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from ammocity.com politics and society
and amongst the phobias being expressed by conservatives on the right or the platitudonal niceties of tip-toeing around the issue by liberals on the left, the one reality that is rarely faced is that it's about time that we stopped complaining and whining endlessly about this issue and simply embrace immigration for the positive things that it has contributed to our country as a whole. ultimately, there isn't now nor will there probably ever be a problem here, and the sooner british people set their fears aside the better they will be for it. the concept there that our inherent culture as a nation is in threat from the invading disease-ridden and crime-prone hordes from eastern europe or africa is an utter myth of insulting proportions and one that is being fueled and cynically capitalised upon by certain groups within society ranging from tabloids like the sun through to bnp candidates looking for support (who are perfect little angels really so they'll have us believe when it comes to loving equally their fellow man of colour). how we, as a society, have fallen victim to this sort of nonsense and been suckered yet again into a debate of this sort remains something of a mystery.
british culture has still remained intact and the same apocalyptic vision of the future courtesy of immigration that enoch powell forewarned us would happen within 20 years of his infamous "rivers of blood" speech in wolverhampton in 1968 still hasn't materialised some 34 years later. when then, as a nation will we get over this? perhaps rather than fear outsiders, what we should be more worried about is our own apparent insecurities as a people that we are afraid that we cannot just relax and enjoy our own heritage for what it is. all of which assumes that a heritage based on some sort of arrogance of uniqueness as white people is even worth preserving anyway when in reality we have benefited enormously as a country from the natural enrichment we have been blessed with courtesy of cultural diversity as a multi-racial society. in america, the very same anti-immigrationist arguments have been used repeatedly too. cities as far apart as miami on the east coast and san diego on the west coast have experienced a massive influx of latino immigration in the last decade and yet ultimately both cities have flourished. and what of the biggest city of them all - new york? an estimated 40% of the population there is first of second generation immigrant and yet it still lives on as probably the most exciting city on the planet with it's ensuing colour and vitality as a major part of the very reason why.
how many parents bitching about immigrants taking away their son's job are prepared to send their kids down to macdonalds to flip burgers for minimum wage because the majority of people arriving here from kosovo or afghanistan are not arriving here with degrees in accountancy or law. notwithstanding that, the last decade has seen the emergence of a global free market economy and, whether you like the capitalist system or not, that's a reality that we are dealing with. if ever the principal of the best qualified for the jobs applies, then it's now more than ever. if an employer in the uk wants to hire a carpenter for a job and the best qualified applicant for that is an immigrant then who is to say that he has to employ the lesser skilled uk national instead as long as he is paying that person at least minimum wage? indeed that isn't a particularly unique principal at all. the removal of national barriers within eec countries currently affords us that very possibility already so if it's good enough for us then presumably we shouldn't complain too much about the general notion when applied to others. where the real concern is here however, is in the mentality and perhaps real reason behind why certain groups and individuals strongly oppose immigration into the uk in the first place. groups such as migration watch uk present themselves as independent think tanks whilst the media has pointed out the affiliations of it's founders to the conservative party, and the bnp praises its setting up. this is true on both sides of the ocean as well. similarly so, the majority of anti-immigration groups in the us are all of a distinct right wing political leaning and it is not coincidence here that those who have repeatedly opposed allowing non-whites into the country or called for restrictions in this area have always had more loyalties to the main conservative parties (whether it be the tories in the uk or the republicans in the us) than anyone else. little wonder then that these parties have had to fight off the labels at times of being elitist and exclusionary, if not just downright racist at times with the majority of ethnic minorities never voting for them including a staggering 92% of the black vote in the recent us presidential election going against george w. bush. indeed, it is almost sadly humorous how such backward attitudes can appear in almost identical format.
curiously enough, a whole 10 years later, arch us conservative and veteran of the nixon administration, pat buchanan made reference in a speech in california in 2000 of how mexican-american immigrants supported the mexican side in a soccer friendly against the usa. it's not known if either men have shared their fantasies in a internet chat room since. what is the case however is that the evolutionary process of a multi-racial society carries on and it seems to always be doing so without any of those nightmarish predictions from closet racists of social collapse ever happening. life goes on as they say.
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