News Game designed to help combat culture shock

That is true. But an arrest warrant for Richard Gere for Kissing? He is not in India anymore, No country on Earth would extradite Him for that. Maybe back in the 17th or 18th centuries, maybe, But certainly not today.

 

Well said spec, that's exactly how I feel too. As already said, you can object but still ignore it.

 

I agree with what you're saying, however, I think Phil was more going towards the terrorist aspect of things.

Most of the terrorist suspects/training camps are aimed at people who do not agree with the Western way of life and then go to create mass mayhem, murder and destruction.

In that case I would say, if you don't like the way we live, just don't live here, we aren't forcing you to.

 

Terrorist :O

Wow, I'm amazed you brought that one up. In the last 50 years the only people who've been blowing stuff up in this country has been either British nationals or Irish people. Hardly puts indians in the front line of being suspected(unless you're a moron, which I'm not sayin you are).

I'm not trying to imply that we should be apoligists for our culture, or that it should be changed in order to comply with the desires of immigrants or visitors. Far from it. However I think it's a concerningly disproportionate response to instantly jump from people having a problem(that they can live with) about our culture to telling them to leave if they don't like it. They don't have to like everything - and they'd be remarkable if they did.

 

Sorry, should have stated that I mean cultures not people, it's the culture/religion that causes the problem in my view.

 

Ultimately, nobody has the right to not be offended. If people go to another country and can't cope with the culture they are giving three choices; try and change it, cope with it, leave it.

Obviously, changing it isn't always possible and leaving it isn't always the most appropriate option. So, people cope with it. That the issue hasn't been in the public eye much until now illustrates how well most people do this. Developing a small, mobile game to help speed this process up and acclimatise others to our country is obviously a good thing - it'll make our country more diverse and welcoming to others and will show them what to expect from our nation. It's not like this game cost 50 million quid to make.

Lets not make this a terrorist debate, because i'm willing to bet that none of us are objective and knowledgeable enough to discuss it sensibly, including me. Games and gadgets, yes. International terrorism rings and the secret elite forces combatting their conspiracies on an international scale? I doubt it.

Unless, Alextwo works for MI5, which I've recently begun to suspect based on his knowledge of bugs: http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=132873

 

Leave the country of her birth because she has some objections as to the culture, hmmm ???

There is a lot I dislike about this country but I have no intention of leaving.

As for the Richard Gere kiss, regardless of cultural differences that is just ludicrous.

 

ignoring the stupid 'Don't like it - leave' comments..

but the English seems lacking here "A version of the mobile game, which has been received very well by students, is planned to help British students also."

nitpicking but wouldn't the following read better? "A mobile version of the game, which has been received very well by students, is planned to help British students also."

 

I think CardJoe has a bit of a point here... Plus we all seem to agree fundamentally (except Phil's comment that seems so utterly insensitve that he must have meant something else) - we're just misinterpreting each other.

 

I'm not a xenophobe, and I resent the implication.

If I go to someone else's house, I don't complain about the wallpaper. If I go to other countries (as I regularly do) I don't complain about their customs, at least not with any expectation of anyone giving a damn. Personally I think it's absolutely ludicrous to make women wear headscarves or prevent them from driving cars, and I'll direct as much scorn as I can at such practices. What I don't do is go live in Iran and start blasting on about it with the implication that I expect someone to change it for me. I choose to live there, I choose to deal with it as it is or I take personal responsibility for changing it if I can, anyone cares, etc. What I don't do is whine.

If you want to live somewhere where public displays of affection are verboten, such places exist. If you want to live somewhere there are schools teaching your own personal brand of imaginary-friend worship, such places exist. What you can't reasonably do is say, OK, I'll move to the UK and enjoy the first-world living conditions, free healthcare and high levels of employment, but hang on, I also want it to be exactly like home in every other way.

Not only is this cultural imperialism (for which the western world is often-enough decried), it's just boring - I don't travel to places in the hope that everything would be exactly the same as London. I love to travel. I don't want the whole world to become a homogenised blob of identicality.

Phil

 

Phil, you're right with respect to whining being a bit pointless, but look at CardJoe's second paragraph. If you're born in England, that's your country, whatever your ethnicity. I can object to parts of the culture here (and I do, as does spec from what he said about public displays of affection), and you don't tell me to go home. Judging by your 'leave' comment, if I were to tell you my dad was born in Singapore, that might make you tell me to go and live there, even though I am British and have lived in England all my life... however, as an 18 year old, still at school, moving to another country isn't really going to happen. And I don't want to move, as you said, I'm happy with my healthcare and job prospects here.

 

Yes, fine, but when you go to someone elses house you might have a problem with them saying grace(or not saying it), you may find their wallpaper horrific or their manners while in their home lacking or way OTT.

My point is that it's fine to have problems with things, it's obviously not fine to constantly whine about a culture of a country you just moved to, or to try to change it significantly. But it's fine not to like it, that's allowed.

No-one said anything about actually wanting to change the UK's culture here, people have only talked about incomers having trouble getting used to it, and having problems with aspects of it(which to re-iterate, is fine and perfectly understandable).

As for the idea that anyone from India who's moved to the UK doesn't have healthcare, good working conditions, or experience a high level of employment in their area, that's fairly unlikely imo. People who can afford to move half way around the world from an industrial superpower to a country like our own, are likely to have all of those things.

 

Sure, absolutely.

We just shouldn't have to put up with is people saying "Oh, things should be more like they are in country X."

I'm just trying to advocate people taking a little bit of personal responsibility for things. My vitriol is borne of having suffered many, many countries other than the UK who are very ready to say "This is how we are, you must conform, if you don't like it, get lost." Living in the west, we're so often the subject of criticism in this regard, but when you get down to it, we're one of the most tolerant cultures in the world. Try and find a Christian school in Iran.

Phil

 

There are actually christian communities in Iran, I'm happy to say. They've been increasingly demonised in recent years unfortunately, rather like muslims in this country.

Interesting I think, how demonised muslims in the UK and demonised Christians in Iran have more in common with each other than the religious majorities in the opposite country.