Them and Us

If you wish to bake a cake it is fundamental that you have the right ingredients.
Any thing which which has a fermentation process is liable to be volatile if the ingredients aren't properly measured.
Last nights attack on Paris was predictable because, although no politician dare hold up his hand and admit they got it wrong, the process of globalisation and the rush to accept multiculturalism as a price worth having to create a market for goods and services which also ignores boarders and ethnicity, has a price tag.
Under normal integration the forces which make a person identify with their nationality and create a sense of identity separate from the people you currently live with usually dies out within a generation maybe two. My own experience in South Africa where my kids were completely adsorbed into the culture that was South African is a case in point. There was no celebration of their Dad's culture to deflect them from growing up and accepting the culture of the people around them. There was no religious symbolism for them to identify with which could confuse as to who they were.
That being said the ties to ones past are sustained by customs and generally are welcomed by most people as bringing variation to ones own setting.

The Hindu's have just celebrated Diwali and it was fascinating to watch the rhythmic highly charged dancers dancing in the Wembley Stadium in a show put on for the Indian Prime Minister Mr Modi. Here was a peaceful enactment of a cultural affinity with their ethnic link to India. 

The Muslim religious observance of Ramadan and the celebration of Eid at the end of the fast has also recently been celebrated and works in harmony with our own culture.
Needless to say there are people who decry what they would call an alien or foreign manifestation of collective will on these shores, since whilst it is harmless, it can be seen by some as divisive.
We have on the one hand the concept of a mixed up cultural hybrid, multiculturalism where people blend into one standard integrated culture, respecting each other and acknowledging each other whilst we also celebrate our differences and find minority cohesion through the acknowledgement that we are different.
Normally we find no great tension arising from these outward displays of cultural disparity and put it down to the rich tapestry of the world and its complex history.
But deep down there can be, dependent on the size and strength of the demonstration of a different set of values, usually in regard to a religious belief, an unease that people in increasing numbers believe in a different set of values.
Values are largely what define a nation. Shared values make us think as one and feel the collegiate bond strongest when supporting ones own national team. We are perplexed when the Edgbaston cricket ground is full to the rafters with the 'sub continent' diaspora cheering on India or Pakistan, rather than their adopted country.
Deep down we both understand and acknowledge that transformation can never take place as long as we continue to celebrate our cultural uniqueness and because this is about identification as well as religious observance, there will always be an element of them and us.
It is increasingly clear that it becomes a numbers game and we must address the intake of "them" if we want to remain and be able to recognise "us" in the future.