Hey what do you think ofsted would say if they came and we were doing a topic on religions and Satanists was the religion of the week = we'd be embracing a diverse community - Where do we draw the line in all of this?
The Gypsies and Travellers were brought to my attention as an ethnic group whilst on a course entitled begin at the beginning. I was aware that there were a large number of gypsies living in Middlewich and they had begun to migrate towards Sandbach and taking up a settled life just before I moved to Congleton but I just never thought of them as an ethnic group. I think I hve a problem segregating people into different groups because I grew up living in a white country where almost everyone was Catholic and almost everyone was quite poor and a great many of us had to emigrate to make a living or to improve our standard of living we are more tolerant and accepting of people who have had to do the same and because no one would have come to Ireland to look for work and therefore take jobs away from the Irish no other ethnic group has been a threat to us. The only ones who were ever a threat to us in the reasonably recent past were the english at the time of the famine and as generations have come and gone and there are no longer any suffering living survivors it has been forgiven and forgotten and that was different to having lots of immigerants creating ghettos in your neighbourhood etc.
I bet that those who are not seeking lower paid jobs do now feel threatened by all the eastern europeans who are coming in an taking all of those jobs and now perhaps racism could hit Ireland in a big way. - lets wait and see.
I had to say I was very surprised by the huge emphasis on inclusion in Manchester when I moved there in 1987. I felt it was stating the obvious and that by going on about it all the time it was making matters worse but now I realise what a problem there had been I do feel that as time is going by we are getting too hung up and the english are at risk of losing their own identity. Take for example St Patricks day it gives me a lovely warm feeling to see so many people here making a big effort to celebrate it - when I came in 1987 the same effort wasn't made but still today there is very little effort made to celebrate St. Georges day which I find very sad. Yes it is important to embrace all of the cultures of the people living in the country but lets not forget the culture of the country does this make sense to anyone else? Since they started selling St Georges day cards a couple of years ago I always buy them for my husband and children because I make a thing of St Patricks day which reminds me now the children are all having a nap I need to pop up to my loft and find my Paddys day decorations - the few I have!
So sorry for the rant but I love a good debate.
Celine
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