Oh, good god!

[TheEarl]

I'm English through and through and I'm proud of that. I'm proud of the fact that my ancestors have all been English back to Anne Hathaway in the 16th Century. I patriotic and I'm happy to be English.

However everything has its context and saying that I'm English back to the 1500s is also saying that I'm part Norwegian, Swedish, French, Italian, Celt and quite possibly Spanish (as my mother's side of the family came from Liverpool, not far away from where some of the Armada survivors washed up).

Every English person is a mix of God knows how many races. And every white supremacist wanker in America, Australia and England should probably take into account that the dagoes they hate probably share the same blood as them. No white person and certainly not an Anglo-derived white person has pure blood.

The thing that scares me most of all is the people who support Nick Griffen, the 'acceptable' face of white supremacism in England and leader of the BNP (British Nationalist Party, subtitled as 'Yes, we're the wankers who hate blacks and Asians and gays'). I baulk whenever someone uses the word facist to describe George W. Bush. Bush isn't a facist. A man who runs an English political party with a manifesto claim of deporting anyone who doesn't fit their definition of English is a facist. But I digress.

These people don't consider themselves to be racist. They sympathise with the BNP. They agree that all of these Asian freeloaders should be chucked out of Britain (ignoring the fact that these 'Asian freeloaders' were born in the country and have as much right to be there as the white people), that all foreign aid should be stopped because the African nations are just spongers, that all Muslims should be interned if there was an Al-Quaeda terrorist threat. And they honestly don't believe they're racist. I've heard some of the most outrageous comments prefixed by "Well, I'm not racist, but..."

That kind of ignorance is scary. Why I actually stopped arguing with Hanns Schmidt on the GB. I was having fun debating with him and I pointed out that his argument made no sense unless he truly believed Arabian people were a lower form of life than him because of the colour of his skin. His answer: "That's what I do believe. They are."

How do people that stupid avoid evolution? What did they out-survive?

The Earl

 

[TheEarl]

Just thinking about the degree to which we judge people by our perceptions:

One of my favourite stand-up comedians is a man named Omid Djalili, who is half-English, half-Iranian. He looks very Arabian and plays it up with his clothes. He's not that famous outside of his fans and one of his common plays is to come on the stage and deliver about a minute of speech in a near unintelligible Iranian accent. You can see everyone who doesn't know him sit back and think - "Oh God, I've ended up watching 'ethnic' comedy."

Then he laughs and reverts to his normal Cockney accent, usually startling everyone who hasn't seen him before.

I have to say, he suckered me the first time I saw him. Scary how we react to both the expected and the unexpected.

The Earl

 

[cloudy]

Just thinking about the degree to which we judge people by our perceptions:

One of my favourite stand-up comedians is a man named Omid Djalili, who is half-English, half-Iranian. He looks very Arabian and plays it up with his clothes. He's not that famous outside of his fans and one of his common plays is to come on the stage and deliver about a minute of speech in a near unintelligible Iranian accent. You can see everyone who doesn't know him sit back and think - "Oh God, I've ended up watching 'ethnic' comedy."

Then he laughs and reverts to his normal Cockney accent, usually startling everyone who hasn't seen him before.

I have to say, he suckered me the first time I saw him. Scary how we react to both the expected and the unexpected.

The Earl

My favorite author, Sherman Alexie, also does stand-up comedy (he's a member of the Spokane tribe). He often starts his routine by playing a drunk indian heckler out in the audience, and it's fun to see the looks on people's faces when they don't realize who it is.

 

[oggbashan]

But you didn't forget she was slim or that she was short or that she has dark hair.

It's almost like you only 'forgot' the thing that would be considered negative. (and I could see that spots on your face might be considered negative)

Like you remembered she was slim, but if she had been heavy, you would have 'forgotten' that she was heavy. (because it's not polite to mention that someone is heavy, whereas it's polite to mention that someone is skinny)

and I know ogg, that you didn't mean it that way, because you've got one of the best hearts I know of here. I just wanted to point out the inconcistancies...

I didn't forget anything. The friend was trying to describe Ann to someone who had never seen her and Ann was listening. In those circumstances anyone would be tactful. When it is important that two people meet you have to describe one to another in terms that define the individual from any other person. Ann would have been blunt and said of herself 'Spotted like a Dalmatian'. I would have said the same because that was Ann's most obvious distinction on first sight and she is not self-conscious about it.

If I had to describe Ann? It depends on why I was describing her. The important thing about Ann is not her build or any physical characteristics. She loves people and it shows. Meeting Ann is like having a friendly hug from someone you like very much. It is difficult to be depressed when Ann is around. Ann is a very rare sort of person.

If you were to meet someone you didn't know it would a significant piece of information that they were dark-skinned, light-skinned or tanned. It would not help to say they were Polish, Texan, Yankee, Sioux, Cheyenne or whatever unless they would be wearing National costume.

What does a Frenchman mean to you? A beret and a string of onions around the neck? To the French an Englishman wears a bowler (derby) hat and carries a rolled umbrella. The 21st Century French person born and bred in France can look like an African, an Arab, a Vietnamese, whatever. All are French. The 21st Century English person can be any of those.

I am Vice-President of our local Chamber of Commerce. Our members can be described as British followed by a hyphen English; Welsh; Scots; Irish; Indian; Pakistani; Cypriot; Turkish; Lebanese; Sri Lankan; Nigerian; Hong Kong Chinese; Taiwanese; Greek; French; Italian - I think that is the total. Some do not have the 'British hyphen' because they retain their original nationality. It doesn't matter. As far as the Chamber of Commerce is concerned all that matters is that they pay their subscriptions and if possible help with our activities. That hodge-podge of nations/races keep re-electing me, not because I am British, but because I work for them. I wish the world was like that. Parts of the UK are.

Og

 

[she_is_my_addiction]

Aren't we ALL basically mutts anyway?

Basically.