UK still struggling with multiculturalism and tribalism

Channel 4 is running a new documentary tonight featuring Trevor Phillips, who used to be the head of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, called Things We Won't Say About Race that are True. (UK Telegraph story)

“Campaigners like me sincerely believed that if we could prevent people expressing prejudiced thoughts, they’d stop thinking them,” says Phillips. He now says they were “utterly wrong” – although you could argue that a child who is taught in school not to repeat the old racial slurs his parents used will become less of a hater.

The trouble is that, even as the Equalities Commission worked hard to prevent racial stereotypes, a troubling proportion of them, as Phillips concedes ruefully, turn out to be accurate. These are statistics laid out by his programme: a third of London pickpockets are Romanian (how Fagin would have loved them!); black people are six times as likely to be jailed for robbery; the Chinese are tops at people-trafficking; when it comes to drug dealing, Afro-Caribbeans are pathetic amateurs compared to the Colombians; meanwhile, white idiots are the national champs of alcohol-fuelled crime.

Phillips and a Muslim former senior Met officer agreed that the police’s reluctance to use racial profiling arose from an attitude which was basically: “OK, maybe you’d catch more criminals, but they might think we’re a bit racist.”

Tragically and unforgivably, that same attitude led to the death of eight-year-old Victoria Climbie. Multiple explanations were offered by experts for the child’s 128 separate injuries. Any explanation would do, except the real one, which is that her Ivory Coast guardians were cruel, superstitious brutes. As Phillips admits, pretty much everyone who could have saved Victoria “was walking on eggshells”. Thus, the creed of multiculturalism, which was designed to promote racial equality, caused a little girl to be murdered because white people were too embarrassed to accuse her black torturers. Marvellous, eh?

And this has been going on for a lot longer than people have suspected. As this UK Telegraph article point out, genetic studies show that the Angles, Saxons, Britons, Picts, Mercians, Irish, and other tribes still haven't really moved or interbred much.

Archaeologists and geneticists were amazed to find that genetically similar individuals inhabit the same areas they did following the Anglo-Saxon invasion, following the fall of the Roman Empire.

In fact, a map showing tribes of Britain in 600AD is almost identical to a new chart showing genetic variability throughout the UK, suggesting that local communities have stayed put for the past 1415 years.

Many people in Britain claim to feel a strong sense of regional identity and scientists say they the new study proves that the link to birthplace is DNA deep.

The most striking genetic split can be seen between people living in Cornwall and Devon, where the division lies exactly along the county border. It means that people living on either side of the River Tamar, which separates the two counties, have different DNA.

Nice maps at the link. It shows that for over a thousand years the people of the UK have been absolutely unable to cope with differences, and they remain locked in their narrow tribalist existence whether they want to face up to it or not. The only recent change is that they've just added many more primitive tribes to prey on the old ones.

We're having chicken and broccoli stuffed shells alfredo for dinner tonight. I'm very excited. Some nice red table win and a simple salad, and I will feel nicely sated.

^ looks good!

Having Merlot? Or some other red wine?

Probably go with a Barbera or perhaps a Valpolacella. I like the no frills Italians. I even married one.

They're a few years too late...

I have never really liked Alfredo sauce nor have I ever seen it in Italy.

I had Chinese food this evening. How's that for multiculturalism, bitches?

That sucks as multiculturalism because there's not just one Chinese culture or cuisine. That's almost like us saying we were going to eat European food, or perhaps "British food", as if everybody in Britain eats the same type of Indian take out.

Don't tell me your strict on colors. That went out of fashion in the eighties.

Yeah, I get that, but the wines I mentioned are fairly acidic, and match nicely with the rich sauce. I wouldn't choose either for steak. I could also go with a white for this particular meal, but generally I tend to favor whites for lighter fare.

"Many people in Britain claim to feel a strong sense of regional identity and scientists say they the new study proves that the link to birthplace is DNA deep. "

This brings up an interesting point. I read somewhere (a long time ago but it stuck with me) the difference between the UK and the US.
In the UK a hundred miles is a long way. In the US a hundred years is a long time ago. Let that sink in, it makes a lot of sense.
That said I would think in the UK they would be much less tolerant based on this idea. It is much less of a melting pot than the US.
For the most part we have no tribal history, no deep cultural roots.

There's a lot of unlikely truths that the lefties posting pasta recipes might not want to acknowledge. But, having said that, the way it has been promoted by the OP and @Ramen it's so wide of the mark it's laughable. I'm getting an early night in, but I'm definitely gonna come back to this thread as there's a lot to set straight.

I've had authentic Chinese cuisine and a huge variety of what we get here in America.

What we call "Chinese food" is definitely not authentic.






But a lot of it is waaaaaaay better than the real stuff.

And after all that, I did end up going with a Pinot Grigio.

The Chinese are the world's largest producer and consumer of tomatoes. I have never seen a single tomato in a Chinese dish in America, so I tried making Chinese tomato and eggs, which is pretty good.

What is British/Irish Chinese food like? Is it similar to the Americanized Chinese food we get here? Is it more like what you'd get in China? Or is it Anglicized in its own way?

General Tso's Potato with a side of shrimp fried potato.

Fortune potatoes after the meal.

I just wanted to say that I like this gif. That is all.

His name is Miguel Herrera and he was formerly Club America's head coach, and now head coach of the Mexican National Team.

He's also a Mexican reincarnation of Chris Farley (sent back in time).

Haven't had your Chinese food, so I can't really say.
Yesterday, I got chicken in black bean sauce with mushrooms and a side of boiled rice.

I don't understand why people talk about food and show images instead of addressing points brought up about racism.

^Kung Po king prawn for me.

That said, I would much rather have an Indian meal than a Chinese one.

Perhaps the Chinese options in the UK are just so-so. I'm sure you guys have much better Indian food than we do, but the US has a substantial Chinese diaspora, and the cuisine on this side of the pond is excellent.

I like pie.

It's all in what you prefer and what you're used to eating. For instance, I much prefer Tex-Mex over most "authentic" Mexican fare.

THERE ARE THREE LIGHTS.

It's indicative that we've all been beaten up about racism so often that we would rather change the subject. Heck, a bunch of people in the UK preferred to let underage girls get trafficked as sex slaves rather than get accused of racism.

Camille Paglia talks about this in an interview, where she says the post 1960's absolute obsession with race and gender identities is a dismal mess. It's well worth watching. About an hour long.



ETA: To talk about race, you need to find a taxi cab driver willing to unload on the subject.

I personally like Desi Chinese and was upset when the Indian-Chinese place in Mira Mesa closed down. Basically Chinese cuisine gets localized to local people's tastes where ever it goes so you have a huge amount of variation in the diaspora's cuisine.