This thread touches on very emotive points, and I've thought more than once about whether I should post on it. Something acts to hold me back; what is it? The ingrained British sense of fair play? Or the fact that I live in a “big city” where the benefits of multiculturalism and diversity are trumpeted loud and hard by the local politicians and the Birmingham Evening Mail – and have been for many, many years. So if you raise any sort of protest or voice against these twin ideals, you – the native or ex-pat Brummie - is the one who is howled down. People are very, very loathe to say anything (unless you get them one on one behind closed doors
) so we have, in a way, a self-fulfilling prophesy – we are all branded as happily multicultural and embracing of diversity, when frankly, we are very, very leary about it.
If diversity and multiculturalism are such a great benefit, why do we need to be reminded constantly about it? If diversity and multiculturalism are such a great benefit, why has it not been universally accepted by the population?
I was away from this city for over 20 years before moving back, and I remember what the city used to be like – and it’s nothing like it is today. Despite all the bleatings from the local big-wigs and media, this is not a pleasant place to live. As I’ve said before, there are certain areas in which I simply feel very uncomfortable, even during daylight hours, because I am “out of place” and treated with suspicion. When I’m travelling around by public transport, and it doesn’t matter what time of day, there is a cacophony of foreign languages being shouted into mobile phones which makes me feel an outsider. So why can’t I “embrace” this? Is it a generational thing? A racist background thing? Both?
Actually – why should I have to “embrace” it? Things are happening in this country that the general population have absolutely no control or say over – and worse, they cannot even speak out publically about without opprobrium. What we really need is a good, honest and fair national debate about where this country is going – one in which I’d like the strident multiculturalists to pipe down and listen to other people’s views (and fears) for once. We will never develop any sort of cohesive society in this country without honesty, and honesty is a two-way street.
An old friend of mine was recently approached to take part in a Department of Media and Culture et al. lifestyle survey – I think the incentive was a book of postage stamps (first class!) and a £5 shopping voucher
. He duly assented and a guy came round one afternoon to interview him.
“Ossie,” he said “one question really flummoxed me.”
“What was that, then?”
“He wanted to know whether I loved my country, on a scale of 1 to 10!”
“What on earth did you reply,” I laughed.
“I didn’t know what to say, so I said 7 out of 10” he replied.
“Ber-limey, I said, come and live up here”, (he’s in a rural area of the south-west), “I’d be asking the interviewer if I could give him a negative number! Minus 4 out of 10 would be my response!!”
And that sums it up for me. Underlyingly, I have no love for this country – what it has become, what it purportedly stands for, and where it is going. And somehow, I don’t think I’m alone in that …..