On the Election and Racism (A Rant)

First, a great little satirical animation at Spin On. Especially groovy for fans of The Clash and those of you who have a thing about squirrels (I know a lot of you do).

Secondly a test to see if you are racist from Harvard University. The test is for your subsoncious responses. I am not racist, I just don't like foreigners - especially those bloody Anglo Saxons! Those Angles from Denmark, those Saxons from Germany, coming over here, taking our jobs, building huts on our land, civilising us Celts and Romano-Britons (Italian-British) with their culture and technology. Of course, only have they been here five minutes as our guests when they start bringing over the Christians - that's right - bloody mono-theists! Next theyl start building churches - if I went over to Vatican City, I wouldn't expect to be able to erect a Heathen Temple, but it's one rule for them and quite another for the rest of us. And of course the rest of us, having been enslaved during the settlement, it's us what have to do all the work, scroungers they are, the whole lot of them. Bring on the Norman Invasion, that's what I say - that's the Normans who started off as Danes also but moved across Europe to France where they adopted French language and culture.

But on a serious note: Multiculturalism. It is pointless to write this here, but I keep screaming at the radio everytime the word is discussed.

There are three main definitions of culture.

1. The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought.
2. Intellectual and artistic activity and the works produced by it.
3. The growing of microorganisms, tissue cells, or other living matter in a specially prepared nutrient medium.

Now, according to definition 1., Multiculturalism is a bad thing because if everybody is doing their own thing and most especially, living under different moral codes, then the result is chaos. I don't mean when one group doesn't eat pork or another wears a certain item of clothing, but for example, if you had some strange group who liked poking one another's eyes out then that would be breaking British Law which would classify such behaviour, even under consent, to be assault. The law has to be the same for everybody in order to protect everybody equally.

However, by definition 2., Multiculturalism is about creative diversity and can only be a good thing. And as for definition 3., well yoghurt never did anybody any harm except those with lactose intolerence.

So you can't say whether Multiculturalism is a good or bad thing unless you first define the word. Of course some people say that even by definition 2., Multiculturalism is not great because it threatens the British Way of Life. But since we are living in Britain today, then surely the way we live is the British Way of Life, even if that doesn't involve warm beer or cricket, which frankly for most of us it doesn't.

Tomorrow I will rant about relativism. I bet you can't wait.