Not So Black And White
An Englishman is a person who does things because they have been done before. An American is a person who does things because they haven't been done before.
So said Mark Twain, well over a century ago.
Last week, the great American continent proved the truth of this observation by pioneering the election of Barack Obama. That gentleman is - and I'm borrowing his own phrase and mean no disrespect here - a mutt. What could be more appropriate for all the values embodied in the Constitution? What a symbol of the brotherhood of man! Was it a case of life mimicking art, the corporate psyche well-primed by 24 and West Wing? Or was it the loudest cry from the soul of the people, worn down by two centuries of attrition, for the dissolving of barriers?
What it portends for Britain, I don't know. But I do know that we couldn't articulate the term 'black President' - or even white President (substitute 'Prime Minister' here for the time being) without a lot of flak and threatened lawsuits. Things are that sensitive. We bend over backwards to avoid giving 'racial' offence in any form. Whilst the Scots and the Welsh can happily fly the Red Dragon and the St Andrew's saltire, the English flag of St George seems to evoke memories of a call-to-arms and is largely banned. Apparently, it wasn't the Welsh dragon St George slew!
Political correctness has shredded our humanity to something so puerile and vapid that even a well-intentioned joke can't be risked. The only folk to emerge from this with any credit are the Irish who don't mind us ribbing them and are ready to laugh with us that Paddy mooted having extra time at the beginning of the cricket match in case it rained.
I had to smile at Dale Estey's recent post Never Sure About Irony. As a native of Leicestershire in the East Midlands, until ten years ago, I know this species of salutation from an African or Asian to be very common, at least it was in the seventies and eighties. "How's you doin', Boss?" or "'Elaw cuzzin!" was usually counterweighted with the grinning caveat: "We take over!"
To see the shrines in the Sikh and Hindu workplaces, whose pillars secrete rolls of readily transactable banknotes, one finds it easy to believe. In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash was the legend emblazoned above it!
Employers must provide facilities for the washing of feet and the producing of prayer mats for the midday ritual of obeisance towards Mecca. I remember the expansive music studio at the top of the Charles Wilson building at Leicester University being stacked with mats for this purpose, and the pervasive aroma of Tandoori spice in the afternoon while I attempted a passable rendition of Che Faro from Gluck's Orfeo or a Come ye sons of Art duet from Purcell. When Leicester claims its culture is eclectic, it means it!
Around half of the city's 300,000 population is ethnic and each autumn sees a celebration of Diwali which is reputed to be the biggest outside India. England's most extravagant Christmas illuminations bear no comparison with the refulgent garlands and motifs marking the Festival of Light along Belgrave's 'Golden Mile'. Residents have done sterling work in regenerating this area. The Bollywood-style shops gleam and twinkle with gold and gems, with silks and muslins of lustrous purple and crimson, turquoise, citron, flame and indigo; with confections of spun sugar, pistachios, almonds, honey, rose and lemon Eastern delight, with arabesque-patterned carpets and displays of pungent spices and herbs, all savouring of far-flung bazaars and the Silk Routes. And even on a wet winter day, the splendour of an Indian summer glows in the flowing silks below the quilt-lined macs and faux furs.
I can only think our national character is wrought by these exchanges and that our mortal span is ultimately enriched.
The forces in play make it impossible to guess where the country's going. A Rastafarian or Sharia Prime Minister, despite the largesse of the Archbishop of Canterbury, is unlikely to be on the cards. But a hobgoblin from Dublin...now he just might stand an outside chance!
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David Niall Wilson says:
Political Correctness
I had no idea that this was such an issue in Britain, though on closer thought I suppose it doesn't really surprise me. We have been moving that way in America for some time, the movement championed by the very people who once cried "Do your own thing" and stuck flowers in the ends of soldier's guns. It really does hamstring society.
There is a lot of talk about not offending people of one race or another, but never do we hear people suggesting that it's a two way respect. We are a diverse race, we humans. We have a lot of varied ideas, faiths, and philosophies. It's as important that we respect the rights of others NOT to participate in our beliefes as it is for them to respect us, but that is often lost in the crossfire. Everyone loves a cause.
I hope that the world is shifting in a great number of "good" ways toward a more forgiving and "fair" world, but that in making that shift we don't go too far. Politically correct is - of course - an oxymoron.
David
Rosy Cole says:
Semper Eadem
That's the motto of Leicester City Council.
On the one hand, they have worked with exemplary diligence to accommodate people of other races, often to the detriment of the native English. The factory inspectorate have not been eager to prosecute the incomers for some of their working conditions and practices and for the long hours immigrant employers often expect. They have been willing to work and have boosted the economy. This, of course, has given rise to complaint from white people who have recourse to Trade Unions. (I have to say 'white' here because Leicester is now into its third and fourth generation of the Commonwealth influx and most of those folk are now native British and have no trace of any accent but an East Midlands one.)
On the other hand, since the days of the powerful Liberal reformers of the Victorian era, after the self-interest of the moneyed Tory Corporations of Georgian times, Leicester still has a most marked Us and Them attitude to life which nothing has cancelled and which is revealed on multiple levels. Leicester was at the cutting edge of the British Industrial Revolution* and was the home of the Luddite movement, so this trait goes very deep. I'm not sure where the city stands now, but half a century ago it was the second richest in Europe per head of population. Hence its attraction for those seeking a new future.
Up to now, however, a mysterious balance has been achieved, despite many problems - the cultural pulse of the place is exciting. Leicester has not seen the rioting of cities like Bradford and Bristol which have a high saturation of ethnic people.
Anyway, thanks for your interest, David. Much appreciated.
Rosy
*I've written about this in A HOUSE NOT MADE WITH HANDS.
http://www.redroom.com/publishedwork/a-house-not-made-with-hands