Changing Britain - is it true?

I know I haven't been been on this forum at all lately, but I've been feeling the need to rant about certain things I'm witnessing from afar that cannot go un-ignored. I've lived in Asia for 11 years now, so any changes that have gone on have happened so slowly that people probably haven't even noticed it happening.

I haven't had the pleasure of visiting England yet, but I have a Japanese friend who lived there for about fifteen years and he views it as his second home. And he laments what he sees as the transformation towards what he calls "Londonistan".

As an observer from the far side of the globe, I'm quite sure I'm not getting the full story - only what the media present as reality, but I'd like to ask what the feeling and atmosphere is like in England today? I was greatly shocked by the news of the beheading attempt of an off-duty soldier, but almost more shocked by how quickly that news became yesterday's news and almost forgotten. Until one internet news article reminded me that it is far from forgotten:

Lee Rigby murder: Student who tweeted that people wearing Help for Heroes shirt 'deserve to be beheaded' sentenced to community service | Mail Online

As a distant observer, I am in no position to get on my high horse, so instead I will leave you with the rant of someone else.

This is a vid of a well-spoken white British guy getting on his soapbox and (calmly, it must be said) voicing his opinion. He always keeps his cool and tries to inject a bit of humour into it. The people who disagree with his views tend to think him obnoxious (and the attempts at humour somehow enhancing this), but he seems quite level-headed and makes a few good points. One detractor said he is just "EDL with elocution lessons". You be the judge!:

I'm offended by Islam - YouTube

I'm offended by Islam - YouTube

[Snidcyco]

No-one seems to want to touch this with a barge pole, LOL

Just in case you think I'm a right wing nut or something, I'm not. Been a leftie all my life.

I know there have Muslims in Britain for a long time. When I say it seems to be changing, I'm thinking of recent terror acts on public transport, marches for the introduction of sharia law (which seems like an ancient, misogynistic system which does not respect the basic rights of women, but I'm no expert), and most recently a murder and crude beheading in broad daylight. If this is a continuing trend of extremism, what is next? Seems like the future might be heading in a frightening direction.

But for something completely different, please check out this vid:

It is another very eloquent speech but giving a different point of view (from the opinions of the guy in the first vid) by a British black guy. The vid doesn't mention if he is Muslim himself, but since he is defending them he might well be. Either way, doesn't matter - well worth a watch for his balanced and clearly peaceful viewpoint.

Woolwich]Woolwich]Woolwich]Woolwich Attack Response - Nabil Goes In - YouTube

Woolwich]Woolwich]Woolwich]Woolwich Attack Response - Nabil Goes In - YouTube

[DJC]

had a listen to the first gent yesterday, and like you, was curious to see what members here living in Britain might have to say....I can understand why anyone might be hesitant to jump into this as no one seems to have a solution. "Solution"....just looking at the word brings up memories of descriptions of Hitler's ""final solution" to the jewish problem. I'll have a look at the second fellow's vid here in a bit...

[Snidcyco]

In my opinion there never was a "Jewish problem" outside of Hitler's head...

One of the funniest observations in that last video was the vegetarian bit. He said "If a vegetarian ate a 1000 hamburgers, would you call him an extremist vegetarian? No, because even eating 1 hamburger is not something any vegetarian would do! These so-called extremists do things no normal Muslim would ever do, so how can you call them extremists?" (or words to that effect).

I can understand his objection to the word "extremist" because it implies an association with the crazies - that they are all on the same spectrum, but ranging from moderate to "extreme".

Nabil seems like a really nice guy, and I have no doubt that the vast majority of Muslims in the world are nice people, but in this case I'm afraid I have to disagree with him. I think the label "extremist" is entirely appropriate in this context, because the killers did act on their interpretation of Islam.

