A longstanding Slogger recently sent me some details on the abandonment, by the Government of the Netherlands, of its long-held belief in the multicultural model of society. This is more than just a mindset: it is to be enshrined in Law as The Integration Bill. As the Government statement notes:
“The government shares the social dissatisfaction over the multicultural society model, and plans to shift priority to the values of the Dutch people.”
If you’re going to share a social dissatisfaction, you must first of all notice it. This is something which the British governing élite spectacularly fails to do on almost every issue. But the time has surely come when even Westminster must realise that (a) the policy been a manifest failure, and (b) this merely confirms what every nation from Nigeria to India has discovered in throughout history.
The year before last, Angela Merkel burst out of the pc closet and flatly asserted – Geli doesn’t do consultation, only dictation – that multiculturalism had failed in Germany. The French (on this subject they are the most sane nationality in the EU) never believed in it in the first place, repeating and thus confirming the State’s decades-old mantra ad infinitum: you are welcome here, but from this day forward you are French – take it or leave it.
However, the one hypocritical hole in the French approach is that they have not treated their African Muslim and Asian former Indo-Chinese immigrants as equals. Most of them wound up in the deadly banlieues of its metropolitan areas: indeed, in one town quite close to our house in southern France, former Vietnamese are still occupying disgusting prefabs their forebears were offered on arriving in France during 1954.
Regular visitors here will know of my solid belief that while a degree of privilege (based on superior performance) will accrue in societies – as pack creatures, we are hierarchically wired anyway – unearned, gratuitous privilege is a cancer which must be cut out ruthlessly before a self-destructive dose of chemotherapy becomes necessary. Thus, on the one hand, British immigrants have been handed all manner of undeserved legal and social privileges; but on the other, immigrants in all EU countries have become the butt not of natural pack selection, but pack rejection. Crude and blunt as this next observation may sound, if you don’t want a body to reject a transplant, the best route to success is to convince the body that the transplant belongs in there.
The fastest and most logical way to achieve that is to behave like the Romans when in Rome. Over the last century in Britain, Jewish, Chinese, Indian, Irish and Polish immigrants in the UK have succeeded beyond anyone’s wildest expectations by ‘becoming British’. Thirty-five years ago, I marvelled as (in a London Tube carriage) African Asians chucked out by Idi Amin were busy discussing English business law with their cousins already living here. Only hours before, they had arrived on a plane at Heathrow from Uganda. Ten years ago, in another Tube carriage, I was given an equally warm feeling of reassurance when observing Polish parents admonishing their young children for not speaking English.
This is what it comes down to: all of our successful immigrant groups tend to celebrate their cultural heritage in the comfort and privacy of their homes and social clubs. They have never tried to convince the host population that their way is better than that of the indigenous peoples. Every immigrant prepared to accept that general rule is in turn entitled to expect a level playing field when it comes to social acceptance, education, employment and housing.
If some find this formula restrictive, I can only say “Go read a book about what real people are like, not what your bigotry would prefer them to be like”.
Probably no other UK socio-religious group has benefitted more from obeying this guidance than Britain’s Jews. If you’re a Jew, as Tom Lehrer memorably observed, you’re ignored if you don’t and damned if you do. Not for nothing did he sing:
“Oh the Catholics hate the Protestants/And the Muslims hate the Hindus/And the Sunnis hate the Shi’ites/And everyone hates the Jews”
So let me end on a light-hearted Friday night note with a lovely Jewish story.
A British Jew whose orthodox grandfather has been persecuted in Hungary arranges to get the old boy over to Britain. Grandad arrives at Gatwick, complete with black cowboy hat and ringlets.
“Grandad,” says the Brit, “We need to give you a proper haircut and change those clothes, otherwise you’ll never fit in here. You’re giving off the wrong signals.”
The old man looks dubious, but his grandson kits him out in proper Savile Row garb, and then takes him to Toni & Guy for a tonsorial makeover.
Halfway through the haircut, the Brit sees that his Hungarian grandfather is crying. He is suddenly struck with guilt for his unpardonable denial of Jewish heritage.
“Grandad,” he says, “I’m so sorry losing your identity has made you cry. Please forgive me for bringing on your tears”.
“I’m not crying about having a Goy haircut,” the old bloke replies, “I’m crying because we lost India”.
Life is about adaptation. Enjoy the weekend.
The Slog 