Posted on 08/28/2007 4:19:23 AM PDT by Kaslin
"There'll Always Be an England" - popular World War II song
BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - Perhaps there will not always be an England. An exodus unprecedented in modern times, coupled with a record influx of foreigners, is threatening to erode the character of the land of William Shakespeare and overpowering monarchs, a land that served as the cradle for much of American thought, law and culture.
The figures, making headlines in London newspapers, tell only part of the story. Between June 2005 and June 2006 nearly 200,000 British citizens chose to leave the country for a new life elsewhere. During the same period, at least 574,000 immigrants came to Britain. This number does not include the people who broke the law to get there, or the thousands unknown to the government. Britain's Office of National Statistics reports that middle-class Britons are beginning to move out of towns in southern England that have become home to large numbers of immigrants, thereby altering the character of neighborhoods that have remained unchanged for generations.
Britons give many reasons for leaving, but their stories share one commonality: life in Britain has become unbearable for them. They fear lawlessness and the threat of more terrorism from a growing Muslim population and the loss of a sense of Britishness, exacerbated by the growing refusal of public schools to teach the history and culture of the nation to the next generation. What it means to be British has been watered down in a plague of political correctness that has swept the country faster than hoof-and-mouth disease. Officials say they do not wish to "offend" others.
Hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers are about to be granted "amnesty" to stay in Britain. The government's approach is similar to that pursued by President Bush, who failed to win congressional approval for his amnesty plan. In Britain it appears likely to succeed. Migrants will be granted immediate access to many benefits, including top priority for council housing. Taxpayers will foot the bill.
The Shadow Home Secretary, David Davis, called the policy a "stealth amnesty." Again, in a comment reminiscent of the debate in America, Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch UK, said: "This is yet another example of the Alice in Wonderland world of human rights. If you break British law for long enough, you acquire rights not penalties."
British media have carried stories about an Italian immigrant who murdered a schoolteacher and was sentenced to life in prison. He is about to be released after serving just 12 years. The government wants to deport him to Italy, but a combination of British human rights legislation and European Union law are making it impossible to do so. This does not bode well for deporting Islamic terrorists who call for the overthrow of the government and incite young people to acts of violence.
Abraham Lincoln said no nation can exist half slave and half free. Neither can a nation be sustained if it allows conditions that result in mass emigration, while importing huge numbers of foreigners who come from backgrounds that do not practice assimilation or tolerance of other beliefs. When one factors in the high number of abortions (one in five pregnancies are aborted in England and Wales), the high birth rates of immigrants (15 times those of white Britons), it doesn't take a population expert to predict that the days of the England we have known may be numbered. The problem for Britain and the United States isn't just the change in demographics. It is the reluctance of both countries to inculcate the beliefs, history and, yes, religious ideals, which made our nations so successful that others wanted to come and be a part of them. The difference between many of the current immigrants and those of the past is that the previous ones wanted to become fully American or fully British. The current ones, in too many cases, would destroy what makes our countries unique. And the "leaders" of Britain and America refuse to stop it.
The greater tragedy is that the people of Britain have little say in any of this, so they are taking the road of last resort. They are leaving.
I would. My mom, who lives in Orange County, California, one of the most conservative places on earth, is less than a mile from one of the biggest mosques in the US, in Anaheim, built brand spanking new. I live in northern Virginia, and women in not just the hijab scarves, but the full-on "niqab", that covers everything but the eyes is an everyday sight. EVERYDAY -- these gals are in the grocery stores and banks, nothing but their eyes showing. Five miles from the nation's capitol. We're in denial over here in the US about the number of muslims in our midst.
but the views of Britain given abroad by the MSM are highly misleading.
What? The MSM is not telling the whole truth about something? I'm shocked, just shocked! < /sarcasm
‘Given the way states tip toe around the subject I think your Celtic count is a tad inflated. Besides, at least over here, Semitic, Persian, etc. are not ‘non white’, Hispanics can choose to be either, and “white” is not “Celtic”.’
In UK stats Semitic and Persian are non-white, Hispanics from Spain are white, those from the Americas are non-white. Celtic is very white, bordering on blue! :)
‘Please do not disappear, we need you as much as you need us.’
Hear, hear! I dare say we’ll manage a few more millenia! :)
“Google is not Gospel my friend”
Touche’
Food for thought. More people attend church on sunday than stand on the football terraces on a saturday. That has always been true and it is still true today...
‘The home page for NationMaster.com states that it draws its statistics “from such sources as the CIA World Factbook, UN, and OECD.” Assuning the primary sources are valid, which must be questioned in the first place when one is dealing with UN statistics due to the leftist bias of that body, the issue is whether NationMaster interprets data correctly. There is no evidence that NationMaster conducted an impartial, scientificly valid survey of church attendance in the many nations that are represnted in this chart. Unless such evidence exists, it is justifiable, and indeed necessary, to question the statistics you cited.’
A fair point, but in lieu of better ones, these are the fairest I can find. I prefer an argument backed by slightly biased sources, than no sources at all or even worse, highly biased ones.
‘numerous other researchers (Barna, Gallup) have shown that Americans adhere to major points of Christian doctrine at a higher percentage than Europeans, especially Western Europeans.’
