Now that’s true. You won’t see anything like that on British TV or, in fact, in any mainstream British media. It wouldn’t be tolerated, it would cause a stink if it did show up. That’s because the UK is a vibrant, multicultural, tolerant, rainbow nation made up of a myriad of cultures, creeds and colours from across the globe.
At least it is most of the time.
But sadly, this week, the rose-coloured spectacles through which I viewed this plethora of racial and cultural permissiveness, were well and truly yanked off my face and stomped into little pieces by a big pair of boots worn by a woman from the very place where I used to live before I headed out to the exotic, sun-kissed olive groves of Andalucia.
And how ironic that this ancient, outdated, anachronous and ugly attitude should be played out for all the world to see on the ever-so-modern media that is Youtube. How ironic indeed.
The soul-crushing case of which I speak took place on a tram in Croydon, south London. The tram and the town are both very, very familiar to me. Filmed on a mobile phone and downloaded as “My Tram Experience” to Youtube, where, at the time of writing, it has been viewed more than 8 million times – 8 million!!! – it features a dark-haired white woman, holding a young boy on her lap, allegedly lobbing racial abuse at whoever is sitting and standing around her, not just at non-whites however, but at all non-British people.
Now, I say “allegedly” because since the video appeared on Youtube, the woman in question has been arrested and charged in relation to the incident. She is due to appear in court again next Tuesday, December 6.
The incident in itself is shocking, shameful, embarrassing and, frankly, pathetic. But what’s more depressing is the response it has generated, particularly on Youtube.
Such incidents always seem to bring out the worst in people. Thankfully, such attitudes are reserved for the minority in Britain. Sadly, however, they tend to shout quite loudly at times. Even a cursory search of response videos on Youtube uncovers very strong and disturbing reactions in favour of what she is alleged to have said and railing against the “pollution” of the British identity. Scratch the surface just a tiny bit and the prejudices pour out. To be fair, of course, there are many equally vocal responses against, as well.
But I’ve seen videos by people who say she’s right, that Britain isn’t Britain anymore and that all these foreign hoards have destroyed the culture.
But I don’t recall those same people making the same argument when Britain invaded countless countries over the centuries, installing its own culture, its own standards, its own governments in a little thing called the British Empire. No doubt, me saying this will prompt some people to condemn me for being some pinko-liberal leftie commie, ashamed of the great things my country brought to the world. Well, I’m not. I’ve just done my homework and dare to have a slightly different perspective on the world than the average Daily Mail reader.
Now, history is history, and you can’t change it. The British influence across the globe has been huge. The most obvious legacy of that influence is the extent to which the English language is spoken across the globe now.
But think for a minute if a certain Mr Hitler had had his way and the German Empire had now become the dominant force in the world. How would we view all those Nazis? I suspect quite differently to the way we actually do. After all, history is written by the victors, is it not?
Wait a minute, I hear you say. How dare you compare the glorious British Empire to the genocidal psychopaths of the Third Reich? I'm not, for a second. While it’s clearly obvious that the British Empire did not carry out an extermination policy on the Jews – in fact, of course, it bravely stood against and defeated the Nazis - it was responsible for some very questionable acts. For example, setting up concentration camps in South Africa during the Boer War at the turn of the 20th century where many children and adults died in horrific conditions. It was responsible, in the guise of the Black and Tans, for committing atrocities on members of the Irish civilian population in the 1920s. It was responsible for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in “British” India in 1919 when British soldiers fired repeatedly on unarmed men, women and children, reportedly killing more than a thousand and wounding many more. It was responsible too for the alleged use of toxic gas against the Kurds in the Iraqi Revolt at around the same time. I could go on, but I won’t.
My point is not that the British are evil and should be ashamed of their history. But I am asking that some people get a bit of perspective and stop being so selective with our past.
When certain people whine about the crushing of British culture and identity, they seem to forget – or, let’s be honest, don’t know and don’t care - that that’s exactly what the British Empire did to countless cultures and nations across the globe itself in the past.
So when someone rages against the influx of all these “foreigners”, it strikes me as the height of hypocrisy. I don’t recall the Indian population ever inviting us to come and take over their country. In fact, in the early part of the 20th century a certain Mr Gandhi suggested most eloquently, peacefully and incredibly persuasively that we should bugger off back to Britain. And bloody good thing too.
Racism is the hostile reaction prompted by fear of the unknown. Fear of what is not familiar and what you don’t understand. It is the basest of emotions, the most uneducated, backward, shameful, dishonourable and contemptible of sentiments.
There is no defence for it and never will be. It doesn’t matter where it happens.
No comments:
Post a Comment