To not like this Idea of a new multicultural Britain

[monkeyfarm]

I suspect this probably won't go down too well but I'm just being honest as I'm interested to see if I'm the only one who feels this way?
I hate how things are changing, how I can be in a store feel like I'm in eastern europe, why are we one of the only countries that do this? why can't we take a leaf out of the book of Australia and open our doors to people who have something to contribute and not just all and sundry?
Am I on my own in feeling this way?

Oh, and add in corruption as well.

Agree begonia - those are some of the things I was referring to in my lay post.

last

Alemici SA has changed a lot over the past 20 years.

My Dad has always lived in the "maids" room, lol he likes his space! currently my dad lives in the maids room, and a man of 25 lives in an outhouse and works half a day cleaning and gardening etc. He gets paid around R150 a day.

But even twenty years ago, my dad lived in the maids room, the maid lived in the township with her family. Her name was Tembhi, she was the maid of my grandmother, and when my grandmother died went to my cousins house to work, she was elderly and eccentric, she would talk to her dead husband while she worked.

One day she didnt come to work, so my family went to the township to see if she was ok, she had died, they tried to get the body released to them so they could give her a burial but they were refused as they werent family, even though the maid had been working for our family for generations!

People are scared of their maids, they won't mistreat them as they are afraid the maids will rob from them, or tell others their secrets, or make it possible for others to rob or hijack them. They pay their maids well as otherwise the maids will leave and it is not easy to find someone you can trust in your home.

We can't feel sorry for someone based on our own perceptions of what is good for them, I mean if working as a maid means that someone is able to send their kids to school and afford medical aid for their family etc then why should we feel sorry? when the person is glad to be in employment?

I don't believe most of UK is a tolerant country. This thread proves it, as do so many of the others where there has been talks of host country and integration etc.

I mean on the surface is tolerance but if you scratch the surface is not

tolerance is relative. there countries that are much less tolerant than the UK.

How so nailak? The UK is the host country and integration is a good goal. I would imagine that Pakistan would not be a very tolerant society for me to live in, especially if I didn't cover my hair. Why do we have to be oh so much more tolerant than any other society? Surely this post colonial guilt thing will peter out one day. I hope so.

Racism is perhaps the worst vice imaginable. So many atrocities happened because people felt other races or nations are somewhat less worthy.

I really hope we can overcome that some day, the same way as we managed to deal with thinking that domestic violence or child abuse is something that can be ignored.

I grew up in Poland, which was as single-cultural as you can imagine. Germans killed nearly every Jew, Gypsy and black person they could find. The rest run away or was asked to leave by Polish communist government after the war.

I was a teen by the time I saw first black person, other than on TV. And I never had a chance to speak to a foreigner until I was a student.

Was ANYONE better for it? NO! All the Polish people you see on the streets came to UK mostly to finally meet other people than their own kind. Poland is not a third-world country. It's not as affluent as UK, but still has a very decent health care, better schooling (according to PISA) and work benefits (far less out of work benefits though, so Poles are not used to not working).

So please, don't worry. We'll either go back or you will not be able to tell us apart in a few years. Other nations will probably want to come then. Hopefully some of them will also move to Poland. There's already lots on Ukrainians and Africans in big cities, which is a truly wonderful sight to see.

I'm interested in your answers to this question:

Is it unreasonable to want to live with people you can identify with, who have similar values and want to lead fairly similar lifestyles?

"Is it unreasonable to want to live with people you can identify with, who have similar values and want to lead fairly similar lifestyles?"

If the answer is no it isn't unreasonable, it could explain why I don't want to live anywhere near nasty racist bigots.......

For example, would British people be unreasonable if they are not happy to live with large groups of people who believe men and women should be segregated, women's bodies and even faces should be hidden away, etc.

This has nothing to do with racism.

"British" people? Presumably you are aware that Muslims can be British?

