Social Segregation: The Honest Answer Go Back
On the 28th of August 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous speech at
the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.
During that speech he said "I have a dream that my four little children will one
day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but
by the content of their character."
A lot has changed in the last 65 years all over the world, but the same dynamic
still holds true, there are groups within the population who for whatever reason
don't integrate fully within their respective societies.
The rule that applies is quite straightforward; people who are different are
treated differently. This ranges from picking words carefully to actual full‐blown
hatred still in some parts of the world.
If you are lucky enough to work somewhere that provides a hot meal at lunch or
dinnertime you'll see exactly what I mean. Different departments sit at different
tables and even from there they sub‐divide. They split up firstly by department,
and then by friendship groups.
In my place of work things are slightly different, once they have split by
department, they then split by which country they came from. It is amusing to
see a group of Polish workers sitting at a large table with 2 extra spaces and then
when an English member of the same department arrives they elect to sit on
their own rather than become uncomfortable during their short lunch break.
I also have a very good friend who recently changed departments; she moved
from my department to another and since then has pretty much ignored all of us.
She has become the essence of her current department.
Similarly, every child is taught to separate himself or herself from everyone else
from primary school age onwards. There are always small friendship groups,
even in a small class of around thirty for the sake of argument the numbers of
boys and girls will be even at fifteen in each class. There are also two classes in
each year. (60 children, 30 Boys, 30 Girls in case you can't do the maths…)
The majority of boys in school will play football in their play times, there are the
few who either don't want to play football, or indeed can't play football. Already
here you can see how these young boys are at a disadvantage. At this young of an
age, the boys will mostly have nothing to do with the girls except for the
occasional game, when no one brought a ball into school.
The girls likewise wanted nothing to do with the boys except when it suited
them. They similarly split themselves up, their friendship groups weren't ever as
cut and dry as those of the boys but whilst they were established they were very
nearly unbreakable. Of course these didn't last very long, usually only a week or
two before there was an argument with the wrong person and all of a sudden
Originally Published on TheOralPandemic.co.uk
someone who was previously part of the 'cool group' is hanging around with a
different group. You've all seen the power the playground clique has over the
rest of the population. Everyone wants to be a part of them in order to further
they're own social standings. For this exact reason people are excluded, if
everyone were a part of the group there'd be none of the competition for a place.
Now you'd think that the dynamics of a place of work or playground aren't
representative of the country as a whole, but that is where you'd be wrong. They
aren't to be compared like for like, but you'd be better off using these social
dynamics to better understand the national picture.
Within the country there are the different classes, whilst the government has
tried to convince people that the old class system no longer exists, it is apparent
that it still does. Even simply, you have the people who own their house outright.
Those who own their house with a mortgage. Those whom rent privately and
then the council tenants.
The large majority of the country fit into the middle class band, we're average,
not especially noticed by the whole. However, amongst the average, you'll find
groups again, as we've already seen with the staff canteen, languages are a huge
factor in the social groups we form. Immigrants especially gravitate towards
each other with the intention of replicating the feel of being at home. They may
be thousands of miles from home but if they speak their own language or
celebrate their national holidays it allows them to deal with the stress of being in
another country.
Now the governments view of course, is…you're more than welcome to come to
the UK, end of story. Our joining of the EU of course has brought floods of eastern
Europeans to the country seeking employment, whilst this isn't at first glance a
bad thing it does need you to think about it.
Firstly, why are they here? There is a better life to be had here. There is more
work and consequently, more money available here. They do any job; it's not
about what they do but rather, how long they do it for, how much they get paid. I
personally have a similar philosophy; as long as I'm getting paid I'll do pretty
much anything that the bosses will ask me to.
The second question to be asked is how long are they here for? This is the million
pound question and one that begs the answer: not very long. Granted some of the
immigrants will want to stay, however, most have plans to return home older,
richer with enough to live comfortably. From the five very good polish friends I
have, only one has plans to live here in the UK for any significant length of time.
One has actually already left. She worked in a crap job five days a week for over a
year and saved enough money to put herself through university. Good for her.
Bad for the countries economy.
Those whom look to leave have a particular part to play in the downfall of the
British economy. Whilst I wouldn't go as far to say that they aren't paying tax or
anything. They're just not spending money. Those who plan to leave save up or
Originally Published on TheOralPandemic.co.uk
send the money out of the country to their particular homeland. Occasionally
they'll have families to support back at home, young children, parents, brothers
and sisters. It's all so important to look at them as doing menial tasks that no‐one
else wants to do, but if they're not contributing to the country's spending totals
they're not helping anyone but themselves.
Conversely, those who seek to remain, to settle and live in the country
permanently are more than welcome to, they'll save like a normal person, their
expenditures are the same as any other resident, vital resources as well as
luxurious goods.
But a question does present itself. Should the country as a whole do more to
extend a welcome to those who come across with the aim to working and
leaving?
Perhaps if more of an effort were to be made to understand and respect the
culture of those who seek to live in the country they'd feel more at ease and
certainly more willing to stay. An undertaking as such would always be
welcomed BUT missions such as this aren't likely to succeed on those who never
planned to stay.
Those, whom separate themselves from the 'native' inhabitants purely by their
own doing, will never be influenced to pack up and leave their home, even if it
were for a much better one.
Nor should they be forced to, using foreign nationals for work is one thing but
denying them their cultural heritage is a completely different ball game. Neither
can we be forced to put up with their culture as a mark of respect.
Religion is another thing that has the entire world walking on eggshells. People
go out of their way to avoid pissing off the wrong ones. A cartoon had hate mobs
lining the streets and the wrong name for a teddy bear had a woman lose her job.
The world has gone crazy. People live in communities of their fellow countrymen
thousands of miles from home to avoid having to mix with their natives. I don't
just mean those whom travel to Britain for a better life. The Brits are also guilty
of such crimes. The Spanish coastal towns are littered with ex‐pat communities.
It doesn't just work one way; everyone wants to stay with what they know. It's a basic truth of the human condition. Change isn't necessarily a good thing.