Made In Bradford Pt 2

[Seadragon]

I watched it and loved it again. Please watch if not seen, really insightful, emotionally moving in parts - I refer to Desmond outside the pub, Sabbiyah in the pub and Audry's foster treatment. The characters are all amazing from the ex cop Jens to Mohammed, Rashid, Damon and Maura.

The great thing at the end happened minus Mohammed, where they all united and said that successful multicultural integration comes from seeing common shared values transcending one's colour of skin, it is about seeing a 'human being' as Desmond states.

They addressed the issue 'What is Britishness?' and the message I got from the experiment was that - To be British is to tolerate and respect another being.

I went to bed thoroughly happy and in love with life....but then I did that dangerous thing of thinking and I thought....Is not the actual question 'What is Britishness' wrong?

It's no wonder people cannot answer this question because it is a myth. The same myth evident when Mohammed's family brought Maura tea with cake for breakfast.

Since when has tolerance been a British value? Are we harking back to the long history of the Empire? The classic example of Brits abroad in a foreign country...did they take their British values and tolerate the natives...no they did not.

They segregated themselves and viewed the natives as illiterates and underdeveloped beings. So where is this Britishness? Is it where Damon said that his grandparents told him to treat his family well and look after them and he was reminded of that by his time with Rashid?

That is not tolerance, that is considerate, moral, doing what's right. That is a universal value, it may be a cultural one or a moral one but that is not Britishness.

Is it not better to say 'Are you British?' Whoever is born in this Country irrespective of colour is British and so if you have a right to stay. When one goes on holiday say to Spain, they are still British, if they settle in Spain they are Spanish but come from Britain. Is that not right?

Clearly not, because as we know the Brits don't always integrate well in other countries past or present they have settled in and make themselves a Little England.

Thus 'What is Britishness?' is a myth and should be deleted from our vocabulary as it is a misconception in the first place. The question should be 'Are you British?' and everything else relates to cultural habits, heritage, upbringing etc as Desmond says 'the human being.'

Apologise for the long text, I was wondering what anyone thinks?

[Seadragon]

Fliipin heck that is long.......sorry. It's ok if no-one responds. x

[chaptazbru]

I'll just say that I watched both episodes Seadragon, but didn't enjoy the second espisode as much. Mohammed annoyed me flouncing off like that and spoiling it for everyone else. My favourites were the young white boy (can't remember his name) with the little girl and Rashid, who I thought was hilarious.

[Zeuhl]

<<They segregated themselves and viewed the natives as illiterates and underdeveloped beings. >>

I don't think that is wholly true - especially when you compare the British with Belgian, French or German colonists.

Whilst the overall characteristic of British colonialism was no doubt exploitation and discrimination there was a very significant amount of respect for foreign cultures and indeed adoption of:

habits
language
art
architecture
music
clothing
food and drink

etc

Many Brits 'went native' or expressed genuine curiousity and respect for other cultures. And of course many prominent Brits were born in The Colonies and even when moving to the Mother Country brought with them a love and respect for the land and people of their childhood, the best known example being Ruyard Kipling

Perhaps that is why even today there are significant vestiges of affection towards Brits in places like India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Kenya.

In contrast, I don't think Congolese or Rwandans feel the same way about Belgians - possibly something to do with all the hands they amputated or the strife they caused by inventing the distinction between 'Hutus' and 'Tutsis'

[Seadragon]

I got the title wrong - it's 'Make Bradford British', if there's only lesson I ever learn in life, I hope it's to slow down!

I agree Chap, Mohammed should have seen it through, Damon (white boy!) a renewed character and Rashid...personally I think the guys mad but then he's the one running around not me, so who am I to judge. The programme I thought elicited different emotions from sadness to laughter and incredibility.

Zeuhl, I agree with what you say, all the Europeans colonialists were horrendously brutal, Brits included. And yes there are positives such as the legal systems etc but the positives are heavily outweighed by the negatives of colonialism.

All that you list happened because of the colonialists subduing and oppressing local people. The Empire forced its language and its Christian religion through its missionaries onto local people. Let's not forget that the Empire was ultimate racial Capitalism in which the oppressors saw themselves as superior culturally and intellectually, everything done was for gain whatever the cost even human life.

Only last week (there are too many coincidences in the world!) I saw Professor Jared Diamond's 'Germs, Guns and Steel', don't know if you seen it. He broadly sweeps history but there are some really good bits in it such as how the Brits went over to kenya and 'stole' land belonging to its people and then made those same people work on it for a pittance.

He also cites a village in which a 'white' man was quite horribly killed and in retaliation the colonialists burned the whole village and slaughtered all the men, women and children for that one murder.

Some how I don't see tolerance in there by the way? Tolerance is a human trait not a so called 'British' one.

[Seadragon]

P.s He has written a book as well, but I have not read that yet.

[Ric.ror]

All I can say is that what happened on the programme is not what happened in reality

Aside from that - when talking about it at work we wondered why no Indians were in the programme - my indian colleague said 'its because no indian would fail the test' and then high fived another indian colleague
Cant argue with that