Subject: Another phobia perspective
My last blog concerned itself with my own concern of the power of a specific minority groups to effect discussion and modify free speech within society as a whole.
After having written my blog I tuned into a parliamentary committee meeting discussing not only anti- semitism but islamophobia.
Not being Jewish and not being Muslim excludes me from fully understanding the effect of belonging to a religious minority each with its strict rules of behaviour and dress, each with a strict code which identify them from me. And it's here that I draw most of my criticism. It's my sense of being excluded and patronised in my own country, excluded, not so much from the ceremony in the mosque and the Synagogue but excluded from having an opinion on each group, particularly their exclusivity, not only in the respective places of worship but in their homes and their social construct. I remember calling on a Muslim chaps house to collect a test meter. It had been arranged but his wife, fully veiled would only talk to me through the window, she called on her young daughter to meet me at the door and hand over the meter. This was in the UK in 2012 not Mogadishu and a custom which I contend is alien to our country is part of the social fabric of people living next door.
The committee focused almost wholly on the difficulties that these minority groups experienced at the hands of the majority. Each representative who appeared before the committee to answer questions, the police, the racial equalities board, MPs who had written reports about the issues Muslims and Jews experience but not one representative or mention of the troubles the white working class experience in the very same town dotted across the country. Towns who's whole ethos has been turned inside out by the influence of the swelling Muslim population. Their evidence was a blank slate in a sea of heart searching from the white parliamentarians who seemed heartened in their support for minorities but seemingly oblivious of the issues brought on people who only 50 years ago had never seen a Muslim but who now are accused of resentment to a phenomena which has changed their lives.
The 'inclusion' (of minorities) and the 'exclusion' (by minorities) runs at the root of this thorny social conundrum. Exclusion from anything is bound to cause some sort of resentment , be it the club because your not wearing a tie, to any gathering which tells you you are not welcome. This is particularly true if the demographics have changed beyond recognition in your life time. Told to accept it as the new paradigm the people who regard themselves as part of the old fabric are exhorted to mix and merge, to form new identities, to accept the new multicultural nature of their previously, all white, C of E environment, for a polyglot to which they feel they don't belong.
My last blog concerned itself with my own concern of the power of a specific minority groups to effect discussion and modify free speech within society as a whole.
After having written my blog I tuned into a parliamentary committee meeting discussing not only anti- semitism but islamophobia.
Not being Jewish and not being Muslim excludes me from fully understanding the effect of belonging to a religious minority each with its strict rules of behaviour and dress, each with a strict code which identify them from me. And it's here that I draw most of my criticism. It's my sense of being excluded and patronised in my own country, excluded, not so much from the ceremony in the mosque and the Synagogue but excluded from having an opinion on each group, particularly their exclusivity, not only in the respective places of worship but in their homes and their social construct. I remember calling on a Muslim chaps house to collect a test meter. It had been arranged but his wife, fully veiled would only talk to me through the window, she called on her young daughter to meet me at the door and hand over the meter. This was in the UK in 2012 not Mogadishu and a custom which I contend is alien to our country is part of the social fabric of people living next door.
The committee focused almost wholly on the difficulties that these minority groups experienced at the hands of the majority. Each representative who appeared before the committee to answer questions, the police, the racial equalities board, MPs who had written reports about the issues Muslims and Jews experience but not one representative or mention of the troubles the white working class experience in the very same town dotted across the country. Towns who's whole ethos has been turned inside out by the influence of the swelling Muslim population. Their evidence was a blank slate in a sea of heart searching from the white parliamentarians who seemed heartened in their support for minorities but seemingly oblivious of the issues brought on people who only 50 years ago had never seen a Muslim but who now are accused of resentment to a phenomena which has changed their lives.
The 'inclusion' (of minorities) and the 'exclusion' (by minorities) runs at the root of this thorny social conundrum. Exclusion from anything is bound to cause some sort of resentment , be it the club because your not wearing a tie, to any gathering which tells you you are not welcome. This is particularly true if the demographics have changed beyond recognition in your life time. Told to accept it as the new paradigm the people who regard themselves as part of the old fabric are exhorted to mix and merge, to form new identities, to accept the new multicultural nature of their previously, all white, C of E environment, for a polyglot to which they feel they don't belong.
Wes Streeting the MP, who has an almost religious fervour to educate us on all matters deemed racist, a staunch defender of LGBT rights, clarified the matter by virtually demanding that other views, other than his own are wrong.
It's the black and white aspect (no pun intended) which makes this matter so difficult to resolve. People are becoming anxious about the pressure the establishment is putting on them by propagating a stream of definitions of what you can do and say, and free speech inevitably comes under pressure. Of course it's not only free speech but it's the implication of prejudice both in the work place and other spheres of social interaction. Prejudice has always been part of social discourse.
You only have to listen to a conversation between supporters of Arsenal and Tottenham to hear bias and prejudice but we accept this as normal.
We are in an increasingly difficult era where the minorities are well represented by people who speak up for the minority cause. Sadly there seems no complimentary concern about the discrimination against millions of white working class people who are lampooned every day on reality TV as being not fit for purpose. These are the very people who are now asked to accept the change to that fundamentally precious essence of local and national identity.
We are in an increasingly difficult era where the minorities are well represented by people who speak up for the minority cause. Sadly there seems no complimentary concern about the discrimination against millions of white working class people who are lampooned every day on reality TV as being not fit for purpose. These are the very people who are now asked to accept the change to that fundamentally precious essence of local and national identity.
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