The country went bonkers the day it was decided that flying the Union Jack was racist.
In the UK, USA citizens fly the Stars and Strips typically more often the UK citizens fly the Union Jack. Loads of USA ex pats, (typically ex usa forces retirees) have flag poles outside their homes and run up the Stars and Strips every day. If anyone wonders why they do that, somebody will chip in something like;... "well they are American aren't they? They just like doing that sort of thing". It's not regarded as racist, just something Americans do. Probably proud of being American citizens or something, and something they probably have been doing since an early age.
But now, in the UK, sporting the Union Jack in any way is racist and attracts the attention of the Police, School teachers, and various control freaks. Thugs and yobs just love that kind of confrontational thought control. They home in on it and make it into a cause. A focus for their hate and they will feel justified about it.
Really stupid all round if you ask me.
When I went to school, the morning started with prayers and a hymn. I cannot remember even one yobbo kicking up about it, things were far more relaxed back then. If people wanted to fly the National flag, they were allowed to. Although racism and violent extremism existed, most people just ignored it, and people got on with their lives. When terrorism happened it was very real, and often as a result of the troubles in Ireland. Flying the Irish tricolour would have attracted the wrong sort of attention, including that of the police. However a pub in Harlsden, London I frequented played the Irish National Anthem at closing time and you were expected to stand for it. If you didn't it would not be intelligent to revisit it, even if the Guinness sold there did taste good.
The Irish Flag; A proud national symbol since 1916 - Celtic Titles
People who didn't like the IRA (that was most people, me included) had a choice: Stand for the Irish National anthem at closing time, leave earlier, or just go to a different pub of which there were many. To claim anything was racist would have been incendiary indeed. In a pub full of half pissed Irish Labourers with fists like pile drivers, .... unwise. There has always been a very strong Caribbean presence in the area as well. The next pub down the road had hardly any lights in it. Most of what you could see was the whites in peoples eyes, sets of white teeth, and the white dots on the dominos, on which every table had a set. Never had any issues in either of those pubs.
The sad thing is, those pubs no longer exists. Both demolished and numerous tiny flats built in the space. I guess that's OK because people can stay at home and have their brains washed by the garbage on the TV and the Internet. Talking and joking with people is just so last century.
That has happened a lot over the last 30 years. A way of life lost. Similarly there used to be jobs in this country and we used to manufacture stuff. All gone, infrastructure. the lot. There are just "service sector" jobs or working for the government. We have become chithole countries and it's little wonder to me there is unrest and disenchantment. It all strikes me as very deliberate policy over the last 40 odd years too. |
