Tolerance, intolerance
Several incidents have made me wonder how tolerant the British really ate
As a British person I know - as certified by DNA sampling - that I’m a mongrel. In short there is no such thing as a pure Brit. Instead, we’re an admix of various immigrant tribes of which I am 76% English/Irish ancestry. The rest is made up of all sorts including 9% Neanderthal. Which might explain my proclivity for cussedness.
Be that as it maybe, it appals me to see the sometimes blatant harassment and/or outrage by those who I used to think knew better.
Exhibit 1: the rabid dog of a Brexiteer who ended up abusing me for my fact based expression of remaining in the EU last weekend. It didn’t matter what I offered as facts, the answer was always the same: ‘fuck you..’ It got to the point where I thought we would come to blows. I backed off as I don’t believe violence solves any problem, however satisfying it might seem at the time. He eventually apologised for his violent behaviour but I was left with a nasty taste. Is your best argument ‘fuck you’ to anything that’s said?
Exhibit 2: a lady with friends and her dogs was enjoying a quiet drink in our local pub when a man (if you can call him that) started to make inappropriate and lewd comments to her about her appearance. To her credit she kept quiet but it reached a point where my partner Jude tipped in and in a loud voice said: ‘Do we need to hear this? Why don’t you shut up?’ At which point he made the mistake of turning on her.
Jude comes from a tough background and is well used to dealing with difficult men. But on this occasion she was joined by the brother of the woman who was originally harassed and who made it clear that he was having none of the ongoing diatribe.
By this stage the bar staff could hear what was unfolding, took hold, tossed the ‘man’ out and barred him.
I spoke with the woman a few moments later at the bar and said that what she’d endured was sexual harassment and should always be resisted. It saddened me to hear her brush it off as an almost everyday event.
As a Boomer Brit and member of a rainbow family I’ve always felt that our greatest strength as a nation is tolerance for ‘other’ people. Yet today, I wonder whether that remains true.
I realise that we live in a country that is beset by febrile issues but I find it painful to think that this once tolerant nation is fracturing on issues of race, gender and g-d knows what else.
In the meantime, I note that food take out, popularised by British ruled Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis remains the number one preference of those who prefer such eating alternatives. Go figure.
In other news, this coming weekend I will celebrate my half Asian daughter’s birthday with the other mongrels in our family at a Mediterranean restaurant. If that offends you - fuck you and fuck off.