Red is the attitude, being open to new ideas is more important than 10 A*GCSEs
Weeeellllll......
.....deep breathe....
.... yes, but....
The response of the liberal groups of the EU to the failings of the EU in not understanding the fear of closer ties within the EU has been to say 'We need closer ties within the EU'.
So I'm wary about what I say here. The Leave vote was often characterised by seeing new ideas as a threat to their identity / history / culture.
I think it comes down to how you do it, rather than what you do. The problem is the fear rather than the new idea. May is pandering to the fear, rather than addressing underlying reasons behind the fear. She is reinforcing the fear. (Unless she is going for the bizarre type of technique whereby someone with anarchophobia is forced to stick their hand in a bag of spiders to overcome the fear to make them realise that spiders aren't all that bad after all. Eg: She is flirting with fascism/economic problems because the public thought they would solve their problems as they are scared of the EU but come out realising that actually the EU isn't so bad afterall. Which would be utterly doomed to fail).
I think there needs to be a realisation by some quarters that under privileged groups ARE being written off / never given the chance because of their own prejudices being rather negative. You have to have a degree to fart these days. That's not right. That is a product of the promotion of 50% of people going to university and no other forms of education being available. We've gone out about culture in terms of which country people are from but I do think there is a working class / middle class culture which can be just as alien to each other.
Its a consequence of close mindedness due to various groups closing themselves in someway. This is a mutual thing though. Fuelled by lots of different forces.
Trying to apportion blame, does nothing to solve it.
There has to be a change in mindset where we recognise the value of working class people and working class culture. We recognise the value of various types of education as all being essential to the running of the country. Where we recognise that the health care assistant who wipes your backside in your old age is as important as the doctor that diagnoses your condition.
Ask the question, why don't unskilled British people want to become a health care assistant, and instead someone from Poland does it instead.
Is it simply because the Brit is lazy? Or is it also because the pay is so bad and the working conditions don't value them and the public attitude to them can be so appalling? I said before that the Arab Spring was motived by a quest for respect and dignity and not democracy. The idea of 'status' within British society is an important one to consider as it is central to the idea of identity too.
At the same time we have to ask the question about why education is a dirty word to others. Why do kids say to each other 'don't be a swat' and bully the clever kid for not conforming. Why does this threaten working class culture so much. Why is being a success viewed as a betrayal and perhaps more importantly something of a loss of identity? It is not being jealous. Its something more than that. Something that people place value on.
And by the same token - out of fear, either genuine or perceived - minority groups do isolate themselves in various ways, finding strength in their common heritage/religion/language.
In a sense I think it is about being more open minded about things, but I think its possibly more about placing such high value on things other than those have driven thinking in the past - such as university education and money - and not taking other things and people for granted. It relates to status within society and there being a hierarchy.
IMO, 'Schrödinger's Immigrant' can be explained by this. The immigrant who steals your job whilst simultaneously taking benefits from your country. Its about status.
The immigrant who you perceive to take your status in the eyes of society whilst you try and assert your status as not being at the bottom of the pile by focusing on a particular negative stereotype(s).
Also as a side note to this, if you are not British born, and grown up in that mindset, I think its incredibly difficult to understand and appreciate the very idea of British classes and why its so fucked in the head as a concept. As liberal minded we proclaim ourselves to be as a society, and we look to the outside world, we are not as into equality quite as we'd like to admit when it comes down to it.
As I say its a complex task, one that needs to be tackled from all sides. It does require education to be used and encouraged. It does require open mindedness. But that's not a one way street either.
Immigrants are good for our society, but so are working class people and we should value them too, is probably the simplest terms you can put it down to.
None of this British jobs for British people nonsense which actually starts to pit the two against either other (and you could argue here - protects the status of the white British middle / upper class establishment in someway - and allows them to consolidate power. The term divide and conquer has been thrown about a bit for a reason.)
I hope this post does proper justice to the subject. Its difficult to explain without sounding like a twat or upsetting someone somehow.