Blogathon Day 26 - Calling a spade a shovel.

I've had an epiphany. That's a chocolate bar like a Topic but with glace cherries instead of hazelnuts. I jest. But if they did do that chocolate bar I'd definitely have it. Anyway, back to the epiphany.

Now, I might have thought of this before but forgotten, or I might be the last person to realise, but during a conversation about something totally different today I worked out why there is a continual problem over the migrant problem and their presence in the UK. Not from the extremes for they will always be extreme, but for the middle ground. Those who believe themselves not to be racist but are made to feel racist because of some of
their views.

When we discuss modern British society and the ethnic mix of much of the country we describe it as multicultural. And that is the wrong word for this silent majority or slightly vociferous majority to deal with. When they start saying that they are not happy with a multicultural society they are classed as racist but what they would be happier with is a multinational society. And there is a big difference.

We have had a multinational society for many, many years. In fact, centuries. But what we haven't had very often is a multicultural society, and when we have it has always led to unrest, usually war.

The big difference is that a multinational society is made up of people of many nations, and whilst perhaps practicing their own customs, these are kept for private occasions or occasional public performance or meetings. Multicultural society however, gives images where there are a number of cultures trying to get along side by side on equal footing, and that is always going to upset the host culture. Why should their own culture be destroyed or watered down? A further problem then comes that some cultures will wish to be dominant either through where they perceive themselves to be, or should be, or because they are driven by a belief that they should be.

When we came to France we wanted to live in France with, good or bad, French culture. Our next door neighbours are German, and the next village to us has many nationalities considering it only has about 300 residents. I know of Swedish, Norwegian, German, Belgian, English and Dutch residents. And I think they even still have some French people there, but they all blend in. That is why most of the French here are happy to have us around. It can be annoying when you are trying to rush off in the morning and then you have to say hello and have a conversation with neighbours and acquaintances between you and your car, but you do it because that is what happens here, and not to do it will do you no favours. Why should the French give up 2 hour lunches which they've had for years just because the Brits only want half an hour for a sandwich?

When I was at secondary school, we had 1 West Indian, 1 French, 1 Indian, 1 Malawian and 5 Polish boys. That's 9 boys out of 30 who were non-British. And it didn't bother us a bit. They were exactly the same as us, just with slightly different accents or different skin colours. I know that when they were away from school some might go to a Polish youth club as well as a local one, but that is integration. They didn't expect us to go to the Polish youth club because that way they could do some of their cultural stuff, we didn't feel we were left out, and although we might occasionally go to something there because a mate was taking part, they didn't make a big thing of it. No-one resented us being there, no-one resented us not being there.

So, if I was campaigning, whether for the EU refendum or any other vote, I think my mantra would be "multi-nationalism not multi-culturism".