h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

When I say I learnt the trivia of those subjects I dont meant that the subjects themselves were trivial.

Yet all those subjects were santitised and reduce to a souless and meaning less bunch of dates and names that had to be rembered. We didnt dicuss the way that the Saxons felt about the Norman Yolk or how British culture was profoundly changed by the invasion.

As for social mobility I still think its a non subject. People arent as a rule judged byt their class they are judged much more by what they have done (racism aside) people today arent so much interested in where you got you Alevels as they are in what grades you have got. I dont think the UK anylonger is a country where people think about a predestined station in life. Yes there is massive socio economic polarisation in the UK but its not just about what job your dad did.


Eddie, I have to admit that quite often my first reaction is to smack anyone who racially abuses me right on the nose. The last time this happened "i was called a black bastar-d by a ten year old. Obviously such a stock and incolliatory reaction isnt always possible and although I have to admit it does feel good at the time it isnt very often the right or best response.

First up it reinforces whatever negative images that person has.

Secondly it delays debate, you nor I want those kind of ideas lodged in peoples minds but by reacting negatively we have put up a barrier to communication.

Thirdly it encourages us to see people as a problem to be dealt with not a person who needs help to deal with their lack of education or misinformed opinions.

Shame is not what people should feel, its like making a child who wets the bed feel ashamed? what's the point? They will probably think of better ways to hide it and be less likely to get any help in future.

I want peolpe to be able to say what they think, yes on here Im often patronising or even aggressive (maybe here Im leeting off the steam I bottle up at work?), but at work I aim to make a difference and you can best do that by engaging with people.

To me saying Im not going to sit in the room with a racist just looks petulant. I prefer them to leave the room because they cant defend their ideas in a civil conversation.

one love

Well...you're a better man than I am, Blicky. Obviously you know more about the sharp end of racism than I ever could. And you've had to develop your own, pragmatic way of dealing with it. For us bleached people with less attractive skin colours...one issue for me is when others expect me to be complicit in their racism. Nah! The clear message I want to give is that 'we' don't all think that way.


I think you're naive about class, though. Then - I think that as a nation we've forgotten the lessons of the past. Yes - the guy from the sink estate can work like sodomy to earn a fortune...or, at least, a resonable standard of living. Why should he have to? His counterpart from the nice house and nice school can simply waltz into an easier living without ever having to get his hands dirty. And, of course, the guy from the sink estate will have had to jump may other hurdles too, to do with the social expectations of both oursiders and his peers. And come to think of it...what's he doing on a sink estate in the first place. Nope...I'm an unreconstructed socialist class warrior, I'm afraid...albeit one who realises that different tactics are appropriate to this stage of the war.

"I was the fist Bonobo in a thousand generations to go to university."

As a by-the-way: Sinn Féin are actually in some ways a socialist party, I think. Fascist in some ways, perhaps.

TRiG.

I think that's a serious misunderstanding of what a fascist party really is, I have to say.

I can't shake off the phrase "National Socialism" -- it just rises in the head whenever Sinn Féin are mentioned.

Hmm.

For many years I resisted voting SNP. My explanation was that while many of their policies are sound, I could never vote for a party with the word 'National' in its name.

This time around - I obviously can't vote for Labour while they're continuing their policy of mass murder. The SSP didn't field a candidate on my constituency list (only on the Regional). Plus I was happy to give Westminster Labour a shock and voted SNP (which surprised me!) (btw - I don't believe in either not voting or ballot spoiling: you have to make an adult choice between the options available - or failing that, stand yourself).

Interestingly, this was the first election win which I'd seen BNP posters appearing on lamp posts - every one seen an affront to all that is decent. Their share in Scotland was minimal.

'National(ist/ism)' clearly has many shades of meaning. In the case of SF (and of the SNP), it's a mistake to make the leap towards tghe National Socialist definition, with its shades of a) 'The Nation' = 'Us Lot and only Us Lot' (and, yes, I do see the irony in SF's name) and b) We are the sum total of the nation and should be responsible for all aspects of life.


