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So You Think You're English, Huh?
Posted on: Saturday, July 31, 2004
Shabat shalom.
Heh, I had a big electronic bust-up with an individual yesterday. A guy wrote me vituperating my blog for throwing mud at his country (Britain). Immediately I thought, Donnerwetter noch mal, noch ein Herr Gedankenpolizist. But after a few exchanges I caught on to the fact that he was Asian European (Chinese, not from the Inidan subcontinent). I thought that particularly odd since I'd never come across someone of the Chinese extraction who gives a monkeys ass about the welfare of Britain, never mind one who could easily be a BNP subfuhrer. It would be too tedious giving a synopsis of our exchange but basically he was born in Britain, brought up there, went to public (state) school and is doing a telecoms job now. He'd never experienced any racism. Good for him. So that made him British and proud to be thus at that. In every paragraph he would emphasize the fact he was British. Right. The same way Jews-4-Jesus are Jewish. Yeah. Aha.
Except they're not.
And he's not.
So he was born in Britain. And? I was born in Yugoslavia. Does that make me Yugoslavian (or Croatian, as it is now)? Of course not. I've no more in common with Croats than I do with the Maori. About forty percent of them would slaughter me given half the chance. He has a British passport. Mazel tov. What does it prove though? Jack squat. Legally he is British. Does it matter? No. If his parents or grandparents had been born just a little bit more to the south, he'd be treated like a piece of shit wherever he traveled because his skin would be darker, hence he'd be a potential terrorist, especially as far as the US is concerned. (It is a well-known fact that the DHS has authorized use of racial profiling at US airports--hardly anyone's uttered a word of protest since.) This is beside the daily abuse he'd experience at the hands of the "police" who'd harass him thinking he might be a Muslim and hence, yes, a potential terrorist. (Though, of course, the "police" don't actually think that; they're simply letting off their sadism by molesting Muslims now it's too risky to do it to African Europeans post-Stephen Lawrence.) He doesn't realize that he isn't Brtish and--short of doing a Michael Jackson--never will be; not he, not his children, not his grandchildren. I'm not saying this because *I* highlight his complexion and other "racial" features. As far as I go, there is only one race and that is the human race. Nothing else matters. Not your ethnicity, not your nationality, not your culture, not your heritage, not your religion, etc, etc. But very few people see it like that. And if I don't bring the guy down to earth, someone else will. Much harder.
You can be born and bred on that island. You can walk and talk like the Britishers. You can be as well educated as they or better. You can have as big a house as they, drive as flashy an automobile as they. You can earn as much as they and have as good a job as they. You can be as obnoxious in xenophobia, retrospection, introversion and bigotry as they. You can drink "tea at five". But you, my dear Chinese friend, will NOT be British. If I took off my kipah and started speaking like a ponce, I'd be allowed entry into places and societies which will remain firmly shut to you till the Mashiach comes Himself. You have to understand that the vast majority of Caucasian teabags do not accept you; they tolerate you. So long as you ask nothing of them, they will tolerate you... - but they would definitely not want their daughter to come back home with you. And even that could change with another couple of summers of "race" riots in Burnley or Oldham.
I'm not saying he should hate Britain (although when one considers how the sconeheads screwed the Chinese in the Opium Wars it's difficult to see how not to hate it). My point is he should not put al his eggs in one basket because he'll get disappointed. Big-time. He should not try to gain full acceptance by treating others the way his parents had been treated.* (A) he will never get full acceptance no matter what he does, and (b) it's just pathetic. Ultimately, a country is no more than a line on the map drawn by a human. There's nothing natural about it. To defend "your" street, school and perhaps city, ie. environment in which you grew up, I understand. But country?! It's not like Britain is Israel where the very existence of a nation is imperilled. So, dude: chill! Leave Britain alone. Be a citizen of the world. Don't waste your life fighting for something that has caused so much misery in the past centuries, the results of which are arguably even more visible and acute today. Especially don't do it out of such misguided motives: hope for acceptance. If you want to fight for a worthy cause, fight for the people whose lives were doomed for generations to come by Britain's actions: from erstwhile colonial Africa to the people of Iraq where Britain just executed an illegal aggression. Or the people of Uzbekistan who are living like animals because it's in Britain's political interests to keep its wicked regime propped up. Or the people of SE Asia and South America who are suffering thru neocolonialism working all day long for a couple of bucks a month to make trainers you then pay $200 for, $185 of which line the pockets of modern-day slave-runners (aka. CEOs).
* This is what completely baffles me when I see someone from an "ethnic minority" take the Tory or Blunkett line on immigration. I mean, your own grandparents and parents were "welcomed" to Britain with signs of "No Irish, No dogs, No blacks." And now you are doing practically the same to others. Disgusting.
Have a shavua tov. Shalom, shalom.
