As I bumbled along trying to observe the 20mph speed limit, I imagined selling our house and somehow finding a tiny yet amazing cottage of our own to move to, and how somehow I would work from home, keep chickens and look out at the view all the time.
I rounded a corner and there was a house with a St George's cross flag proudly flapping in the garden. A couple of doors down there was a Union Jack (on proper flag poles of course, this is no lower class village!) and then I noticed a few posters for a certain political party dotted around.
I was so disappointed! I don't want to live amongst a bunch of racists!
I don't understand why people want to keep England all to themselves, why they have such issues with foreigners "taking all our jobs" and "stealing our medical care". How does that make sense?
Why is it "ours"?
Why is one person entitled to more or less than anyone else?
We don't choose to be born and we don't choose where to be born, so surely if we're in a country which has these luxuries then we are lucky? If those less fortunate travel here to try to get in on the action, that just makes them smart. And people DIE trying to get here.
I don't know, the whole national pride (of any country) just makes me really uncomfortable. It's good to celebrate culture and differences, and be proud of our history and show these things to visitors, but when we start suggesting one country or region is better than another it all gets a bit horrible. Even popular sports between countries make me uneasy.
Why can't we be friends?
People cling to their nationality and monarchy as if that is how life has and always should be. Monarchy is actually a fairly recent thing, and if your ruler was Henry VIII or Queen Victoria would you love them as much? It's gone all celebrity and there's no way you'd admire the Middleton so much if she was ugly and camera-shy.
As for the "this is how it has always been" argument, No, it really hasn't. For a long time we didn't have immunisations, but now only very odd sceptics of science would dare to put their child's life at risk. How it has always been is not the future.
If you weren't white in the not so distant past your life in Britain could be a nightmare, although some archaic political parties today still think that would be fair.
If you dared to joke about the Queen's speech, it would be the traditional thing to have your head cut off, preferably in front of your family. Mmm nice.
I'm talking about progress, a more informed future- do you REALLY believe any race is less human than ours? That because they were born in a different place that means "tough luck, this is ours"?
You really think that your kids socialising with "their" kids is going to infect them somehow? It's such a load of rubbish.
It's backwards, it's ignorance. Maybe there is a reason for that ignorance, but not now. I'm telling you here and now, that it's not ok.
You CAN be friends.
Why can't we be friends?
People cling to their nationality and monarchy as if that is how life has and always should be. Monarchy is actually a fairly recent thing, and if your ruler was Henry VIII or Queen Victoria would you love them as much? It's gone all celebrity and there's no way you'd admire the Middleton so much if she was ugly and camera-shy.
As for the "this is how it has always been" argument, No, it really hasn't. For a long time we didn't have immunisations, but now only very odd sceptics of science would dare to put their child's life at risk. How it has always been is not the future.
If you weren't white in the not so distant past your life in Britain could be a nightmare, although some archaic political parties today still think that would be fair.
If you dared to joke about the Queen's speech, it would be the traditional thing to have your head cut off, preferably in front of your family. Mmm nice.
I'm talking about progress, a more informed future- do you REALLY believe any race is less human than ours? That because they were born in a different place that means "tough luck, this is ours"?
You really think that your kids socialising with "their" kids is going to infect them somehow? It's such a load of rubbish.
It's backwards, it's ignorance. Maybe there is a reason for that ignorance, but not now. I'm telling you here and now, that it's not ok.
You CAN be friends.
The political party of which you speak were out in force in a local town at the weekend - they seemed to be getting a lot of attention, which made me very sad. I completely agree with you - why can't we all just be nice to each other? Life would be a lot simpler then... xxx
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