
Gedguy
ReplyDeleteHmm! a text someone showed me
An Indian comes to this country
and after a few months phones home to India his family asks how he is doing he replys.
I am doing really well in the UK I can speak Polish already!
a joke which encapsulates an inner truth we are becoming strangers in our own Land.
Niko,
ReplyDeleteI've told my girlfriend that joke; she's Russian with a Polish passport.
We don't really own it Niko.
ReplyDeleteTris,
ReplyDeleteLol. So very true.