DAVID CAMERON AND HIS PHILOSOPHY
What is written in The Observer generally falls under the radar of Conservatives. Little comment has been made on David Cameron’s extraordinary article in The Observer on 13 May 2007.
What I learned from my stay with a Muslim family [www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2078471,00.html]
Basically, he heavily criticises British society, ‘family breakdown, drugs, crime and incivility are part of the normal experience of modern Britain’. These are all correct points but are hardly the normal behaviour of most Britons. Nor does Cameron praise the mass of ordinary Britons for their behaviour and, in particular, hard work, respect for the law, support for the armed forces and even tolerant behaviour towards ethnic minorities.
Having opened up with an attack on ‘racism and soft bigotry’ he stigmatizes all native Britons as prone to racism and a disintegrating society.
He then tells us of the wonders of the British Asian way of life ‘who have a sense of civic responsibility which puts the rest of us to shame’. He talks as though the British Asian community leads a saintly life which, of course, does not include crime, drugs and family breakdown.
Moreover he does not distinguish between the very different British Asian communities. To Cameron, they all look brown and all eat curry.
Finally he says ‘Not for the first time [sic], I found myself thinking that it is mainstream Britain which needs to integrate more with the British Asian way of life, not the other way around’.
The Conservative leader seems to have given up the process of integrating British Asians and settled on the fantasy of integrating Britons into the British Asian way of life.
FUTURUS/2 June 2007
What I learned from my stay with a Muslim family [www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2078471,00.html]
Basically, he heavily criticises British society, ‘family breakdown, drugs, crime and incivility are part of the normal experience of modern Britain’. These are all correct points but are hardly the normal behaviour of most Britons. Nor does Cameron praise the mass of ordinary Britons for their behaviour and, in particular, hard work, respect for the law, support for the armed forces and even tolerant behaviour towards ethnic minorities.
Having opened up with an attack on ‘racism and soft bigotry’ he stigmatizes all native Britons as prone to racism and a disintegrating society.
He then tells us of the wonders of the British Asian way of life ‘who have a sense of civic responsibility which puts the rest of us to shame’. He talks as though the British Asian community leads a saintly life which, of course, does not include crime, drugs and family breakdown.
Moreover he does not distinguish between the very different British Asian communities. To Cameron, they all look brown and all eat curry.
Finally he says ‘Not for the first time [sic], I found myself thinking that it is mainstream Britain which needs to integrate more with the British Asian way of life, not the other way around’.
The Conservative leader seems to have given up the process of integrating British Asians and settled on the fantasy of integrating Britons into the British Asian way of life.
FUTURUS/2 June 2007