(I’m only saying that so I don’t look racist)
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OK, no problem. She’s from Birmingham, but as needlessly pointed out in the article has a Pakistani/Bosnian heritage. Why they felt the need to mention that is beyond me, especially as their headline states “Birmingham woman”. She’s British, her ancestry has no relevance(to most).
I guess it depends on whether she feels British. She may be from Birmingham but that doesn’t neccesarily mean she feels or wants to be British. She looks like a bit of a hippy so probably calls herself a citizen of the world. The good thing is that her lienage would probably have been muslim, but what with her dyed hair and piercings, I reckon she has thrown off the shackles of that backward religion, making her an even bigger poster-girl for the Barry Sanchez campaign. She what happens when we get rid of religion? Women are out, looking pretty with nice hair and piercings, but having a voice and being feisty. I wouldn’t be surprised is she was a lesbian or bi sexual. She has certainly smoked some drugs at some point*
* I may have made some assumptions in this post
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On that note if people just identify themselves as a religion and a nation can I label myself a British atheist at every opportunity?
I thought that the girl who stood up for the woman being attacked showed very British values - looking after the oppressed and the underdog. The twat shouting his mouth off is the type of person that I would happily build a wall to keep out of the country. The fact that she has received so much postive attention also shows “integration.” What is does also show is that the bigots of this world are not acceptable in any decent society and if integration is to be achieved these twats need to be addressed. Yes there was an EDL demo, but they are in the minority thank God, and are ridiculed in general. Why, because integration is working more than it isnt, if you get my drift. Sadly, in all societies there are twats who kick off against what they consider to be outsiders.
I don’t believe there is any such thing as “British values”. It’s a nonsensical term.
i don’t think the photo shows anything like what you suggest. It shows that bigotry is not acceptable? To her maybe, but we have plenty of bigots in this country. You quite often bring up this sort of thing, hate crimes on the increase and whatnot.
Not a bad effort but I’ve just built myself a little tiki bar so I drink my paint stripper there.
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I’ll get a photo if I can ha ha!
I dont agree about values Fatso. I think all countries have something which makes them a bit different. But that is something for another thread!
I was thinking more about the reaction that that clip and that photo, which has been very supportive of her action against the EDL twats, which shows that bigotry is not acceptable. I agree that we have plenty of bigots and in the main they get grief when in the public eye and called on their behaviour.
I hope people are watching newsnight on “tolerant” cultures.
Mm.
This is the trouble. So many people who identify and ‘Christian’ or ‘Muslim’ are nothing of the sort despite what they say.
Of course, a lot of people might baulk at my saying that; “who are you to tell other people how they can define themselves?” they might ask - of course, the answer is pretty simple - we all do it all the time.
For example, if someone says that they’re an anarchist, but they believe in a strong government/police etc, or if someone defines themselves as gay, but reports feeling no attraction to the same sex, or defines themselves as something even more anodyne like a ‘fan’ of whatever band, but fails to name any of their songs, we all grant ourselves the authority to dispute what they themselves claim to be.
Similarly, Christians who don’t believe in shit like the ressurrection aren’t Christian in any sense of the word. To be Christian is to believe in Jesus as God and his ressurrection. People who say they’re Christian but don’t believe in any of the stuff in the Bible are essentially pretending to be Christian.
So ultimately, the whole religious debate has completely muddied waters because you’ve got this wider circle of people who consider themselves nominally Christian, Muslim or Hindu or whatever out of identity and loyalty, rather than their actual beliefs.
Case in point: I sometimes jokingly take the piss out of my Hindu friends for not eating beef because they ‘think cows are magic’, and in the event that they aren’t up for bantering and just sort of want to defend themselves they’ll often say that its just respect for the Hindu traditions of their family and so on and so forth.
In the event that the conversation does take a more serious tone, I’ll sometimes press them on this, and ask why they’re acting in accordance with a belief they admit they don’t believe
And they’ll more-or-less say words to the effect of “Well, no, of course we don’t actually believe it, but we stick with the traditions just because, well, being Hindu is part of who we are, we don’t believe in the religion but we still like to go through the motions as its a part of our identity”.
Now, this is a totally benign example but I’m comfortable in saying that I honestly believe the world would be a better place if this weren’t the case. People seeing religion as part of their identity is a real problem, as it exempts the belief from the withering crossfire of argument and counter-argument that every other kind of belief is subjected to, with falsehoods mercilessly chipped away until we arrive at the truth.
The fact that religion is so intertwined with factors like ‘identity’, ‘tradition’, ‘family’, ‘culture’ and so on is exactly what causes it to be extended this kind of special treatment. At the silly end of the spectrum, this will manifest itself in the likes of the Guardian calling criticism of Islam ‘racist’, but at the other end, it still affords religious beliefs a totally undeserved degree of special treatment in terms of how they are discussed, and this becomes way, way, way too sinister for my liking when you get onto the rather more hostile aspects of the beliefs - things like homophobia, sexism and so on.
Ultimately, confronting people with the question of “Dude, c’mon, do you actually think Muhammed flew to heaven on a magical winged horse? Do you really think that really happened?” is only half the battle. If that.
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Jeez Tramps, you really need to lighten up mate … it’s a spoof ffs !! 
A ten paragraph reply (only read one and a bit) to a sketch out of the Mash !! … mad as a box of frogs !! 
… and before you start, I’ve got nothing against frogs in boxes, I have aquaintances who are frogs in boxes. It’s just they don’t even try to socially integrate with native amphibians, yet get hopping mad if they’re called a weirdo freddie foreigner or newt spawn.
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I call bullshit on the Hindu anecdote too. Any Hindu (whether devout or lapsed) would say something along the lines of “Don’t be a dick, Tramps, we don’t think cows are magic, we just traditionally see cows as the symbol of life, and as such it’s considered taboo to eat them”. I’d be surprised if a single Hindu would just go “LOL, yeah it’s silly ain’t it that we think cows is magical, but what can we do? Just toe the line, man, just toe the line”.
I also think a lot of the rest of the post is muddled and wrong too, but I’m not getting into a debate about that with him… we know that won’t end well.
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It’s not bullshit. It’s true. Cows being ‘a symbol of life’ is just as ridiculous as the belief that ‘cows are magic’ and more or less amounts to much the same thing.
It’s a silly thing to believe and I’d be patronising them if I told them it was a belief worth respecting.
Besides, Hindus are chill as fuck. Did you know you can just wander into a temple literally anywhere and they’ll just give you food? it’ll be veggie curry but it’s often dead good.
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No comments necessary…
A 17 year old cyclist was stabbed to death by a group of youths on Sunday morning in Battersea. Another man was stabbed to death in Enfield on the weekend. 2 other youths were stabbed to death in London earlier this month. Knife crime has increased by 24% and gun crime by 42% in the last 12 months. If there is a problem with integration perhaps we should be more worried about the indigenous population?
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Funny how the UKIP people have launched their “integration” manifesto. Listening to their racist rhetoric on the radio was strangely familiar today.
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