Im very impressed with how this thread has turned out, I respect Dacs opinion you put it across well in an intelligent way I respect that. We are all entitled to our opinions, I like Ash's posts, I personally think hes keeping it real. I have been delivering furniture all over london for over 10 yrs. I can see generalisations of different cultures, ie Africans always want stuff fitted or built up for them, Greeks always have a bad back and wont help you out, the polish are very helpful and usually take their own stuff from the back of the lorry. Old people generally tip, Women cant drive, americans expect the best customer service and really complain when they dont get it. Africans will have a merc outside their house while their house is a shithole, but that doesnt stop them having the 50inch widescreen telly and wallpaper falling from the walls and no carpet. And white people are in no way immune from living in a shithole either. But these are just generalisations based on my personal experience at work, not all africans are like this as some have really nice houses and are very polite, not all greeks are rude lazy c*nts and not all poles are helpful. But we as people make generalisations based on experience, its our nature. We all make judgements based on our personal experiences. Another example is the hatred some black people have for the police. because they seem to be on the receiving end of abuse from the same police all the time.
Hiding away from the issue of racism will never make it go away, political correctness will drive it underground, discussion leads to understanding and less ignorance of those from cultures we do not understand, if only we take the time to try and understand them. Most people are ignorant of things they do not understand or agree with, thats a fact and to deny that is ignorant. Humour is a good way of breaking the ice and to start discussing these things and more important things later when you know that the person you are discussing the issues with isnt going to pull a gat out and cap your arse. If we always run from the debate we will never lose the ignorance. Peace.