The post you are reporting:
Deep breath for this one....
PaulB's original posting has really highlighted a very sad, very true reality of modern life. Roger's fear to comment in any depth is proof of the disgusting bullying that our society embarks upon if someone dares to make any type of comment, joke, or racial reference, regardless of how harmless it is. I too feel far too intimidated by our wretched so-called "social values" to make my own views widely known, and that sucks.
One of the things that REALLY bothers me about the modern world isn't so much the racial mixing pot that we live in but the religious webs we have become tangled in. These days (really since 9-11) religious criticism has become a new form of "racism". Most of you know that I have strong negative views on most religions, and yes that includes but is not limited to Islam, and yet if I were to express these views strongly then I get branded a "racist".
This is absolute nonsense. We have all forgotten that religion is NOT race. It is a set of lifestyle rules, ideas, concepts, intellectual and spiritual theory, and pure belief system. It is not skin colour nor racially relevant in any way. Any human being on earth of any race can become Catholic, Christian, Muslim, or whatever. Because of these facts, no religion should be outside the scope of criticism or challenge. Nobody is born a Muslim, Catholic, Christian, or Satanist, people BECOME religious either through education and upbringing or through choice. It has nothing to do with race.
And this is where the point has become moot. Religions are now so self-protecting, so self-important, and so utterly impenetrable by the casual critic that we have even had to pass laws against making views known against them. While we still live in a largely secular society, we do have big communities of various religions in this country which is fair enough, but when natives (ie us lot) feel unable to make even the slightest argument against them or express any type of negative opinion against them, or even crack a harmless joke, then surely this is a type of thought-policing aimed at keeping the secular majority silent while the religious minorities go about whatever business they do unchallenged, unaccountable, and unenforced. It's a pure form of fascism designed to twist the secular majority's arm behind its back for the sake of a "quiet life".
If we are going to continue living in this mixed society of different races and religions (note they are two different things) then at the very least we should NOT feel too intimidated to express challenging views against the belief systems and the ideas which inspire them, whether native or not, that we are being forced to dwell among. But sadly, I fear we are too intimidated and so we remain utterly silent most of the time.
Living in a multi-race England has never worried me personally. In many ways the experience has been enriching and liberating. It is multi-culturalism, the face of mixing religious ideals, which is like mixing oil and water. I really do not believe it works. In my 38 years of being a proud Brit, I have NEVER felt that the country was so fragmented, divided, and troubled. And I have the feeling that the legacy of multi-culture is part good and part bad. The REALLY bad part being the inability to discuss the bad parts!
In an age where we change our Christmas carol festivals in case we offend Muslims, or get it in the neck for waving UK flags, it seems that nobody is capable of being racist except whites; everybody has rights except the quiet secular majority; and you can feel like a criminal just for having an opinion. Should it be such a crime to cause "offense"? The WORST part of all this is when your OWN people turn against you simply because you have a challenging view or found a harmless joke amusing. This is the really damned ugly side of multi-culture, where we start to cannibalise our own and making victims of our friends just so we can appear to be on "the right side". I'm sure you know what I mean Roger.
In some ways you could argue that the "rivers of blood" speech is in hindsight highly symbolic, and not literal, in expressing how the British viewpoint has been bled dry in the multi-culture environment. It's an interesting idea which I'd love to explore on this forum in great depth but like, yeah, that's really gonna happen.
Okay roll up, roll up, let's see who will be the first to brand me a racist.
Another deep breath Rick......