> No. I’m arguing that people who say “people change their personalities to suit mine” are hypocrites.
Assimilating doesn't mean changing one's personality. I'm still the same person I was before I came to the USA, but I respect that some things are customary and others are considered offensive. I know I'm expected to tip for services that in other countries would be considered insulting. Yet if enough immigrants refused to tip, it would become a stereotype that would create negative sentiment towards said immigrants because workers rely on that income.
> If you think a fraction of a percentage of people coming to the UK is suddenly going to change the identity of the entire country then you need to get out and explore more of the UK yourself.
I roadtripped across the UK earlier this year actually, spending time in 2 major cities and 4 small towns. The demographic shift over the last decade is immediately noticeable. It is multiple orders of magnitude more than you're making it out to be.
> I do think it’s courteous for people to make an effort to integrate. But it should also be their decision, not ours.
That's a matter of opinion, and perhaps not up to either you or me to decide whether it is right, but up to the % of citizens who will vote against immigration at the next election. Unchecked immigration is the top reason that western populations are shifting rightward. And this trend has evidently scared the Labour Party enough that they're finally preteneding to do something about it.
But let's say it is up to an immigrant to decide whether to integrate. What if their values are incompatible with the country's? If you move to the UK and take great offense over how people dress or their type of humor or their freedom of religion or their pub culture or whatever, why did you even move there? And if you then expect this entire sovereign nation (who is already doing you a favor by allowing you in) to change their ways to accommodate your beliefs, that is a hell of a lot more entitled than the other way around (the country expecting an individual to integrate as part of the terms of being let in).
> Unchecked immigration is the top reason that western populations are shifting rightward
There never has been unchecked immigration despite what various hard-right publications might say.
> to change their ways to accommodate your beliefs
Literally no one is advocating that the UK should change its culture to suit any beliefs of immigrants.
Being inclusive doesn’t mean we have to change our own culture. Unless, that is, you consider xenophobia a “cultural” problem. And if you do, then I don’t think changing people’s attitudes there is an unfair ask.
The real reason society is shifting rightwards isn’t directly due to immigration. That’s actually a symptom of the shift, not the cause.
The real reason is poverty and greed. The wealth gap is grown, the rich have gotten more greedy and the working class have gotten poorer. So people want change. The right promises change by scapegoating people who are different. And then the the poor vote for that change, without realising that they’re just voting for the institution that screwed them over to begin with. As evidenced by the fact that the wealthy largely also vote for the right.
You see this cycle over and over again in history throughout the world. Unfortunately it’s usually followed by war.
Assimilating doesn't mean changing one's personality. I'm still the same person I was before I came to the USA, but I respect that some things are customary and others are considered offensive. I know I'm expected to tip for services that in other countries would be considered insulting. Yet if enough immigrants refused to tip, it would become a stereotype that would create negative sentiment towards said immigrants because workers rely on that income.
> If you think a fraction of a percentage of people coming to the UK is suddenly going to change the identity of the entire country then you need to get out and explore more of the UK yourself.
I roadtripped across the UK earlier this year actually, spending time in 2 major cities and 4 small towns. The demographic shift over the last decade is immediately noticeable. It is multiple orders of magnitude more than you're making it out to be.
> I do think it’s courteous for people to make an effort to integrate. But it should also be their decision, not ours.
That's a matter of opinion, and perhaps not up to either you or me to decide whether it is right, but up to the % of citizens who will vote against immigration at the next election. Unchecked immigration is the top reason that western populations are shifting rightward. And this trend has evidently scared the Labour Party enough that they're finally preteneding to do something about it.
But let's say it is up to an immigrant to decide whether to integrate. What if their values are incompatible with the country's? If you move to the UK and take great offense over how people dress or their type of humor or their freedom of religion or their pub culture or whatever, why did you even move there? And if you then expect this entire sovereign nation (who is already doing you a favor by allowing you in) to change their ways to accommodate your beliefs, that is a hell of a lot more entitled than the other way around (the country expecting an individual to integrate as part of the terms of being let in).