DREWspective

In less than a month’s time, the Mayor of London - and I hope to God it’s a new one - will be elected.

Last week, the almost unbelievable happened: a leaflet from the BNP was sent in the post, addressed to nobody in particular. Of course, I didn’t know it was from them until I opened it.

It turns out that they themselves are putting forward a candidate for the mayoral position, with their main issue being the state of the immigration system in the UK. They blamed the wave of immigrants for housing problems, crime, unemployment and a few other things I can’t remember. A selection of people - mostly, if not all white - were quoted as being in agreement, complete with photos.

Now, I ain’t no fool; I don’t trust the BNP with the dead skin off my dick. If they came knocking down my door, offering me a hook-up with a girl just like Valisa, there’s no way I’d give them my vote. (The brown skin takes care of that.)

But, as much I’d hate to admit it, there is one thing myself and the BNP agree upon.

My scope doesn’t extend very far out of London, but it’s obvious, even to the blind, that there are way too many people in this country.  You know there are way too many when you can’t afford to buy a house or even rent, or when you go to work in the morning and find yourself pushing past a solid wall of drones. (Sorry - commuters.)

I thought the situation was "bad" enough years ago, when it seemed eastern Asians were coming over by the plane load. That was nothing, compared to the influx of eastern Europeans, once certain countries were accepted into the European Union. I’ve heard, and am starting to see, Chinese people getting in on the action as well.

Before you call me a racist, I’m not targeting or blaming any particular group of people. Resident Brits are adding to the problem as well, when they have large families and consume more than they need.

No blame, that is, unless we’re talking about the government. At the end of the day, they’ve let all of these people in, usually without any kind of warning (there wasn’t even a limit on the number of Polish people who could enter the country), while providing benefits to those who don’t want to work.

For me, when people complain about immigration and there being too many people coming into the country, it seems to be about what the government calls multiculturalism - or what I call "otherculturalism". Otherculturalism is where the traditions of a particular culture is compromised to make way for outside traditions, to the extent that it gets overridden completely.

Though not restricted to religion, one good example of otherculturalism is Christmas. Is there anyone who isn’t "offended" by something about it these days?

I personally don’t have any problem with anybody of any ethnicity, nationality or so on, as long as they pull their weight and aren’t up their own arse. It’s a cliché, but I mean it.

The problem as I see it - and a few of you think so as well - is when immigrants and people who don’t pull their weight are treated (or at least, perceived to be treated) like royalty, compared to long-standing nationals who work their arses off and get almost nothing back.

There’s that, and the idea (sometimes fact) that these people - foreign or national - separate themselves. Sometimes they choose to do it, but I’ve heard from a Czech girl that the government likes to place immigrants from particular countries in particular areas.

What really doesn’t help - and this is where I see that people get angry - is that the government keeps us in the dark about who the heck these people really are, where they came from and why they’re here; in the meantime they’re suddenly working with you at your job, while strange buildings and weird shops with funny-looking language are being opened in your town.

While I certainly wasn’t angry, I remember being very confused and uninformed, when I’d come home from university in 2002, and found Polish shops in my local area. Back in high school, there were increasing numbers of Somalian kids at one point. Both times, nobody had said a thing. I ended up making a fool of myself.

Before you accuse me of being a racist again, I should mention the biggest culprits of otherculturalism:

Brits.

Have you seen what we’ve (read: you’ve) done to Spain? The Meditteranean? Any other popular holiday destination? If not, I suggest you go to any of those places, during the summer.

As someone who has had ongoing problems with social interaction, depression, employment, discrimination and a whole load of other stuff I can’t be bothered to name right now, I probably don’t have any right to tell people what to do, say or think.

But I do know one thing: to be happy in life, you must have connections with other people. I realised that a long time ago, and it took my recruitment agent to remind me earlier today.

Other people are crucial to any kind of happiness, from wellbeing right on up to your career. Brian Tracy said in one of his seminars: a person who is known and liked by many other people can go all the way to the Presidency, while someone who is talented, but had no friends, would end up working under someone who does.
When I look at how my life turned out, it seemed that people around me knew that from the start. They might have seen that I was an extremely talented, creative person, who could potentially change the world. We can’t have that, they decided, so they made sure I was cut off from everybody and had no reliable friends or relationships. (That does sound paranoid, but anything is possible.)

What very few people realise (or care about) is that you must have connections with the right kind of people. All too often popular culture looks down on outcasts and "loners", and insist they "get out more". But it may be that "getting out more" only puts them in contact with people who don’t serve them well.

Unless you were very sadistic, you wouldn’t suggest to a black person that they should join the [group with people who wear white pointed hoods]. So why assume that they can just form bonds with any old person?

What even less people realise is that finding a place where you can form connections with the right kind of people isn’t always straightforward. These days it’s all well and good for your typical, loudmouth, promiscuous nobody: they have pubs, night clubs and almost all kinds of social settings. There are some who don’t like that crowd.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any answers to how to solve the connections crisis. The solution to solving these personal problems, I’ve found, is very personal to the person going through them. I hope you find yours, if you have one.