Britain burns - Chavs ruin civilization

[Martinus]

Btw, Brazen, I found this article about Morrisey's stance on immigration. Has he said something else? Because based on what he is saying, it's really hard to consider him racist by any stretch. In fact, what he is saying is quite true. 

Morrissey complains that immigration has led to the loss of Britain's identityTimes Online and Agencies
Morrissey, the former Smiths singer, has sparked controversy by claiming British identity has disappeared because the country has been "flooded" by immigrants.

The pop star, originally from Manchester, suggested that immigration was one of the reasons he would not move from his American home back to Britain.

Morrissey, 48, who has spent most of the last decade living in LA and Rome, told music magazine NME that countries like Germany still had their own identity and complained of not hearing "British accents" on the streets of Britain.

Asked whether he would move back to the UK, Morrissey, the son of Irish immigrants, said: "Britain's a terribly negative place. And it hammers people down and it pulls you back and it prevents you.

"Also, with the issue of immigration, it's very difficult because, although I don't have anything against people from other countries, the higher the influx into England the more the British identity disappears.

"So the price is enormous. If you travel to Germany, it's still absolutely Germany. If you travel to Sweden, it still has a Swedish identity. But travel to England and you have no idea where you are."

He added: "It matters because the British identity is very attractive. I grew up into it, and I find it quaint and very amusing.

"But England is a memory now. Other countries have held on to their basic identity, yet it seems to me that England was thrown away."

He agreed that immigration was enriching the British identity but added "you have to say goodbye to the Britain you once knew".

Morrissey said: "The change in England is so rapid compared to the change in any other country.

"If you walk through Knightsbridge on any bland day of the week you won't hear an English accent. You'll hear every accent under the sun apart from the British accent."

Morrissey admitted he enjoyed "the freedom to go around the world ... so you have to allow others the same freedom," adding "so I'm not sitting here saying it's a terrible thing, I'm saying it's a reality and to many people it's shocking".

In a follow-up phone interview, Morrissey told the magazine: "I just think that it could be construed that the reason I wouldn't wish to live in England is the immigration explosion.

"And that's not true at all. I am actually extremely worldly and there are other reasons why I would find England very difficult, such as the expense and the pressure."

He said: "My favourite actor is an Israeli, Lior Ashkenazi, and my favourite singer was born in Iraq and now lives in Egypt. So I'm not a part of Little Britain. And by that, I don't mean the show, obviously."

Asked about his parents moving to Britain, he said: "It's different now. Because the gates are flooded. And anybody can have access to England and join in."

He added: "You can't say, 'Everybody come into my house, sit on the bed, have what you like, do what you like.' It wouldn't work.

"Millions of people leave the country every year because they don't recognise the place, so I'm not saying anything unusual.

"If you travelled to Croatia tomorrow for instance, and walked around Zagreb hearing nothing but Dublin accents, you'd find it shocking."

He said "racism" was "silly" and "beyond reason" and that he would be "pilloried" for his comments.

But Morrissey added: "Whatever England is now, it's not what it was and it's lamentable that we've lost so much."

NME rounded on the singer, claiming his comments meant that while he was once the voice of a generation "he's certainly not speaking for us now".

Morrissey told NME: "I find racism very silly. Almost too silly to discuss. It's beyond reason. And makes no sense and is ludicrous.

"I've never heard a good argument in favour of racism."

[Ideologue]

Lemons and lime the same thing?  Who was the argument between, Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles?

[Martinus]

Lemons and lime the same thing?  Who was the argument between, Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles?

Uhm, no. Lemons are yellow and limes are green. 

[Ideologue]

Lemons and lime the same thing?  Who was the argument between, Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles?

Uhm, no. Lemons are yellow and limes are green. 

I'll let someone else field this one.

[Brazen]

Btw, Brazen, I found this article about Morrisey's stance on immigration. Has he said something else? Because based on what he is saying, it's really hard to consider him racist by any stretch. In fact, what he is saying is quite true. 

Needs a separate thread!

Well, besides being leaving the country because immigration meant he never heard a British accent, which I'd call pretty racist anyhow, he called the Chinese a subspecies, has written some dodgy lyrics (Bengali in Platforms, National Front Disco) and said he he didn't really "think, for instance, black people and white people will ever really get on or like each other".  That do you?

