tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21657491.post8869601938834404929..comments2023-05-10T08:43:17.593+01:00Comments on Ramblings of an Altruist: This house proposes that we are all racists xenophobesPseudoRandomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01993144590186704387noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21657491.post-82897162945639880912009-04-08T09:57:00.000+01:002009-04-08T09:57:00.000+01:00Sachintha - Glad you liked the post! Yeah, when I ...<I>Sachintha</I> - Glad you liked the post! Yeah, when I read your post I figured that we were thinking along the same lines.<BR/><BR/><I>Gehan</I> - I know what you mean about the schools. Britain is a Protestant country, so Catholicism does form a minority, albeit a big one. I haven't heard of many Protestant faith schools, so I'm not sure the restriction on worship is the problem (although yes, you do have a very valid point). From my experience (I spent a few years at state-run primary schools in the UK during the early '90s), 'secular school' meant we had a Christmas concert and made lamps for Deepawali, and Religious Education class was when we learnt about all religions - so we had a little bit of everything. It seems this wasn't enough for the minorities, hence the move away from secular schools. Isn't this a potential problem even with 'language-based' schools? I was looking at secular <I>vs</I> non-secular schools from an 'integration' point of view. Regardless of the driving force (religion or language), the move away from secularism is a blow for integration.<BR/>(See below for the language discussion)<BR/><BR/><I>Whack</I> - not that long? Aww you're too kind :D<BR/>Right I see what you mean. In my eyes, the distinction is that a xenophobe will not see other communities as an <I>immediate</I> threat that needs to be acted on. You're right...they'll only act <I>if pushed</I> - but I think a racist will act with no provocation whatsoever.<BR/>I agree that prejudices aren't solely based on race. But people love to pigeon-hole, and 'race' is something you can easily use to define someone.<BR/>Regarding the language issue in the UK...expats in the UK <I>don't</I> learn English in their daily lives. They live in pockets of immigrants from their home countries and they only need English if they want to move away from that environment...and only a handful ever do. The kids do learn English in school but their standard is far lower than the national average. The older generations don't speak any English at all. From what I've heard, it's similar in the States - there are many who speak Spanish but not English. I think the proportion of Spanish-speakers in the States is similar to the proportion of non-Sinhalese speakers in Sri Lanka. My point was that if the UK is finding it so difficult to teach a small minority its de facto national language, how easy will it be for Sri Lanka to teach a majority (let's face it, fluent English-speakers are a minority in Sri Lanka) an 'alien' language? I hope the prospect of increased opportunities will counteract that, but I don't know.PseudoRandomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01993144590186704387noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21657491.post-85652742620455431252009-04-08T06:14:00.000+01:002009-04-08T06:14:00.000+01:00hey nice one.. and not that long.."The latter migh...hey nice one.. and not that long..<BR/><BR/>"The latter might still be wary of other communities, but he won't see them as a threat"<BR/><BR/>..and the latter is a xenophobe?<BR/><BR/>how can he be a xenophobe and not see other communities as a threat? if xenophobia is fear of foreigners or as you say 'different people', then that fear is borne out of a threat. and if people feel threatened they will eventually act upon their fear if pushed yes? there is ultimately no difference then is there?<BR/><BR/>Your categorization of racist into a packaged product called a 'xenophobe' is interesting. Maybe it isn't only the race, and income and social differences play a big role as well eh?<BR/><BR/>also the problem may seem more complicated than before. But maybe sri lankans will fel more eager to learn englisg because of the opportunities it provides? while expats in UK have the confidence of learning english in their daily lives anyway and therefore want to preserve their native tongue through their education? irrational as it may seem..TheWhacksteRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16163713209619543202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21657491.post-75167102670325722122009-04-08T06:03:00.000+01:002009-04-08T06:03:00.000+01:00aah.. the suspense is lifted ;)hmmm u make some ve...aah.. the suspense is lifted ;)<BR/><BR/>hmmm u make some very interesting points that actually made sense to me.. abt faith schools tho, i think that its a bit different in UK (i may be wrong) cos Britain is primarily a Christian nation, yea? hence the sudden increase in faith schools <I>may</I> be because of all the restrictions in secular school these days that are imposed to accomodate all the different faiths ie the no praying, no creationism, more 'santa' and less 'babe in a manger' etc etc.. and once u have more christian schools then u'll get more muslim schools and more hindu schools etc etc... in lanka tho, we've gone the opposite direction and tagged the sinhala language along with it, hence the need for a tip in the scales towards more secular schools.. of course, i could be wrong but thats my opinion....<BR/><BR/>about language.. i dnt think ur example is relevant cos its more of an exception to the rule, u kno? i doubt that the percentage of non-english speakin ppl in UK is even <I>close</I> to that in lanka.. besides, u've seen for urself how much of a barrier it is to todays youth with regards to their opportunities.. of course, teachin em english from school level wont make them 'brighter', but it'll at least make them more presentable and open up their horizons..<BR/><BR/>abt mammoth post.. yes :P<BR/><BR/>interesting, interesting... hmmm...Gehanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16299640465175652895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21657491.post-21525222293826334892009-04-08T01:36:00.000+01:002009-04-08T01:36:00.000+01:00Brilliant post!Enjoyed every bit of it.Xenophobia?...Brilliant post!<BR/>Enjoyed every bit of it.<BR/><BR/>Xenophobia? Honestly, that's the first time I heard that word. LOL...<BR/>But jokes aside, yes you do have a point. In my post, maybe that is what I meant. Because, there I said that our constitution has allowed some privilegeds, and the governments has reasonably tired to make sure the minorities get those privileges. Not perfect, but reasonable. On the other hand, I said that racism at a personal level do exist and that it is in a way the nature of us. So, now reading what you have to say, maybe we both mean the same thing.<BR/><BR/>I also have my doubts over trying to adopt one language as common in Sri Lanka. One, loving our race/language is not racism and we all love our languages/races. At least most of us do. So... Sinhala and Tamil are two languages that have a history of more than thousand years. It is not easy to give it up. Two, it is not easy, I'd say even not practical to teach everyone English in this country. Do you think a farmer in Polonnaruwa or Monaragala will give a shit about teaching his kid English? Mostly they don't even give a shit about educating them at all, because they have bigger problems to worry about. Or because they can't afford it. So, I think that could cause more problems that solutions. Also, here in Japan, you see day to day that you don't need English to be successful, though I agree that everyone here speaks Japanese. So... well I'm going off topic.<BR/><BR/>But in Japan, you see some other level or racism, or Xenophobia as you put it. They treat foreigners as best you can imagine. But, when you get down to things, you can see they too are racists, or Xenophobists, if there is such a word. For example, the seats next to us on a train are almost always the ones to be last occupied. Can you imagine how you feel?<BR/><BR/>OK getting back to the point, I think as you put it, it more needs to be done with a personal level. Because, I think I have a very good view and a pretty good unbiased view when it comes to matters like this because of my parents. They both are teachers and they did indeed brought me up teaching me the values of treating everyone equal. Also, if you can get people to interact more often, people of different races, I think people will learn to tolerate and even love each other. I was brought up in a neighbourhood where there were a lot of Muslims and we always interacted. So... naturally, I could see that the beast is not black as it has been portraited. (No offence to the Muslims). They are just as normal human beings as us Sinhalese, but with a different culture, habits, language and some more. They are not any good or bad than us. SO.... if we can get people to interact more, I think people will realize that more or less we are all the same.<BR/><BR/>I'll stop now, before the comment gets bigger than the post itself. Or has it already?Sachhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09737205005592917145noreply@blogger.com