If the brits are v racist then why do all these folk keep immigrating here. Can it possibly be because of the benefits and free health care and education then? And if it is can we possibly be understandably pretty peed off?

pam as far as I am aware most women in Pakistan dont cover their heads? lol

see the UK is not my host country. How is it "hosting" me more then it is hosting you? I was born here and raised here. The fact that people attribute it as my "host" country instead of my home country shows the lack of tolerance and acceptance and the constant thinking of some foreigners as "other" which creates a self fulfilling prophecy.

Cote I would say yes it is unreasonable in part. I mean my lifestyle is I am a sahm, does that mean I wouldnt like to live around women who dont have kids and work 14 hours a day?

As for similar values, most people and belief systems share the same fundamental values, of charity being nice to others etc However if I believe it is important to stay at home until my kids are 5, and someone else doesnt, does that mean I shouldnt want to live next to them as our values are different?

Identity? If I identify as British and tick prefer not to say on ethnicity forms as I believe they are rubbish, does that mean I wouldn't want to be living next to someone who identifies themselves as Afro Caribbean etc?

Maisy hav you read the thread, and why do people still come when there visas say no access to public funds?

nailak can you name a country that is more tolerant than the UK?

How do you strike the balance between being tolerant and the doormat of the world?

Yes, seeker, I am aware of the existence of British Muslims, some of whom are my blood relatives but they don't think their sisters & wives need to be segregated and hidden away under black curtains.

Presumably, you are aware that "Muslim" doesn't mean "fundamentalist religious person stuck in 600 AD"?

"I mean my lifestyle is I am a sahm, does that mean I wouldnt like to live around women who dont have kids and work 14 hours a day?"

That obviously wasn't what I meant by lifestyle, any more than preferred color of one's underwear.

Your lifestyle is actually very alien to the UK of the 21st century - women segregated from men, covering yourself head to toe, living according to the ways and morals of ancient people totally unrelated to the British.

If some people are not totally happy to be living in the same city with you & people like you, do you really think that is "racism"?

Can anyone even tell your race from behind your veil?

i am the UK of the 21st century, how can I not be? How can the ancient people be unrelated to the British when I am British? and so is your family? so are they unrelated to the millions of British Muslims? or are the British Muslims some how not British enough to be considered relevant?

I dont wear niqaab cote, I know people that do and I can recognise them.

I am quite happy living in a city with people who are Hindu, Christian, Jehovas Witness etc and I don't understand why I would not be. I don't understand why anyone would be made unhappy bu living in a city with people who are different from them, and I dont understand where your concept of lifestyle and values ends?

reallytired I havent lived in any other country. I just know what I feel and have experienced in this country, which may not be overt racism most of the time, but like cote is saying, is the sense of not being accepted as British, as pam is saying constantly being told this is my "host" country rather then my home where I was born and bred etc

You are part of a small minority demographic that consists almost entirely of immigrants and converts, so no, can't say you are representative of UK in the 21st century.

British Muslims I socialise with and am related to are modern (as opposed to fundamentalist) with modern lifestyles (as opposed to one dating back to 600 AD). They have no problems living in the UK, and don't complain of racism or intolerance, despite their non-English looks, and in some cases quite heavy accents.

So isn't anyone going to answer my question?

Is it unreasonable to want to live with people you can identify with, who have similar values and want to lead fairly similar lifestyles?

what is modern? I mean I am using internet is that not modern? lol what is a modern lifestyle? rushing around with kids, using modern appliances etc?

I am not saying I am representative of anyone, Muslim or non Muslim, I am just saying that I am British of the 21st century and therefore cannot be alien to myself?

and when do people stop being considered immigrants? how many generations do they have had to be here for before people stop considering them as immigrants and foreigners and just as British?

How many Muslims have been born and bred here?

when someone was born here and had there kids here are they still an immigrant?

I did answer your question and I said yes it is unreasonable.

Especially as your concept of lifestyle and values seems to start and end at covering and free mixing, I mean if a tee totaller lives next to someone who goes to the pub every night it is not an issue?