Unwanted chain e-mails

Hello again readers. Well, Christmas draws ever closer. As if the masses of people traffic around Brighton City Centre was not enough of a clue, then turning on the radio to hear 'Fairytale Of New York', 'Last Christmas' and 'Christmas Wrapping' gave the game away. Hope you are enjoying the Christmas build-up and are not too stressed, and for any budding secret Santas who might be reading, some socks and smellies always come in handy.

But enough of the prologue. Last weekend when I was writing about my notional list of items and people who I would send into Room 101 if I was ever given the opportunity, I knew there was bound to be something obvious that I left off the list which would come to mind afterwards. It was quite intuitive of me, as it goes, because checking my e-mails a couple of days later resulted in being confronted with one of my absolute pet hates.

I am referring to the "chain e-mail". You know the sort of thing, "please read this story of complete bad luck and melancholy through to its end, otherwise if you don't, you must hold yourself responsible should some terrible misfortune happen to you, and by the way make sure you send this to 10 really lucky recipients from your e-mail address book otherwise you will feel terribly guilty". My normal reaction to receiving an e-mail of this type is to delete it and to ask the sender the next time I see them what exactly possessed them to forward it to me in the first place, knowing that my reaction was going to be to either ignore it or send it into the great trash can in cyberspace's sky. In this instance though, I was so angry by the sanctimonious and frankly one-eyed attitude of the piece that had been forwarded to me that I thought it would provide perfect inspiration for a future blog. Let's hope my instincts were right.

First of all, I should point out that the offending piece of writing had not been written by the person who sent it to me. Their only crime in this situation was to forward an e-mail to me that had been forwarded several times in a chain from when it had initially been produced. Nonetheless, I would like to know why exactly they chose me as the lucky recipient of such a propagandic (if that's not a word, it should be!), ill thought out and ill informed rant of unsurpassed hysteric drivel.

So what was it that got me so hot under the collar? The e-mail was a short piece of narrative by an unnamed person, presumably their anonymity had been carefully retained in order to ensure they never find themselves on the National Society of Village Idiots' Christmas card list. The narrative previewed a forthcoming transcript of a letter that had supposedly been sent into a national newspaper. The newspaper was not named, but given the overtly intolerant and jingoistic tone of the letter, it is quite plausible that it could be the same newspaper that this author was scathing of on this blog space just last weekend. If that was the case, I imagine the author of the piece probably won £50 for being the star letter on its day of publication.

I have copied and pasted the e-mail I received in its entirety below in italics, so that readers can form their own opinions. One thing I would like to point out before pasting this piece across though is that the pasting does not quite capture the mood and emphasis of the original transcript, which saw words and sentences underlined, put in capital letters, and put in large font sizes as though to really force home the point that is being made. Anyway, this is what was said:
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Will we still be the Country of choice and still be Gt Britain if we continue to make the changes forced on us by the people from other countries that came to live in Britain because it is the Country of Choice?????? Think about it . .

All I have to say is, when will they do something about MY RIGHTS? I celebrate Christmas, but because it isn't celebrated by everyone, we can no longer say Merry Christmas. Now it has to be Season's Greetings. It's not Christmas holiday, it's Winter Break. Isn't it amazing how this winter break ALWAYS occurs over the Christmas holiday? We've gone so far the other way, bent over backwards to not offend anyone, that I am now being offended. But it seems that no one has a problem with that. This says it all!

This is an editorial written by anBritish citizen, published in a National newspaper He did quite a job; didn't he? Read on, please!


IMMIGRANTS,NOT BRITS MUST ADAPT.I am tired of this nation worrying about whether weare offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on the 7th of the 7th we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majorityof Brits. However, the disgust about the attacks hadbarely settled when the 'politically correct! ' crowd began complaining aboutthe possibility that our patriotism was offending others.

I am not against immigration, nor do I hold a grudge against anyone who is seeking a better life by coming to Britain, Our population is almost entirely made up of descendants of immigrants. (The Danes, Romans ect.)

However, there are a few things that thosewho have recently come toour country, and apparently some born here, need to understand. This idea of the Brits being amulticultural communityhas served only to dilute our sovereignty and our national identity. As Britain's we have our own culture, ourown society, our own language and our own lifestyle. This culture has been developed over centuries of struggles, trials, and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom.

We speak ENGLISH, not Indian, Urdu, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language Therefore, if you wish to become partof our society, learn the language!'Land of Hope & Glory' is our motto.

