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Originally Posted by Mr Angry
People posting here seem to have overlooked a fundamental element of the equation.
In all probability many of the protesters seen in London last week are as British as Yorkshire pudding - born and reared in Britain. As far as I know, and I'm not condoning it (before anyone gets their Oswald Mosley / Enoch Powell hats on), up until last week waving a placard promoting or glorifying terrorism wasn't a criminal offence under British law.
Can someone explain to me how you tell someone born in Britain to go back to somewhere they may never have been? Is it as simple as determining by the colour of their skin, or the religion that they practice that they don't quite fit in to "our way of life"? Is it as simple as asserting, simply because they elect to advocate and practice a freedom of speech which espouses something contrary to our collective moral beliefs, that they should be "sent home"?
Comments such as "Send em all back" and "if they dont like it they are free to go back to the middle east" are as racist, shameful and bigotted as the "No blacks, no dogs, no Irish" signs which adorned the windows of many thousands of B&B's throughout Britain in the 70's - 80's and anyone who would suggest otherwise is deluding themselves.
The bottom line, as far as the protesters are concerned, is you either respect their right to freedom of speech or you don't. You either respect them as individuals or you consider them all to be terrorists and you either acknowledge their right to be British or you deny it. A denial of their legitimate right to freedom of speech or their British nationality (where applicable) and the fundamental human right to the freedom of religious expression and practice - irresepective of their place of birth, colour of skin or religious denomination - is a racist action.
You are perfectly entitled to disagree with / dispute their point of view. Their nationality, however, is not up for debate. It is defined by their passport / place of birth and an elected desire on their part to be declared a citizen of whatever country they wish - with the provision that they meet the qualifying criteria and are deemed to have done so by the appropriate legislative authority.
If you're a racist come out and say it. If you're a xenophobe don't be afraid to say it but, for goodness sake, don't try to hide behind some sort of moral / sociopolitical children's playground argument that deludes you into thinking that you've adopted a moral high ground that puts you beyond others seeing you for what you actually are.
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Now that's one of the best posts Ive seen on this thread. I couldnt have said it better myself.
---------- Post added at 09:33 ---------- Previous post was at 09:23 ----------
Just looking back at some posts previously about how this country is being changed to accomadate muslims (there was a mention of sharia compliant mortgages/halal food shops/ halal food in schools etc etc). I'd just like to say that where you get a large population of any particular religion, businesses will do their best to cater for them because it makes them money.
For example as well as the independant muslim run halaal butchers you get in Streatham, the Safeways/Morrisons now isnt it, here also sells halaal meat. This wasnt down to a muslim orhganised petition but more to do so with the fact that the business is making the most of a situation for their own good.
Also HSBC for example are delivering shariah compliant mortgages (which involves them being free from interest/but yuou still pay in another manner) because it sees a way of making money from the thousands of muslims in the UK applying for a mortgage.
We have to remember that a lot of this is not provided free to muslims, or done so because muslims have gone on the march expecting it. It is done by non - muslim organisations looking to make money from muslims. Nothing wrong in that, but lets paint a balanced picture over some things huh.