Posted on: Saturday, July 31, 2004
ב''ה
Shabat shalom.
Heh, I had a big electronic bust-up with an individual yesterday. A guy wrote me vituperating my blog for throwing mud at his country (Britain). Immediately I thought, Donnerwetter noch mal, noch ein Herr Gedankenpolizist. But after a few exchanges I caught on to the fact that he was Asian European (Chinese, not from the Inidan subcontinent). I thought that particularly odd since I'd never come across someone of the Chinese extraction who gives a monkeys ass about the welfare of Britain, never mind one who could easily be a BNP subfuhrer. It would be too tedious giving a synopsis of our exchange but basically he was born in Britain, brought up there, went to public (state) school and is doing a telecoms job now. He'd never experienced any racism. Good for him. So that made him British and proud to be thus at that. In every paragraph he would emphasize the fact he was British. Right. The same way Jews-4-Jesus are Jewish. Yeah. Aha.
Except they're not.
And he's not.
So he was born in Britain. And? I was born in Yugoslavia. Does that make me Yugoslavian (or Croatian, as it is now)? Of course not. I've no more in common with Croats than I do with the Maori. About forty percent of them would slaughter me given half the chance. He has a British passport. Mazel tov. What does it prove though? Jack squat. Legally he is British. Does it matter? No. If his parents or grandparents had been born just a little bit more to the south, he'd be treated like a piece of shit wherever he traveled because his skin would be darker, hence he'd be a potential terrorist, especially as far as the US is concerned. (It is a well-known fact that the DHS has authorized use of racial profiling at US airports--hardly anyone's uttered a word of protest since.) This is beside the daily abuse he'd experience at the hands of the "police" who'd harass him thinking he might be a Muslim and hence, yes, a potential terrorist. (Though, of course, the "police" don't actually think that; they're simply letting off their sadism by molesting Muslims now it's too risky to do it to African Europeans post-Stephen Lawrence.) He doesn't realize that he isn't Brtish and--short of doing a Michael Jackson--never will be; not he, not his children, not his grandchildren. I'm not saying this because *I* highlight his complexion and other "racial" features. As far as I go, there is only one race and that is the human race. Nothing else matters. Not your ethnicity, not your nationality, not your culture, not your heritage, not your religion, etc, etc. But very few people see it like that. And if I don't bring the guy down to earth, someone else will. Much harder.
You can be born and bred on that island. You can walk and talk like the Britishers. You can be as well educated as they or better. You can have as big a house as they, drive as flashy an automobile as they. You can earn as much as they and have as good a job as they. You can be as obnoxious in xenophobia, retrospection, introversion and bigotry as they. You can drink "tea at five". But you, my dear Chinese friend, will NOT be British. If I took off my kipah and started speaking like a ponce, I'd be allowed entry into places and societies which will remain firmly shut to you till the Mashiach comes Himself. You have to understand that the vast majority of Caucasian teabags do not accept you; they tolerate you. So long as you ask nothing of them, they will tolerate you... - but they would definitely not want their daughter to come back home with you. And even that could change with another couple of summers of "race" riots in Burnley or Oldham.
I'm not saying he should hate Britain (although when one considers how the sconeheads screwed the Chinese in the Opium Wars it's difficult to see how not to hate it). My point is he should not put al his eggs in one basket because he'll get disappointed. Big-time. He should not try to gain full acceptance by treating others the way his parents had been treated.* (A) he will never get full acceptance no matter what he does, and (b) it's just pathetic. Ultimately, a country is no more than a line on the map drawn by a human. There's nothing natural about it. To defend "your" street, school and perhaps city, ie. environment in which you grew up, I understand. But country?! It's not like Britain is Israel where the very existence of a nation is imperilled. So, dude: chill! Leave Britain alone. Be a citizen of the world. Don't waste your life fighting for something that has caused so much misery in the past centuries, the results of which are arguably even more visible and acute today. Especially don't do it out of such misguided motives: hope for acceptance. If you want to fight for a worthy cause, fight for the people whose lives were doomed for generations to come by Britain's actions: from erstwhile colonial Africa to the people of Iraq where Britain just executed an illegal aggression. Or the people of Uzbekistan who are living like animals because it's in Britain's political interests to keep its wicked regime propped up. Or the people of SE Asia and South America who are suffering thru neocolonialism working all day long for a couple of bucks a month to make trainers you then pay $200 for, $185 of which line the pockets of modern-day slave-runners (aka. CEOs).
* This is what completely baffles me when I see someone from an "ethnic minority" take the Tory or Blunkett line on immigration. I mean, your own grandparents and parents were "welcomed" to Britain with signs of "No Irish, No dogs, No blacks." And now you are doing practically the same to others. Disgusting.
Have a shavua tov. Shalom, shalom.
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