This is not some Christian, right wing, political slogan We adopted this motto because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented.It is certainly appropriate to display iton the walls of our schools. If Godoffends you, then I suggest youconsider another part of the world as your new home, because God is partof our culture.

If the 'Union Jack' flag offends you, oryou don't like our QUEEN, then youshould seriously consider a moveto another part of this planet. Weare happy with our culture and have no desire to change, and we reallydon't care how you did things whereyou came from. This isOUR COUNTRY,our land, and our lifestyle. Our Laws give every citizen theright to express his opinion and we will allow you every opportunity to do so!

But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about our flag,our lifestyle our government, or ourway of life, I highly encourage youtake advantage of one other great BRITISH freedom, THE RIGHT TO LEAVE.

It is Time for Gt. Britain to Speak up If you agree -- pass this along;if you don't agree -- delete it! anon..AMEN
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So there concludes the party political broadcast from the British Nationalist Party. Just as with the Daily Mail, some of its targets and observations certainly have some legitimacy and there is no doubt that the ever more cosmopolitan landscape and demographics found in this country do present some challenges in the future. I am sure many readers will identify with some of the points that are made. But my problem is that the author has completely overexaggerated in some of his (or maybe her) commentary in order for making maximum effect and to lead its readers around to his way of thinking by using powerful language and underlining and capitalising words. There is a word for that sort of behaviour, it is called brainwashing.

I think possibly the best way of pulling this person's argument apart and showing up its shortcomings is to allow me the liberty to comment on each of the paragraphs. That way I can hopefully show that while the writer has a basis for some of their complaints and ramblings, much of what they have said has been blown out of proportion and only succeeds in getting people wound up over some issues that have been misrepresented. Here comes the rant back:

Will we still be the Country of choice and still be Gt Britain if we continue to make the changes forced on us by the people from other countries that came to live in Britain because it is the Country of Choice?????? Think about it . .
Right, I have thought about it and all I can say is, what on earth are you talking about? What changes are being forced on us? The Government in this country is responsible for setting the laws for living here, so if any changes are being enforced on us, they are responsible for setting them, not people moving to the country. This sounds to me like a rant about religious sects, which through reading on, has some basis as an assumption.

All I have to say is, when will they do something about MY RIGHTS? I celebrate Christmas, but because it isn't celebrated by everyone, we can no longer say Merry Christmas. Now it has to be Season's Greetings. It's not Christmas holiday, it's Winter Break. Isn't it amazing how this winter break ALWAYS occurs over the Christmas holiday? We've gone so far the other way, bent over backwards to not offend anyone, that I am now being offended. But it seems that no one has a problem with that. This says it all!
Talk about an overreaction. Now, let's be honest here, how many people have ever had anyone wish them "season's greetings" or "a good a winter break"? I cannot think of anybody of any race, colour or creed who has ever wished me the tidings of the season in such words, including people who don't celebrate Christmas. In fact, it is only on Christmas cards where I have seen such greetings ever expressed. I agree that there is a problem in some circles where people manufacture words and phrases so as not to offend a small minority of easily sensitive people, but I think these are the wheels of bureaucracy that are turning, more than anything else.

This is an editorial written by an British citizen, published in a National newspaper He did quite a job; didn't he? Read on, please
Good to realise that our friend who is so appalled by the country falling apart sees his grasp of English falls apart too. You don't use "an" before a word unless the following word begins with a vowel. And if by "he did quite a job" you mean "he did quite a job of making a prat of himself", you may well be right. Otherwise, maybe not.

IMMIGRANTS,NOT BRITS MUST ADAPT.I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on the 7th of the 7th we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majorityof Brits.
Quite a sweeping statement there. I would like to know how exactly our correspondent measures this surge in patriotism. More people going through the gates at Buckingham Palace? More people hanging up a Union Jack in their window? More people holding a street party? I think the terrorist attacks of 7 July 2005 (if this guy is such a devout Brit, why is he using American terminology?) did not really result in a surge of patriotism, more an immediate surge of defiance that we should not allow terrorists with fanatical beliefs to pose a threat to our daily lives that resulted in the atrocity of people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I do not see this as tupthumping patriotism though and this pattern of defiance was only really noticeable in the after shocks of those terrorist attacks because the realisation had dawned that this country was not safe, this was not just the sort of thing "that happened in America".

