Proud to live in a multi-cultural society

Thursday nights in my life are typically known as Cheeky Thursdays, as it usually involves myself, my best friend Ray and a bucket load of wine, but last Thursday (11/11/10) I journeyed to that there Brum town to see my friend Addy and indulge in some fine food and even better conversation.

During the course of the night we set the world to rights on a number of different subjects, ending on the ever topical issue of the multi-cultural society we now live in. Both myself and Addy have encountered numerous negative viewpoints on this situation over the last few weeks, which I believe to be solely down to a great deal of ignorance on the aggressors part.

Addy has often had to defend his friends against being wrongly tied to a small minority of a certain ethnic group who choose to act in an extremest fashion, and he is constantly having to point out to those less aware than himself that in every religion or cultural group there will always be some who act on their views in a more extreme and aggressive manner than the rest of that community - constantly having to stress that you should not judge a whole religious group by those few members who use their religion as an excuse to execute violence towards those they do not agree with.

I myself have also had numerous run-ins with the ignoramus in this country, who have tried to protest that they are not racist they are simply standing up for what they believe in - at least this seems to be the motto of the gentleman who came to deliver the EDL leaflets I binned at work the other day.

I was also dragged into a somewhat heated conversation with a heavily bearded customer just this weekend, after he told me that as a student I am at the most risk of being brainwashed by the middle-class newspaper owners who claim that "the Muslims are not to be feared" - his point of course was that this in fact was not true and I should apparently fear anyone who is not as pasty as myself.

Rest assured that I corrected his stupidity by simply saying that I make my own decisions about the world we live in, and that I have actively chosen to make those he claims I should be afraid of a part of my life. As well as pointing out that I do not tolerate racism such as he was displaying in any way, shape or form - and I would not allow him to persuade me otherwise.

My conclusion on the discussion myself and Addy shared last Thursday was to say only this: There is such a thing as racism (unfortunately) and it simply stems, in my opinion, from the fear of the unknown and a lack of understanding and knowledge about anything that is not strictly native of their own country. Racists are ignorant and we should all pity them for this. We should hope that one day they may be educated enough to understand what they claim to hate so much, but until then all of the knowledgeable beings in this country should defend those who are nothing more than misunderstood by the idiots in this world, and right the wrongs of British society by doing so.