Crossposting from EU thread because I don't know if anyone here reads that one too
Immigration, immigration, immigration. That's what it's really all about. That's what will decide the EU referendum next week. It would be easier if it was the economy, stupid. We could talk about GP and impersonal financial forecasts but it's that political hot potato we need to grapple with. Is it ever possible to discuss immigration without being accused or caism? Or perhaps more accurately, is it ever possible to raise concerns about or call for less immigration and not be labelled a racist?
There are startling elisions on both sides of the debate. Migration from within the EU, from predominantly Eastern European countries, is overwhelmingly, if not completely, white. Yet the most fervent voices against more foreigners coming in are probably picturing black and brown faces when they talk about "taking our country back".
Both camps have been disingenuous. Leavers pandering to those fears but unable to deliver a remedy and Remainers dismissing all concerns about immigration as xenophobic or racist. EU migration isn't about race but the racism card has been played repeatedly. White audiences often seem surprised when black and Asian Britons say they want fewer immigrants.
Maybe it is proof that we have successfully integrated and feel we belong, or maybe we feel we have more to lose because we are lower down the social pecking order, or maybe it is just because we can air these views without being accused of racism. All immigrants are not the same. Each wave brings its own unique benefits and challenges. The latest wave has had the unintended effect, or perhaps even intended effect, of whitening-up the immigrant workforce.
It goes hand-in-hand with another, more important, concern, which is assimilation.
For some, a third, fourth or even fifth-generation Pakistani-Briton is more of an outsider than a fresh, off-the-coach [note, today we say fresh off boat] Pole. And as easy and satisfying as it would be to dismiss that view as racist, there is an element of truth to it. Within a generation that Polish immigrant's child wiill be seen as a white Brit, with a slightly exotic name, perhaps, but "one of us" nonetheless, the cultural, religious and racial leap is a smaller one to make from Poland to Britain than Pakistan to Britain.
So if you are a racist you'd probably be better off voting Remain so we can get more white immigrants. And if you're worried about being racist than you should probably vote out so that we can have more non-EU migration. Like everything else about this referendum, it's as clear as mud.
Rashid Razaq
London Evening Standard
Well now, Rashid pretty much summed up the general stuff of everything I ever say
Usually someone in my boots would say something like Rashid is my spirit guide or something, but I wouldn't, he is just a columnist for a newspaper that got my views down rather succinctly. The feeling nonetheless is of that wavelength
All we need now is for Charles to finally snap and start sacrificing the royal family to ascend past his mother, and the pre-referendum clusterfuck will be complete.
Charles wouldn't snap, that's a part of his master plan
*EDIT
Oh, don't forget that on Wednesday (the day before polling stations open), Jeremy Paxman will be doing a last-day question time debate thing. As usual, David Cameron chickened out again and will be doing a separate question time, not actually being in the same room or episode as Michael Gove, which is thoroughly disappointing given its last date status.
The Prime Minister is determined to avoid "blue-on-blue" public conflict at all costs, saying it risked turning the debate into a "Tory psychodrama".
Cheeky monkey :
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Jeremy Paxman is noted for being the most
savage and impartial newshost, though of course the only thing he has never been questioned on is his savage professionalism - his impartiality has been questioned always. Still, he manages to piss off every camp involved every time, a good example being his article critical of the EU being pulled by the BBC, his documentary of what goes down in Brussels causing a storm in the Brexin camp when they accused the Beeb of pro-UK bias (lol), and Brexit don't like that he believes Britons will vote EU because they now live European lifestyles and not British ones. When you've pissed everyone off, eh, keep on going on.
That is an interesting thing to note, in that the whites of the Metropolitan areas of the UK are all almost entirely pro-EU and they do live distinctly European lifestyles. They will have enjoyed visa free travel to Europe, holidays in Europe, their children will have through Erasmus studied and grown up both in the UK and Europe, and many of them will speak English and a European language, having been required to study a language like French, German or Spanish for their curriculum. Contrast that with the Welsh or the Coast where their identities are distinctly British, of the historic British identity, or amongst ethnic groups that have their roots in countries of the Commonwealth and not in Europe, leading to that most funny situation where Indians, Nigerians and Malayans agree with the Welsh and the English more than the Welsh and the English agree with the Cosmopolitan Whites and the Scots. A most awkward collision of civilizations ;]
These caught my eye as encapsulating the best of both Brexit and Brexin.
Breaking my promise to myself not to get involved in this any more because I totally agree with you!
The first significant examples of non-negative campaigning that I've seen. It's not the official camps, but one can only hope the tendency infects them too. Perhaps this unfortunate pause might give a turning point, to that end.
Sadly I think it may be too late. Besides my Brexin
serial killer leaflet I got a Brexit leaflet which brings up the migration numbers and includes a map on the back which highlights Syria and Iraq, insinuating that future migrants will come from the ME. I also got a Libdem "pledge" which wants me to pledge a vote for the EU, except they use the language of fear from the pro-EU perspective saying if I don't vote for the EU then there's a real chance Brexit will win, I'm pondering whether I should take the time to use their freepost to apologize and inform them of my actual voting intention. Poor lolberal dems, I like them very much, but they consistently make such blunders :[
I suppose this is the issue with how both campaigns have decided that convincing voters is not as cost effective as mobilizing your camp's voters and demoralizing/obstructing the opposing camp's voters, for this reason the magazines get the amazing, positive arguments whilst the official campaigns are either focused on making you scared of the other camp so you ignore them or so scared of them that you must vote for your allotted demographic's camp. I'm thinking if there's a way to change that, it'll probably not be 6 days before polling day - but in future, I think it would be neat to get think tanks to change their mind on positive campaigning. Once you get the think tanks, you get the politicians, and then it filters through media and social media then into the population at large. At that point all you'd have to worry about is a Tony Blair walking around wielding all the positive energy like a neutron bomb ;
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Topic: Breeki British Brexit thread (Read 151555 times)