Immigration, Speaking English & Xenophobia - stupid views analysed

Something that makes me extremely angry and worried is the fact that so many people in the UK nowadays (including my friends and other young people) are so profoundly xenophobic. Support for political parties and organisations such as UKIP, BNP and the EDL is ever increasing. It makes me feel uneasy that people can be so close minded and ignorant, leading me to write this blog post to perhaps make other people think in different way, not take things at face value and continually question the ever changing world we live in.

Xenophobia is the unreasonable fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers and the emphasis is on the adjective unreasonable. My friend said that immigrants should not speak to each other in their native tongue and that they should all speak English all the time. This is a topic extremely close to my heart as my parents are technically immigrants to the UK. My dad was granted financial support (from the UK government may I add) and a visa to the UK to do a PHD in physics 20 odd years ago. This meant that of course English was by no mean their first language. As a family we always communicate with each other in Chinese, at home and elsewhere and I do not see why there is any problem with this. Some people may argue that:

ARGUMENT 1:
"You have moved to "our" country, you must speak "our" language."
RESPONSE: To respond to this "argument", one has to try and put themselves in the position of an immigrant. People don't immigrate just for the fun of it. Leaving behind all your friends and family to move to a country geographically and socially alien to what you have you known all your life is never an easy decision. But it is done often to seek asylum from wars, conflict, natural disasters etc. For example, there was a huge influx of Irish immigrants to the US in the 19th Century due to the Great Potato Famine. Another example is UKIP leader Nick Farage, who's protestant French ancestors fled to the UK to avoid persecutions (how ironic). Natural disasters and political instability are circumstances that cannot be controlled by citizens and it is human nature to try and move to a different country for a better life. It can absolutely petrifying living in a country were something as fundamental to daily living as communicating verbally is a challenge.

What I don't understand is when people make it out that immigrants are refusing to learn English - this is absolutely absurd and completely illogical for anyone with any sort of common sense. Why would anyone purposefully try to make their own lives harder than it already is from moving to a foreign country  by refusing to learn the language of the country they live in? If they've made the huge decision to move a different country then obviously learning the language is something that they will have to do for employment and everyday life.

What I absolutely detest about this statement though is not it explicitly says, but instead, what it subtly  suggests. It implies that immigrants who move to other countries do not speak the "national" language, but instead their own native tongue. It is ridiculous that people in the UK complain that too many people can't speak English as according the 2011 census, less that 0.5% of the population cannot speak any English. This is fact from qualitative data, not instead ignorance and paranoia fed to us by politicians and mass media.

In conclusion, look at the facts. They do speak English. 

STUPID COUNTER ARGUMENT 1:
"Well if they can all speak English, why do they still speak (insert language) to each other?" 
RESPONSE: Again, this requires a bit of empathy, which may be tough for those hard headed right wingers. If you live in a country where very little people speak your native language, there is no doubt going to be a inherent sense of isolation and seclusion even without the propaganda these right wing MPs come out with. Thus, whenever you have the opportunity to speak your native language, you would relish in this. Even the most multilingual of all people will have 1 language that is the language they do their "thinking" in and what will be the most natural. Just because they don't always speak English, doesn't mean they can't. Also what gives YOU the authority to say that everyone MUST speak English all the time - what makes English so superior to all other languages?  When has Fascism ever worked in history?

ARGUMENT 2:
"Their accent is so strong, it makes me laugh - I can't even understand what they are saying even if they do speak English! Harharhar! *snort*
Response:
Am I the only one who finds this racist? I have heard so many comments like this before and the fact that people are so intolerant and downright rude makes me so sad, especially for a nation that is so obsessive about etiquette and manners. You complain when they aren't speaking English and still complain when they do - ridiculous.

ARGUMENT 3:
"I have no idea what you are talking about - you could be plotting a terrorist attack and I wouldn't know. This makes me feel scared and unsafe around you."
RESPONSE: Again more deeply racist views. There are often similar views regarding Muslim women and other women of other religions wearing hijabs and burkas. These accusations are downright stupid and highly offensive. 1/5 of the world's population is Muslim - that's 1.5 billion people. The actions of a minuscule minority does not mean 1 in 5 humans on the planet are terrorists. If you are so worried something as stupid as not being able to understand every word everyone says, then you might as well live your life wrapped up in bubble wrap in the Svalsgaard Doomsday Seed Vault.

ARGUMENT 4:
"Your children are a burden upon the schooling system as English is not their first language - the teachers cannot cope with this."
RESPONSE:
Again, a radical statement with absolutely no evidence supporting it. In fact there is plenty of factual evidence supporting the fact that children can learn languages incredibly fast due to neutral commitment. When you are young and exposed to learning languages, this occurs by strengthening and weakening connections between neurons. As you become older, these connections become more hard-wired and therefore harder to change when learning a new languages. So the science and fact is there - children can learn new languages remarkably fast so the burden of not having English as a child's first language is pretty much non-existent. All this talk about schools crumbling under the pressure of alien students is a fallacy. And stop placing blame on children - they have done nothing wrong.

Another thing which bugs me about this brash statements implies is that if English is not your first language, then you will no doubly be worse at English than someone who's first language is English. This is a stupid assumption as even with myself, one could say that Chinese was my "first" language as that's the language my mum spoke to me when I was a baby, but my English is resoundingly better than my Chinese.

Just because it's not your first, doesn't mean it's your worst! 

These are my views on immigrants and speaking English in the UK and I know they are not everyone's. That is what I hate about politics and other humanities - what may seem to be so evident and right to one person is may be completely wrong to another. It all depends on circumstances and morals you believe in, which can vary massively. That is why I love science - a helium nucleus will always be composed of 2 protons and 2 neutrons and that is that.

Anyway, I have slightly digressed on a few points in this blog post, but this is something I could continue discussing ranting on about for a long time. I still have so much more I want to say about multiculturalism and other such subjects and I could've added a few case studies to back up points, but I think this is enough for today. Perhaps I should make "stupid views analysed" a regular feature, although it will undoubtedly be irregular since I never have time to blog.

Let me leave you with a quote from "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, a book that I studied for GCSE English which seemed pretty boring at the time, but has some important messages inside.
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”

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