You simply cannot make such judgements about ‘Europe’. Some European countries go to church far more than America does, some far less. Different European countries have different intrepretations of what Christian doctrine is that disagrees with US Christian doctrine. No-one could’ve been a more devout Christian than my maternal grandmother, but her puritan upbringing saw no need for a middleman, her faith connected her straight to God without the ritualistic theatre (as she saw it) of a church.
To me and I venture to suggest, many other Britons, churches are for weddings, funerals and fetes, private faith is the real Christianity.
‘So we import people...Muslims in your case.’
Nope. We import far fewer muslims than the US does. We import lots of Poles, but not muslims. We’ve had more Poles come to the UK since 2003 than we have total muslim population. The UK has 1.7m muslims, the US has somewhere between 6m and 20m depending on who you believe including 2.1m ‘good’ african-americans who have converted to islam. And we all know by now it’s the converts you have to watch the most closely! :(
‘More people attend church on sunday than stand on the football terraces on a saturday. That has always been true and it is still true today...’
Yes, they pray and pray and still no more goals are scored! :)
Yet more evidence they can't do their job properly.
Among the young people I know mostly university/college crowd none go to church on a regular basis.. and don’t seem to believe in god. The boys are proud of what western civilization has achieved and want to stop mass migration of third world peoples, but the girls you get the usual marxist arguments about all the bad things we have done to third world peoples, and downplaying our achievements and supporting immigration.
On the other hand most christian denominations are supporting the most liberal immigration policies.. and in many cases inviting, sheltering, hiding illegal migrants to America.
Liberals despise western culture, and will do anything to destroy it.
I haven’t read Steyn’s book, but will try too. However, a title like ‘America Alone : The End of the World as We Know It’doesn’t really suggest a rational exploration of the facts. It suggests a man walking down the street with a sandwich board reading ‘The End is Nigh!’. We do face a very real threat from Islamic terror (as tragic events around the world have illustrated). However, in some regards too much hysteria has greeted the doubtless dangerous threat of Islamic terrorism from some quarters. Just a few points if I may:
1)The facts remain that in the UK immigration from Eastern Europe is forming the largest body of migration at present.
2)The UK’s muslim population is 2-3%. Their higher birthrates will have likely been swamped by the influx of Eastern Europena workers alone.
3)Having commuted into London (or ‘Londonistan’) for the past three years I have come to see it as a truly international city. Most immigrants to the UK live in the area of London. However, immigrants I have seen have been from Eastern Europe, Western Europe, China, Africa (a really diverse bunch). Muslims are a small minority even in London. The fact that they tend to ghettoise can give false impressions sometimes.
4) Britain has been dealing with far more sophisticated and lethal terrorism than that tragically directed against us by Islamists in the past and has always prevailed. Sometimes authors such as Steyn seem to forget that terrorism existed before the tragic events of 9/11. Please don’t get me wrong. 9/11 was an act of unspeakable horror and tragegy and my heart goes out to you in the US for it. However, as a general rule Islamic terrorism was easily as prevalent in the 1970s (if not more so) than today.We must keep alert to the threat no doubt. But hysteria will get us nowhere. One must ask why Steyn only saw fit to sell his apocalyptic vision after the War on Terror began. If the threat was so clear, then why didn’t he publish his work before the tragic events of 9/11?
Thanks for the article mate: that is very intetesting!
‘You have been listening to CAIR. I think you need to get your facts straight and quit listening to Liberal and Islamo tripe.’
So set me straight with some facts about your muslim population. You’re terribly confident on numbers considering your open borders.
‘Look London is frequently refered to as Londonstan. There is a reason for that. It isn’t me saying it, it’s a lot of people. And thost firecrackers that went off over there should wake you up. No I think you are in denial. I suggested a book, I again suggest you read it.’
London does have a high asian population, I didn’t argue with Londonistan, I argued with Englandistan. 45% of Englands minorities live in London. London has a population of 7.7m people, 600,000 of whom are muslim. I suspect comparing NYC with America would produce similar results.
As for Mark Steyns isolationist fantasy, I read two thirds before it became bizarre and self-serving. No wonder he has been sacked from all his columns.
‘Thanks for the article mate: that is very intetesting!’
My pleasure - we are the thin red line here!
I feel genuine warmth for most Americans I meet, but there is nonetheless a hardcore here who much prefer to revel in international schadenfreude than to consider the reality of the situation in the Uk and US.
bttt
We love P&G Tips. Whole Foods carries it now, so we have no trouble finding it any more.
The Prince of Wales, Charles, has commissioned the Westminister Cathedral to stage a new musical work based on Qur’an — it sets the 99 names of Allah to music, to be intoned over an hour and a half with choir, full orchestra and Tibetan gongs.
I feel exactly the same as you do mate. I have nothing but admiration for the US. It’s reaction to 9/11 was inspirational and it is an inspiring country.
I’m glad that most Freepers have admiration for the UK also. I think that our two countries are a great force for good in the world.
In this regard, I think that authors such as Steyn and Phillips do a great disservive to both the US and Great Britain by predicting the end of Western civilisation. We’re all made of sterner stuff than that.I’ve just got an image of them waking up in the morning and running to the window to see if, today, the world really is ending.
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