Abbott Out Loud

Although British by birth ,I have for all my adult life lived in another place ,and despite the difficulties of it all, I love it .Not the expat life as that's not what I lead but the one where I live with my family and friends in a suburb to the north of the capital city .A city I admit very different from the one I came to nearly 30 years ago.
 I still  get asked why I stay as my children are grown and the city itself is suffering from an influx of immigrants hoping to find a better place for themselves but changing the lifestyle of the inhabitants.There is also an increase in dereliction in the city due to bad governing ,lack of public funding and of course the economic crisis,which is not only giving Greece a lean and troubled time but also the rest of  Europe.

The explanation as to why I am here or here I am.is simple I am home.However,lately I get asked more and more often the  question as to why I am here by people who haven't even been alive for as long as the years I have lived here.
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 The change in the behaviour of the public cannot be ignored I know the younger generation are having a tough time but I wonder have we now become a discriminatory nation allowing such discriminatory practises.Practises ranging from insulting behaviour and unequal treatment to aggression and violence.I sincerely hope not, although I believe my hopes may well be levelled  if not buried.The situation is dire as any is that deals with mankind and its problems.


 Unfortunately,this attitude towards immigrants and the attitude they have is fit for the classification of racism.This is not suited to the generally well educated people and I have come to expect more particularly from the younger of the  society.
  Racism is one  very complex and questionable concept.   Racism in the past  arose due to limitations in the ability to accept a foreigner,usually this was based on irrational fear of the  language spoken or an inability to understand the customs and cultural norms of the outsider.In showing lack of ethnicity and ability to adopt to the ways of the community in which they lived the foreigner posed a threat to the stability of the  host country..

 Throughout the years there have been various pseudo-scientific theories of race divide around the globe, theories in which different 'subspecies' were characterised in accordance with their physical appearance,including skin colour and  physiognomy  however,these theories are no longer supported by the modern geneticists and haven;t been for some time . Then  it was believed in Europe we were supposedly the most 'advanced' and 'evolved' mentally and physically but somehow I think, now we are losing ground
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 The theory,which was  taken up by supporters of the 'survival of the fittest' belief was that created by Charles Darwin, whose theory of evolution  gave rise to eugenics ,but is now rightly a discredited pseudo-science It maintained the poor of pocket and the underprivileged by circumstance were inferior in form and therefore should not breed in order to maintain the fitness and health of the population.

 Negative behavioral traits and tendencies were assigned  by eugenicists  to these groups of people they regarded as' inferior' to themselves,and stigmatized characters without reason assigning  traits such as those connected to crime.In the earlier part of the 20th century eugenicists were given  great respectability so there words were well noted. However ,the association  with the  Hitler regime and the acts of the Nazis under his command  leading to the extermination of as many as 14 million people, led to them falling out of favor .As they were thus associated with events that  led to the largest genocide in history,but unfortunately not the last.

Although not born in the town of his birth , which is Shrewsbury in the Midlands in the U.K I have family that reside there and I visit yearly .A monument erected to his memory and in honour of his contribution to science is of course the Quantum Leap, which is placed between the Welsh bridge and the Footbridge.  Walking past it as I often do I wonder if this 'Scientific Racist' had lived to see the impact his theory has had on the world whether or not he would have continued to develop it. As  no other species on earth has any form of selective breeding,why would he assume he could develop at odds with nature.

Regardless of social progress, education,and enlightenment the attitude of 'superiority' that some people maintain for some  reason  still refuses to die. As no child enters the world a racist  or indeed superior in any form, we must therefore assume that superiority and the overwhelming  belief  they feel they attain  by discriminating is something they learn or maybe even something we teach.Its a complex in its truest form.