And quite right too…
The Highway Code has never been published in Latin.
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Really?
Good job they didn’t tell a millennial joke…
I believe the opposite is true:
this chart, and others like it pander to and only convince the very naive who need to find an over-arching narrative with which they can explain the world. Little grains of truth are to be found in it and at particular points in time some of the hierarchies in it function as described. However, there is no narrative.
This chart describes a level of cooperation and competence that human organizations could never achieve.
It may be true that the B.I.S has more power than yu=ou would expect from such a small, obscure entity.
It may be true that central banks have a bit more influence than their technocratic mandates would suggest.
It certainly true that certain rich families or corporations (Rockefellers, Bill Gates, Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Tech) have more lobbying power than what is good for society, though placing the Rockefellers above national governments smells of you-know-what.
But to believe that all these people and organizations put aside their particular vested interests and egos to join in this genius, massive, unprecedented, global and yet secret mechanism by which they control science, media, finance and politics the world over?
To believe in Darth Vader is as naive as believing in Santa.
Going back to Brexit, this theory of the world could anecdotally explain why Brexit happened, but had the vote gone the other way, it would find the anecdotes for that as well because nobody really knows what BIS does, hence what its motives are and why would you ruin a narrative in which you are thoughtful and knowledgable and others the ignorant sheep?
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Only in part: the East End as in Mile End, Bethnal Green. Lived that way and when my son was a toddler, 80% of the language at the playground was Bengali. NW, Neasden, Wembley - Hindi. Hackney, - Turkish, Kurd , Yiddish. Then west, as in west of Toff land (Notting Hll Gate and more recently Shepard’s Bush) - Acton - Urdu, Pashtun. A lot of west African dialects in SE, New Cross way. Don’t know of any area where there’s a large concentration of Arabic speakers other than Edgeware Road - a long-time focal point for Arabic speakers - a very broad spectrum from super rich to just getting by - a reflection of the huge differences between lands where Arabic is the lingua franca. Maybe my language mapping of London is well outdated though. I do miss the Smoke sometimes.
Since some music with mention of revolution has come into the thread:
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I grew up in rural Northamptonshire.
Hardly a hotbed of cultural progressiveness.
Moved to Leicester (for those that don’t know, Leicester is mostly famous for its very large mix of ethnicity, especially those from South Asia and the Caribbean) when I was 19.
Certain, less enlightened members of my extended family have always made comments like “what’s the official language there” or “should have its own fucking flag mate”. I think they think they’re being clever and funny, in that way that racists think every dumbass racist thing they say is clever and funny.
Imagine my surprise when I see not one but two such comments on this thread. Now maybe I should give the two of you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you’re trying out a bit of that ironic racism, but you know what they say, if it walks like a duck…
More surprising to me is the fact that both comments have gone unflagged, which leads me to the conclusion that flags & co. maybe find this sort of thing funny, certainly funnier than millennial jokes anyway…
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Duḥkhita
Oh right yeah, this is the bit where you express your membership of/familiarity with non-western culture in some attempt to point out that you couldn’t possibly be racist.
Cool.
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Long long term the UK will be stronger, but it will have had to take a much tougher path to get there.
The pain of the recovery journey from Brexit will need a shot in the arm for national productivity and innovation - which would have been less critical had it remained in the EU.
That struggle, once overcome, will birth a stronger UK. But it won’t necessarily be a pleasant experience.
Ok.
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I do, but I also like to point out racism where I see it.
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Go on then, please explain how those two comments commonly (and I’d say almost exclusively) associated with racists aren’t racist…
Because calling me names isn’t going to achieve much.
Or let’s just stop any racist joke, even for the tasty British irony: it is just unacceptable here.
Do it with your friends that “get it” that you are not a bloody racist, maybe.
Here, tolerance is zero.
To anyone: do everyone a favor and flag the unacceptable instead of loosing your (and everyone’s) time arguing with an internet stranger. Please.
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Give the flaggers credit, they’ve had their hands full dealing with that millennial joke and a couple of cuss words on the memes thread. You can’t blame them for missing the outright racism going on up in here.
I’ll stop now, I promise.
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I understand your reluctance to use flags. But you’re welcome when you think your own tolerance line (known as pretty far) is crossed.
But yes, back to the subject.
Brexit.
I don’t buy anything from UK (to EU) anymore. That was almost entirely music of course.
I’m always sad witnessing division.
And a bit frightened to be honest, as it’s rarely good news.
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I know, but I just really like arguing
Only racist people have trouble distinguishing racism, usually.
Now quit this tone please.
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My point is that the only people I’ve ever heard tell that “joke” almost always follow it up with the sort of rant that Stuart Lee’s taxi driver would be proud of.
It’s demonstrably untrue to say that 1. London’s official language is either Arabic or Bengali and 2. That London even has an official language.
So what can I summise from you telling such a joke? I’m struggling to come up with anything other than you are complaining about the amount of Arabs/Bengalis in London.
I’m not from London and I can’t be arsed to look up the figures, but I’d be surprised if the combined Arab/Bengali population was much more than about 10% of the total. It’s a very common tactic of the far right to amplify and exaggerate the number/cultural impact of certain ethnic groups. That particular joke, in my unfortunately very common experience growing up surrounded by racist pricks, being a particularly simple example of such tactics.
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