A new god after God. After religion comes a new faith. In our increasingly secularized culture, one creed is guarded against blasphemy and blasphemy. Diversity is our greatest strength.
last week, Professor Matthew Goodwin It has caused controversy among some who police the parameters of “acceptable” debate. In an interview promoting his new book, Goodwin ventured into heresy. You can only talk about Britain if you identify with it. It’s like saying that we have no identity of our own.”
The Inquisition rushed to your favorite line. Goodwin was called an “absolute joke” and accused of “nonsense”, “populism” and even overkill. Nigel FarageHowever, although Goodwin’s critics refuted the Queen’s death and made makeshift attacks, none disproved his accusations. The acceptability of ness is judged by its diversity.
A case in point is the recent speech given by the British High Commissioner. Victoria Treddel, in Australia. Part of the speech was in response to comments made by Penny Wong, Australia’s Foreign Minister. Past “evacuation in a narrower version”.
But the speech did not deny Wong’s remarks. Venturing into controversial political territory, Vicki Treddel did exactly what Goodwin described. She legitimized Britain and its history through the prism of ‘modern multicultural realities’. She illustrated the value of Britain by describing the contribution immigrants and their descendants made to the world.
These contributions are numerous and growing in number and importance. However, in an attempt to prove that Britain was not hiding behind a narrow version of the past, the High Commission articulated a narrow version of the present. We are quite successful in standing up to discrimination and embracing differences.
If our national identity is really all about diversity and inclusivity, we are nothing more than a void to be filled by others. commonalities, histories and shared narratives, institutions large and small, languages, cultures, norms and rules that are intricately mixed and decently behaved.
This is how we recognize the familiarity of strangers, and that familiarity gives us a legitimate expectation of commonality, trust, and reciprocity. It is this interrelationship that enables the giving and receiving of citizenship. That is, the willingness to respect the law, pay taxes and fight to help others. As the Ukrainian people remind us, To protect my countrymen and my country.
In her case of valuing diversity above all else, Treaddell, like others, deploys a few tropes and Strowman arguments. Born in Malaysia to Dutch and Chinese parents, she describes herself as of imperial heritage. “You reap what you sow,” she warned, and she joked that it was proof that “the empire will fight back.” The argument that many are presenting it as the price of having an empire is unnecessarily confrontational, divisive, and even untrue.
Treaddell’s claim that she is a “proud Englishman” despite “not having a drop of English, Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish blood” is another well-known claim. It’s a dangerous argument. While British identities are civic, identities in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are not ethnic.listen Humza Yousaf, Scottish Nationalist. Presenting these identities in a way that excludes newcomers is what racists once did, but is a paradoxical end point for those obsessed with color and ethnicity.
Treddell says he rejects “the idea that Britain was a ‘pure’ Anglo-Saxon society before the arrival of communities from the Caribbean, Asia and Africa”. That’s it. More popularly, England was “always a land of immigrants” and “diversity has made Britain”, her fashionable claim three years ago she was pictured on the 50p coin.
Both arguments are fishy. Until recently, our population was fairly stable. immigration in the last 25 years This is more than the total number of immigrants Britain has experienced in the last 2,000 years. And while many immigrants have contributed in many ways, neither immigration nor diversity ‘built Britain’. In a country as old as ours, our language, buildings, laws, institutions, culture and history span centuries.
This is a question of defining Britishness as diversity and inclusion. Doing so ignores histories, cultures, and norms that predate the most recent radical diversity, and is therefore inevitably exclusive. The thinker who led Britain from civil war to pluralism and pragmatism. The leaders who gave us constitutional monarchies and parliamentary democracies. Innovators and engineers behind the industrial revolution. The men and women who defeated fascism. Writers who have enriched our language. Their exploits are downplayed, or worse, written off or written off as old, white, racist. Yet they built Britain and are therefore part of us.
Just like today, there are many reasons why some would want to pretend that we have always been fundamentally diverse. Perhaps it will help justify record immigration and an unprecedented pace of change. Perhaps for many who promote it, this argument is simply entrenched completely and unconsciously.
Diversity may be a strength, but it is neither our only strength nor our greatest strength. The UK is proving that it can succeed as a multi-ethnic democracy thanks to the legacy of many generations that have built this country over the centuries. It is also important to include citizens of But most important is the common thread, the shared story that connects us all. The story never ends and every generation needs to keep writing it. But be careful. We take risks and risk it.