Another thing in favour of the SNP is their enlightened attitude to immigration. Yes - they have their ba'heid anti-English component (but not prevalent). Nevertheless, they have defines a Scot as 'Someone who lives in Scotland.' Now, I can take or leave indepedence, but at least they've realised that we have to run ourselves as an immigrant economy.

Immigration wise, the same could probably be said of Sinn Fein. They probably have one of the more liberal immigration policies of any of the Irish parties.

The 'national socialism' idea is a bit of a red herring, in all honesty. That would mean the SDLP are a nazi party too, which I don't think anybody would seriously argue. In fact, since a lot of political parties in Ireland (indeed, in most countries) are broadly nationalist in outlook, it would mean that the more liberal or socially progressive a party is, the closer it is to fascism.

I'm not saying this as a Sinn Fein supporter by the way - I'm not one. Just a desire to keep in touch with real life. I really don't think Sinn Fein's recent electoral success is a symptom of a rising tide of fascism, for instance.

What's more puzzling to me is the way the SDLP (and Alliance) have waned.

The Alliance haven't really waned - they were never really a major electoral force. They have never had an MP, for instance, and were never even in a majority on any of the local councils, as far as I know. They actually did pretty well by their usual standards in the recent elections.

The SDLP - well, I think they found it hard to put a case why anyone should vote for them. What they've more or less been arguing lately is something like 'Sinn Fein are starting to get it right. Why didn't they do it our way sooner?' They have been more critical of Sinn Fein than complementary of themselves, in some ways. They've also made much of the word 'republican' in a way they would have been reluctant to in the past. I suppose one could argue, if you want a republican party why not just go for SF in the first place?

There has been a lot of talk in the media about the extremists taking over in Northern Ireland, but I think that's misreading the situation. It's clear that the further the peace process went, the more support SF got. As for the DUP, it's fair to say that they are a more moderate party than they were in the 80s - perhaps more moderate than the Ulster Unionists (then the moderates) were in the '80s too.

That makes sense. There's probably no room for two left-leaning parties.

To the outsider (and doubtless to insiders!), it's especially confusing that the left/right split is overlaid by the Catholic/Protestant split...although thoroughly understanding that SF and SDLP have always intended to appeal to a wider constituency. An especially curious aspect is education. In Scotland, integrated education is opposeed vigorously by the Catholic church. In Northern Ireland, it's McGuinness who is most passionate about integration and about scrapping the 11+...and arguably it's that issue that has delivered the DUP their middle class Protestant vote.

Isn't it refreshing to see everyone arguing about education and the like, but?

But what do you do if you're a left-wing Prod?

Integrated education is opposed by the Catholic church here, too. 'Catholicism', in it's normal theological sense, isn't really a part of Sinn Fein's politics, it has to be said.

Another interesting development is that school enrolment figures are dropping across the board, and there are a lot of changes in the wind - amalgamations and closures. One of the side-effects of this could well be a kind of creeping integration, as there wouldn't be enough pupils to sustain a Catholic school and a state school in the same road any more.

In these parts, the local education dept. proposed 'dual campus' primary schools (ie a Catholic and secular school sharing the same site) - but the priests thought that even this was a step too far.

I say 'secular' - but im my local authority, the council passed a resolution to 'reaffirm the value of Christian prayer in schools". Can you imagine a councillor voting against that?

When you look at the politics of 100 or200 or 400 years ago, you wonder "How did they keep such an artificial opposition alive" and it will inevitably seem the same about our age in the future. A plague on all their houses!

Now, for me, there is only one issue. A holocaust is coming. Are we to look the other way?

Why not. Isn't it what we usually do?

It's what we have always done. Are we to do it again?

Almost certainly.

Incidentally...which of the impending holocausts did you have in mind?

As described in the "Global Warming can be Fun" [not a quote] Newsweek articles, major destruction of human habitations near the equator, for a start.

Ah. The big one. Nope - we'll carry on burying our heads in the sand and hoping that someone will invent nuclear fusion.