Racism and Immigration

Racism and Immigration

This is a very delicate and important topic, but it is very easy for even well-meaning people to get the issues muddled, while the “Politically Correct” Agenda will not tolerate any discussion at all; any hint of dissent from the PC line is instantly branded as “Racist”. Let us have the courage to look at this coolly and clearly.

Racism.

The Second World War was fought because Hitler convinced his followers that they were a Master Race who had the right to exterminate the lesser races. The Nazis were taught they could ignore the moral law. The horrifying consequences showed the whole world where this type of thinking leads. Yet it was fashionable for decades before that.

Modern genetic fingerprinting methods have provided direct proof that all human beings are closely related. We might look very different in our own eyes, but compared with most other species, the human species shows very little variation. The huge human population has nothing to do with it. 95% of the human beings living in Europe in 1950 (before immigration became as widespread as it is now) can be traced to just eleven individuals – or perhaps eleven tribes, of which all the members of each tribe were very closely related. A colony of twenty chimpanzees at San Diego Zoo in 1998 showed more genetic variation that the entire human race, from Eskimos to Chinese. Even more interesting, DNA studies have shown that all human females are directly descended from apparently just one individual. The report described it as a “genetic bottleneck”. Some might call he ‘Eve’! We are all literally brothers and sisters. Let us treat each other accordingly!

The Multicultural Society.

A separate issue is of multi-culturalism. Let us look at it calmly. In the Middle Ages and before, an individual was quite free to enter another country, but he was expected to swear an oath of allegiance to the new ruler, the country and its laws. This would be enforced under pain of death. It was taken for granted that there cannot be competing sets of laws in one country. Consider this: There is not, never has been, and never will be, a “Multicultural Society”. It is nothing but a mindless journalistic slogan. A society is not a random collection of isolated individuals. If different peoples live together in society, they must have an underlying unity of values and a sense of membership. In other words, a common culture. Traditions of food, music and dress are mere externals, unless they offend some code of manners and values of some in the society. Of course people can have preferences of food, dress, sport, and other pastimes. But if some custom offends against the values of the culture, the culture must shift to accommodate, or else the custom will be abandoned. And groups of peoples with genuinely different values co-exist in one geographical area, they do not constitute a society but a failure of society, or a transition towards a society – or to social disintegration. During the time of transition, there will be constant friction as gestures are mis-interpreted by individuals of a different background. In Western Europe, a pat on the head is a sign of affection; in parts of Asia it is a grievous insult. If peoples from these groups came to live in close proximity, one or other attitude would have to disappear.

People need something above themselves to inspire them. They need to feel they belong to a greater society. They have no right to impose their ways on a distant nation, but they do have a right to pass on their own manners, morals and traditions to the next generations. There is a moral imperative to help our neighbour in need, but there is also a responsibility on rulers to ensure that the Common Good is not compromised by an excessive influx of people who are unable or unwilling to live according to the mores of the host country. Any wealthy country has an obligation to help one less fortunate, but not at the price of obliterating its own identity. Yet this is what is being demanded of Western democracies with increasing boldness. Why?

The Other Side