However, the disgust about the attacks had barely settled when the 'politically correct! ' crowd began complaining about the possibility that our patriotism was offending others.
That's hardly a new complaint is it? This is the sort of thing that has been talked about for years, that the English don't celebrate St George's Day enough, that English culture is not celebrated enough. This has got nothing to do with the terrorist attacks, it is a long established psyche. The writer is right in saying that we are too politically correct for our own good sometimes, but unfortunately there are a section of people who attach themselves to the Union Jack and the Cross of St George who we have to thank for this tainting by association. That does not make it right or legitimate to make patriotism wrong, in fact we should do our best to wrestle the flag back from those clowns who have bloodied the flag. In order to do that though, we need to be less apathetic about what our culture is in this country and clear and what we should celebrate. In short, it is not until political correctness rears its ugly head, that many of the people in this country rid themselves of this apathy and say that we should be proud of our national identity more. So, we are all to blame for us not being patriotic enough!

I am not against immigration, nor do I hold a grudge against anyone who is seeking a better life by coming to Britain, Our population is almost entirely made up of descendants of immigrants. (The Danes, Romans ect.) However, there are a few things that those who have recently come to our country, and apparently some born here, need to understand.
This sounds a bit like the "I'm not a racist/sexist...but" kind of lines. Read on then.

This idea of the Brits being a multicultural community has served only to dilute our sovereignty and our national identity. As Britain's we have our own culture, our own society, our own language and our own lifestyle. This culture has been developed over centuries of struggles, trials, and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom.
This is an argument that has been mentioned before, but how true is it? In his last point, the writer has pointed out that our population is almost entirely made up of descendants of immigrants. Also, one of the finest selling points of living in this country, namely the English language, has evolved over time due to immigrants arriving on these shores and influencing it. Britain has been invaded by the Romans, Saxons, Vikings and Normans and each of these visitors who arrived without an invite brought their vocabulary with them and added to our language and in doing so, have contributed to a little piece of British culture. I mention the English language because it appears the author might need to familiarise himself with it, as it is "Britons", not "Britain's". But I digress. The point is that the world is evolving, we might not like that, but it is a fact of life. Just as the Saxons and Vikings added to the British culture, so too have the Jamaican immigrants that moved to the country in the 1950s and 1960s, and the influx of Poles more recently. Without them, this country would not have experienced the phenomenon that is Reggae Reggae Sauce, or would not have any builders who get the job finished on time or within budget.

We speak ENGLISH, not Indian, Urdu, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society, learn the language!
Christ on a bike, the irony! So here we are telling people to learn our language when they come and visit our shores and yet, hand on heart, how many of us properly make an effort to learn the language when we go on holiday abroad? If an opportunity exists to shout very loudly, speak very slowly or point to the item on the menu or the shelf souvenir of choice, then that opportunity will invariably be taken at the expense of speaking dialogue in the native tongue. And while we are at it, does the author's plea to learn English apply to people in Wales who speak Welsh, people in Cornwall who speak Cornish, or people in Northern Ireland who speak Gaelic? Because the last time I checked, all of these places formed part of the United Kingdom too. In this day and age, foreign nationals who move to the country have to undertake a British Identity test before they are granted citizenship. The funny thing is, often they end up knowing more about Britain's heritage, its queens and kings and its quirky laws than what a pretty sizeable amount of the home population knew to start off with. This is basically Norman Tebbit's "which cricket team would you support" speech under another guise. That was deemed out of order when it was spoken 25 years ago and so this rant deserves the same amount of contempt.

'Land of Hope & Glory' is our motto. This is not some Christian, right wing, political slogan. We adopted this motto because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented.It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools.
I am sure there are more interesting things to display on the walls of schools, children's artwork, photographs of the school football team, old photographs of teachers sporting sideburns or combovers, a coat of arms, that kind of thing. In fact, I imagine the graffiti in the boy's toilets is probably more interesting than this motto. Nonetheless, one thing interests me about this passage. Up until now, the author has spoken about the British identity, and not offending Brits. Land of Hope and Glory is not the British national anthem, it is the English national anthem. As a proud Englishman, one thing that has always annoyed me has been that when England play a football match, it is "God Save The Queen" that gets played, when really it should be "Land of Hope and Glory". So is the author's problem that Britain or England is losing its identity? And if he doesn't seem to know what the national anthem is, does that help in establishing an identity in the first place?

