Other immigrants not hated??

[Ms Macbeth]

Yesterday on telly i was watching a programme called Michel Roux's Service, where he got 8 youngsters to learn how to become top restaurant front of house staff.

 

one of the top restaurants they used has a lot of staff and ALL are french and italian, not one english person works there.

 

over the years theres been a lot of hate, bile and lies spouted about immigrants in general (specially ones from certain regions or religions or races) seemed strange to me tho that a whole restaurant can contain not one english person and nothing ever gets said?

 

is it the type of immigrant involved?

or pure ignorance on the subject?

 

Perhaps its more to do with the type of person who visits Michel Roux's restaurants? I somehow can't imagine them being the eaterie of choice for the bile spouters.

[Kaimani]

French and Italians don't generally shout abuse at our troops, persistently keep demanding their own laws or threaten to blow us to kingdom come.

 

there a lot of other immigrants who're not french, Italian or Muslim, you know, but get the same grief anyway. think it's more that the less you 'look British' the more grief you likely to get.

[stevie1957]

Restaurants often have staff reflecting the ethnicity of the cuisine they are serving......

 

Reminds me of a mate of a mate who used to work in an Italian restaurant on Ecclesall Road. He was instructed to put on an Italian accent while waitering. He thought it was hilarious.

[L00b]

over the years theres been a lot of hate, bile and lies spouted about immigrants in general (specially ones from certain regions or religions or races) seemed strange to me tho that a whole restaurant can contain not one english person and nothing ever gets said?

 

is it the type of immigrant involved?

or pure ignorance on the subject?

I dare say, possibly because West European immigrants, having closer cultural/religious/etc. affinities with the natives, tend to integrate better/faster/fully. And do not routinely require, nor call for, any 'bending' of the rules or ethnic-specific treatment (perceived as an attack on national values by many if not most... often including these same West European immigrants themselves!)

 

In the context you outline, they are effectively 'transparent' to the natives. Therefore a non-issue.

[LordChaverly]

I dare say, possibly because West European immigrants, having closer cultural/religious/etc. affinities with the natives, tend to integrate better/faster/fully. And do not routinely require, nor call for, any 'bending' of the rules or ethnic-specific treatment (perceived as an attack on national values by many if not most... often including these same West European immigrants themselves!)

 

In the context you outline, they are effectively 'transparent' to the natives. Therefore a non-issue.

 

The 'uniform of colour' explanation might have held true in the past, but it is of far less significance today. As evidence of this I would cite the fact that there does not seem to be much, if any, animosity directed towards Hindus, Sikhs or Chinese.

[Michael_W]

What you don't seem to understand mel. is that a lot of the people you assume are racists are actually not racists, this racism thing is hyped out of proportion, let's not forget you can still call the French froggies, the Scots Jocks and the Germans krauts etc without all the PC fuss that is created when you call Pakistanis "Pakis". One day you might re program your mindset and see the big picture

[spooky3]

for the most part, i think, we do move above it. or, at least those among us that can't learn to suppress it. the best, if not only, way is always to know those you don't understand.

PS- it works both ways; from a deep despising and feeling superior to a deep veneration and feeling inferior. strange it very rarely is just the acceptance of differences.

 

Personally i'd be careful. I know that following certain threads on a forum isn't too good for your health!

 

When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you.

Friedrich Nietzsche

[mj.scuba]

Yesterday on telly i was watching a programme called Michel Roux's Service, where he got 8 youngsters to learn how to become top restaurant front of house staff.

 

one of the top restaurants they used has a lot of staff and ALL are french and italian, not one english person works there.

 

over the years theres been a lot of hate, bile and lies spouted about immigrants in general (specially ones from certain regions or religions or races) seemed strange to me tho that a whole restaurant can contain not one english person and nothing ever gets said?

 

is it the type of immigrant involved?

or pure ignorance on the subject?

 

The catering and hospitality industry relies heavily on migrant workers, I don't think it would be that unusual to find a hotel or restaurant, especially in the capital, staffed almost exclusively by migrant workers.

[Conrod]

The 'uniform of colour' explanation might have held true in the past, but it is of far less significance today. As evidence of this I would cite the fact that there does not seem to be much, if any, animosity directed towards Hindus, Sikhs or Chinese.

That is very true.

 

My observation of the issues that wind up local people about Sheffield's immigrant population is often in regard to the self-imposed segregation of the Muslim community, and the dirty lifestyle observed by many immigrants, sometimes Asian or African Muslims, but also very much the Eastern Europeans.

 

Travel round Sheffield looking for streets that are beginning to resemble third world shanty towns, and you will be in areas with a high immigrant population. Coming from countries where squalor is the norm, they treat it as the norm here which really winds up the neighbours.

 

It's not a colour issue which should be linked to racism - the concerns over this unpleasant aspect of excessive immigration are applied to Romanians, Poles and Lithuanians just as much as to Pakistanis and Somalians. Front and back gardens full of mattresses, old prams, dirty nappies and bin bags, and noise through to the early hours seem to be water off a duck's back for many immigrants but the locals find it disgusting - understandably.

 

Hindus, Sikhs, Chinese, Italians and many others are not met with distrust and resentment by the populace partly because they don't stand on soap boxes screaming 'death to the infidel', but a lot of it is because they aren't dirty and don’t live in a way which is socially inconsiderate to their white British neighbours.

 

The whole immigration debate isn't about racism, it's about conflicting and incompatible cultures; the racial connection is coincidence. One day the whining left will understand this.

[Kaimani]

Personally i'd be careful. I know that following certain threads on a forum isn't too good for your health!

 

 

Friedrich Nietzsche

 

may we, when there comes a time when our views require us to 'speak' speak then. as long as neither one of us has anything to say to each other that adds to the debate, may we live and let live? thanks.