[The Brain]

I don't usually hear "negro" used in any negative context in Spanish.  Of course its base meaning is simply "black", but beyond that it seems to have more of a positive connotation than anything else.  In Argentina just about everyone has a family member they affectionately refer to as "la negra" or "el negro".

You should never consider the help family.

[Martinus]

Btw, Brazen, I found this article about Morrisey's stance on immigration. Has he said something else? Because based on what he is saying, it's really hard to consider him racist by any stretch. In fact, what he is saying is quite true. 

Needs a separate thread!

Well, besides being leaving the country because immigration meant he never heard a British accent, which I'd call pretty racist anyhow, he called the Chinese a subspecies, has written some dodgy lyrics (Bengali in Platforms, National Front Disco) and said he he didn't really "think, for instance, black people and white people will ever really get on or like each other".  That do you?

Ok yeah that's pretty racist.

[The Brain]

Well, besides being leaving the country because immigration meant he never heard a British accent, which I'd call pretty racist anyhow, he called the Chinese a subspecies, has written some dodgy lyrics (Bengali in Platforms, National Front Disco) and said he he didn't really "think, for instance, black people and white people will ever really get on or like each other".  That do you?

Word is on some message board he has called for genocide against most known ethnicities over the years.

[Neil]

Btw, Brazen, I found this article about Morrisey's stance on immigration. Has he said something else? Because based on what he is saying, it's really hard to consider him racist by any stretch. In fact, what he is saying is quite true. 

Needs a separate thread!

Well, besides being leaving the country because immigration meant he never heard a British accent, which I'd call pretty racist anyhow,

Really?  Why's that racist?

he called the Chinese a subspecies,

Not especially damning, especially without context.

has written some dodgy lyrics (Bengali in Platforms, National Front Disco)

I don't listen to vegetarian music, but people write things in lyrics that they don't necessarily believe all the time.

and said he he didn't really "think, for instance, black people and white people will ever really get on or like each other".  That do you?

Maybe he's right.  I can certainly see a man who grew up when he did thinking those sorts of things.

[derspiess]

Lemons and lime the same thing?  Who was the argument between, Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles?

Apparently, in Mexico they use limón to refer to both lemon and lime.  I think the rest of Latin America tends to differentiate the two-- usually into limón and lima, respectively.

[Ideologue]

Lemons and lime the same thing?  Who was the argument between, Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles?

Apparently, in Mexico they use limón to refer to both lemon and lime.  I think the rest of Latin America tends to differentiate the two-- usually into limón and lima, respectively.

I mean, they're similar, but seems like they'd be forced to differentiate "limon verde" and "limon amarillo."  And maybe they do, since when I google "limon verde" I get tons of pictures of limes.

[alfred russel]

Wow, this is a thread on the UK being destroyed by hooligans, with several languishites under siege in their homes, and the thread gets derailed first by comic books, then by a discussion of racist terms in different languages, and now by the differences between limes and lemons.

[Ideologue]

Wow, this is a thread on the UK being destroyed by hooligans, with several languishites under siege in their homes, and the thread gets derailed first by comic books, then by a discussion of racist terms in different languages, and now by the differences between limes and lemons.

There's a type of lime that's named after a South African racial slur.

That said, my main concern regarding the riots is that Brazen and the other Britons I know are safe, which they appear to be at this point in time, unless I missed something.  The rest of it's just kind of distant, and a little depressing because there's nothing I can do about it short of asking why the British government can't deal with unarmed morons.

[derspiess]

I mean, they're similar, but seems like they'd be forced to differentiate "limon verde" and "limon amarillo."  And maybe they do, since when I google "limon verde" I get tons of pictures of limes.

I would imagine they ultimately do differentiate them that way when they have to.  But it sounds like they'd prefer not to make the effort.

[derspiess]

The rest of it's just kind of distant, and a little depressing because there's nothing I can do about it short of asking why the British government can't deal with unarmed morons.

It has occupied a lot of my attention because it's the mother country, it shatters some previously held notions about law & order in the UK, and there may be some lessons we can learn from it.  That's in addition to my concern for Brit Languishites' safety, of course

And the fact that there has been extensive coverage of the riots but seemingly little analysis or opinion (readily available over here, anyway) has puzzled me.  The most plausible analysis/opinion piece I've read so far is from Max Hastings:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2024284/UK-riots-2011-Liberal-dogma-spawned-generation-brutalised-youths.html