If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.
Hmm. The author seems to conveniently forget that only about 10 per cent of the population go to church, which would suggest God is less part of our culture than he would like to have us believe. And I take umbrage with being asked to consider moving to another part of the world. People are perfectly entitled to believe that as organised religion has been the root cause of most wars that have broken out from the time of the Crusades until now and resulted in more greed and intolerance than any other phenomenon, as human beings we have the absolute right to not partake in it without fear of being criticised as being unpatriotic, especially as dwindling church attendance outside of weddings, Christenings and midnight mass would indicate that religion actually counts for very little in terms of what people's understanding of "Being British" means to them.

If the 'Union Jack' flag offends you, or you don't like our QUEEN, then you should seriously consider a move to another part of this planet.
That seems a little bit excessive really. I mean, there are a fair number of British nationals who are opposed to the monarchy and who would have an elected governor who has overall control. I am not one of these people on the grounds that we could end up with President David Cameron or President Alistair Darling, but I do believe in people having a freedom of choice, you know that very thing which this author believes is being eroded. Basically, the author is saying that if people question some parts of our culture and our heritage then they should be muzzled, seen and not heard, put in the tower. But, unless people challenge perceptions and "the ways things are", nothing in life ever evolves. We could still live in a country where women don't have the vote or where the horse and cart is the preferred mode of transport. Also, I note the author's comment about the Union Jack. Apart from wondering whether negative comments about the flag's colour scheme would be welcomed, I note that the author is referring to the flag of the United Kingdom, rather than the flag of England, having spoken early about the English national anthem. And we wonder why we have an identity problem.

We are happy with our culture and have no desire to change, and we really don't care how you did things where you came from.
Ignorance is a bliss isn't it? So we must always rely on being our own pioneers, our own innovators, our own geniuses and be too stubborn to accept ideas from "Johnny Foreigner". And let's remind ourselves, where exactly did that get our car industry? And come to think of it, the England football team seem to be playing much better since an Italian with an iron fist and outstanding tactical brain took over its management from a rather inept wet fish who was English godamnit. Oh well, at least he had nice teeth. Must be those Polish dentists. The world doesn't stand still, progress is impossible to supress. If we have no desire to change and keep things as they are, then as a nation we get left behind. We might be an island but cannot allow insularity to remain unchallenged. Insularity breeds ignorance bleeds complacency.

This is OUR COUNTRY,our land, and our lifestyle. Our Laws give every citizen the right to express his opinion and we will allow you every opportunity to do so!
Or if the author has his way, people will be allowed their opinion until they are asked to leave the country. A command democracy, I'm sure it was very popular in 1252, and maybe still is in Zimbabwe.

But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about our flag,our lifestyle our government, or our way of life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great BRITISH freedom, THE RIGHT TO LEAVE.
Yes, how dare you come over whinging, that's our job! How about the people that live here, what if they don't like any of the above? Do they have to hop on the Eurostar or take a jumbo across the water? For someone who is championing free speech, our correspondent does not seem very responsive to negative feedback, does he?

It is Time for Gt. Britain to Speak up. If you agree -- pass this along;if you don't agree -- delete it! anon..AMEN
Or better still, provide a critical analysis of it with an Internet audience of millions (or maybe 8) and let them decide what their feeling is. After all, this is a democracy.


There you go, that's the piece in full. Now, my problem with this piece is that the validity of some of the themes explored within our writer's rant have been marred by the writer making mountains out of mole hills, much like I accused the Daily Mail of doing in the piece that I wrote last weekend. Sometimes when people question whether our sovereignty as a country has been eroded through the increased immigrant population and their own beliefs and values, I think there is some logic in people being concerned about how the country will evolve in 40 or 50 years time. Evolution is inescapable of course, but we must be careful of the sceptre of political correctness that looms ever more on our daily landscape. People should be tolerant of religious, political and lifestyle beliefs, regardless of what our own are.

But there is a collective responsibility to ensure that cuts both ways. There are always going to be fanatics out there, splinter groups if you like, who will like to exert more authority and preach over what we should or should not do. What is important is to ensure that as this country evolves, it does so whilst ensuring protection and respect for everyone. Unfortunately, the problem is that where you have a population from so many backgrounds, the "one size fits all" kind of model is going to have its weaknesses. Everybody is equal, only some are more equal than others. Some will always have greater status, greater wealth, greater hair, and inequality leads to jealousy which leads to intolerance, which as discussed earlier, has formed the basis for many an armed conflict. The dimensions of the country are changing, we are not an Arian race and we should not strive to be that as that ambition somewhere else in Western Europe resulted in two world wars in the twentieth century.