Nabil's video seems to have been released a day or two after the killing, when details were scarce and there was speculation that the Islamic angle might have been manipulated by the media as a convenient scapegoat to further their anti-islamic agenda. Some viewers noted that the media reported the killers talking about Islamic motives to the camera, but that the clips shown on most news feeds never actually showed them mentioning anything specifically related to Islam, just vague political references. One conspiracy site even claimed that it was just a case of "road rage" (!) and the killers made up some political motivation on the spot to justify going nuts.

However, I found a gem on YouTube which disproves this theory conclusively, because it includes the killer's entire diatribe to the camera that day (no cutaways or editing), and he clearly quotes the chapter and verse of the Quran which he believes instructed him to carry out this murder.

This video is another lucid and erudite speech giving a supposedly centrist (but fairly obviously right-leaning) Canadian point of view. You'll need 10 minutes to spare to watch this one, but again it's worth it (even if you disagree with the commentary) as it includes the Woolwich killer's FULL speech to the camera, which was rarely if ever seen on any newsclips (don't worry - there is no grisly footage of the killing itself):

Woolwich Terror Attack video UNCENSORED - In the name of Islam - YouTube

Woolwich Terror Attack video UNCENSORED - In the name of Islam - YouTube

[DJC]

All three intelligent spokesmen for their positions. The third concerns me the most. "A storm is brewing" is the most common prediction of all, even though wrong as often as right in the short term, it's always right in the long. Heresy (our enlightened age and a few other short periods excepted) has always been met with violence as no serious believer in the Judeo/Christian/Muslim ethic is willing to accept another's interpretation as more valid than their own...makes it easy to reject the whole lot. But most don't, and consequently, yes, there will be more of this sort of thing until it boils over into open war. History shows this cycle repeating itself over and over again. Shutting down the mosques and schools may give a temporary feeling of security, but driving those people underground is probably more likely to radicalize more of them. If universally respected leaders of those faiths would meet and once and for all work out their differences, and enforce their decisions among their adherants....whoops, sorry, fell into a pipe dream there, like that's ever gonna happen.

[KtA]

Outlaw Religion.
It may not be the cure...but it's a step in the right direction.

[DJC]

Lenin tried it, the results fell a little short of the ideal. Who around is big enough, bad enough to try it again? Atheists aren't exactly known for unity (though in this facebook age that seems to be changing) and are still very much in the minority. And with that power of social media informing and alluring youth worldwide we'd probably be smarter flooding muslim markets, down to their tiniest villages, with smartphones. Gotta be cheaper than bombs.

[KtA]

Lenin was a Communist...he had radical political intentions,so you can't really use that as a fair example DJC lol.

Personally,I hate to be given a label (Atheist) just because I don't participate or believe in somebody else's dogmatic,archaic,unsubstantiated...and quite frankly,ridiculous beliefs. Anyway,I'm an Antitheist.

People who voice their genuine concerns about multiculturalism are very often vilified...labelled as ''racists'' by the media and the politically correct brigade of left wing whiners and pussies. Those PC's,who's sole purpose in life seems to be being offended by anything that they don't agree with.
They're almost as big a threat to peace as the extremists.

[DJC]

"Antitheist", I like that! Didn't mean to imply you personally were an atheist, Marty, but thought you might lean that direction from your first post on this subject. Don't care much for labels either, "agnostic" is my choice if I have to call myself something. Or "awestruck" and unable to define the experience, but that's another subject!

Curious to see that outlawing religion was your response to this, and since you didn't mention a specific religion I naturally assumed you meant them all. I don't know of anyone who attempted that other than Lenin, and would welcome any examples anyone could share. Targeting particular faiths is different; there are multitudes of examples both current and throughout history with varying degrees of success. Size matters; while the US obliterated the Branch Davidians a couple of decades ago, taking on a faith as big as Islam (should a government attempt to try it) would certainly be a much more difficult endeavor.

[KtA]

I know you can't ban religion,realistically,but it would be nice if people of Faith could cut themselves loose from the mind-controlling organised religions...and keep their spirituality in their own way...quietly.