The BNP Sikh :
“The BNP! But they want all immigrants driven out of Britain, Mr Singh.”
“Precisely.”
“But you’re an immigrant yourself.”
“Not immigrant! Thirty-three years I am living in Great Britain, paying income tax, voting Labour, listening to Queen’s speech on Christmas Day. I am number one British citizen and patriot. Also, like all Sikh peoples, I am working night and day and raising one family of the most respectable order. My son is chartered accountant, graduated and certified. In our family, integrity is there, respectability also. Why should we be compared to all these layabout fellows?”
And the Brick Lane Bangladeshi :
“In Bangladesh, yeah, when one person gets a job, everyone else like gives up their job and lives off ’im. They’ve got this mentality, innit. ‘I don’t af to do nafing; let my brother pay for everyfing.’
“The coupla times I’ve been back there, yeah, my relatives, yeah, they says to me, ‘Oi! Mr Ali. Give us some cash!’ So I tell ’em, ‘F*** off, yeah! Make it yourself!’ I’m telling you, them bustards wouldn’t last five minutes ’ere. Any’ow, ’Er Majesty, yeah, she shouldn’t let ’alf of them in.”
UPDATE - Ali's take on Bangladeshi society echoes precisely S.J. Masty's piece in the Social Affairs Unit blog. Jarndyce at Pseudo Magazine called it 'barmy nonsense', but the coincidence of views with Ali is striking.
Of the middle-class extended families that I know in South Asia, about one fourth of the men in each are incompetents and layabouts, while the rest of the men work themselves half to death in order to support the others. But if one brother dares to suggest that Anwar get off his backside and wash windows, if need be, the entire assembly of women attacks like killer bees.
In lands without so-called social safety nets (dole), this ensures that those unable to work are housed and fed - along with those who are unwilling to work. In return for this informal insurance-policy, the family takes a group decision on who you marry, where and what you study, and where you work. And if you rise through luck, brains or effort, they tell you who to hire - usually a spotty second cousin. Opting out means life without family in places where such a life is not worth living.
I have to disagree with Jarndyce on this one. There are some cultures where his question "would you as individuals, or a collective, like to have a say in how you are governed ?" would be pretty meaningless, but "whose man are you ?" would be instantly understood. Afghanistan for one, IMHO.
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