Political correctness is a problem which affects all of us at some time or another, and I cannot say as though I know of anyone who embraces its being. What we must be clear on, however, is that immigrants who move to this country are not responsible for it existing. As with many things over time, this particular phenomenon started off in the United States and it has gathered legs in the United Kingdom in the last decade or so as a result of faceless bureaucrats who sit in statutory departments in their air conditioned offices, sipping their green teas, worrying over how a very small minority of people might react to the wording of something on the grounds of sexism, racism, ageism etc. And their precise reason for their worry is that someone, somewhere in the real world will make a kneejerk reaction and make a legal claim. There is no minefield like insurance claims and given that we live in a society where litigation is actively encouraged thanks to our unscrupulous friends at Injury Lawyers 4 U and the like through their television commercials, it is little wonder that these faceless Nigels and Colins in their charcoal suits and with their shiny desk tidies are concerned. So if you want to find someone to blame for our current social climate, blame the guy that played Johnny Allen in EastEnders!

Instead of bemoaning our state of the nation and complaining about how our rights as citizens are being eroded, maybe we should actually put our grievances to good use and be proactive. Therein lies the problem. Everyone likes a moan about how things are going awry, but when it comes to actually doing something about it, the rebels inside us retreat into our shells. Maybe it is because the cynics in us know our limitations and do not think we can change the world. But the point is that it is only through people protesting, canvassing, petitioning, that our laws and our societies can be changed in the way that we would like them to be, the way in which most people can be encompassed, integrated and respected.

E-mails like the one I received I suppose at least succeed in getting people to think about things from a more rounded and balanced point of view, but much like the tabloid of the Antichrist which I spoke of just last week, it also paints a distorted picture of our society and our country. Since time began, this has been a country that has had a turnover of immigrants and which has evolved as new immigrants have arrived and brought their own beliefs, clothing, food and language, all of which have left an indelible prints on our society and culture. Immigrants of the future will do the same and it is naive to expect that not to be the case, especially given the rapid rate of change in modern life. Instead of beating ourselves up about how bad this might be, perhaps we should also look at some of the positives that will come from that evolution, of which I am sure there will be a number.

Around the world, we find ourselves in a society where people want to travel more to understand the world they live in more and to enjoy life changing experiences. This can only be a good thing, whatever the "Plane Stupid" activists at Stansted thought last week (has a pressure group ever had a more apt name?) because travel broadens the mind, encourages people to see the bigger picture and to rid themselves of insularity and fixations.

Given that we now live in a society where travel is promoted and where it has never been easier, thanks to the freedom of movement of labour laws in the European Union member states and other international laws, over time the world as a whole will be populated by happy wanderers who want to live in different surroundings to the ones they grew up in and consequently, there will be a greater influx of people living in the United Kingdom who were not born here than ever before, just as there will be in France, Germany and Australia. With this, there will also be more people who leave our shores and those of France, Germany and Australia to go and live in another country where perhaps employment prospects are greater, the weather is more reliable or they can sample a better quality of life. Of course, the cynics will say the departures are because people are becoming unhappy with the way the country is going and will vote with their feet. And yes, that will be true for many.

But I think it is also a fact of modern life that more people have a pleasure seeker and an adventurer in them somewhere which they want to release and the only way to do this is to go and live in another country. Travel is a great eye opener to people and as well as enabling them to escape humdrum lives and partake in a pleasurable odyssey, it also provides a wonderful education. If only they would come back one day and say what they have learnt from their journey, and then we could put it to good use in moving the country forward. But until then, let's rely on immigrants arriving with a fresh pair of eyes and telling us what works well and what does not. There's no room for complacency or contentment if we want this crazy island of ours to always prosper and be a significant player in the world. The world keeps turning and so we must welcome fresh perspectives and ideas, declining the ones that do not work practically but taking note of the ones that do. Evolution was never meant to be painless but it is necessary if our times on this planet are to be significant.

So, perhaps I should just drop a line to the man who wrote the letter in the first place. But then, that will be me off his Christmas card list. Or perhaps, he will send me one with "Happy Winter Break" on it. The ultimate insult. But still, who would have thought that an idle forwarding of a harmless e-mail could provide so much inspiration for providing a free opinion? So thank you, anonymous e-mail sender and Daily Mail reader. You have at least provided a platform for some discussion on this subject. Nonetheless, I would like to reiterate that chain e-mails are not big or clever in any shape or form, so just think before you click those forward and send buttons. Thank you.