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Amnesty to Illegal immigrants in Poland [102]
It would also test out the tolerance concept.
How I see this with the fear that lack of relevant historical facts made me err- my conclusions might be totally wrong, please feel free to correct me.
British are known for their liberal attitudes when it comes to foreigners, they mixed, they were ruled by foreigners, they are good hosts, and that is for me personally an interesting characteristic.
But expecting all others to have the same openness when it comes to more or less distant cultures is something too ambitious. And at the end not logical.
Some cultures have reasons to be more xenophobic, those whose survival depended on cohesiveness , which is the case of large parts of continental Europe. British isles have specific, isolated geographical position where intruders from the continent were not a threat to survival of the English nation, you rather assimilated the invaders which is possible if there is no critical mass impossible for assimilation. And ocean was a natural protection against that threat.
On the other hand nations on the continent were constantly under same threat or even threat of extinction without seas surrounding them.
Also, probably there is the element of guilt from colonial past, so you tend to be over tolerant now, being guests all around the globe previoulsy (I understand why and how it evolved I think, navy was a mean of survival, conquering as well), and later inviting more guests you had to find way to live with them, norm helped and served there as well, to achieve the goal, to adapt.
Tolerance is indeed a nice result of that process.
But that is something specific for britain and those who share their cultural heritage and where tolerance was also one of the means to rise like a nation , but .....
continental European countries (not only european) faced due to their position different problems and logic of survival had to evolve in some other direction.
Why imposing norms that served you to others whose destinies demanded different adaptations and norms for their survival?
Xenophobia had and still has its purpose. it has evolutionary roots. protect your gene pool. that is why we all prefer our kins to our wife's kins.
and europe was all about bloody evolutionary games for millennium and more. And this forum proves it is a vital principle still.
Like your openness served function of survival (Britons+ angles, saxons and then that new group assimilated danes,normans= English nation), elevated tolerance would have proven to be a tool of self destruction in the continental case of like i.e. Khazars.
Try to teach Germans the tolerance lesson , they will pretend that they embraced it, yet... they wouldn't have survived if they did and they know it.
French? Italians? Poles? Hungarians? Anyone in the classroom? :)
It is I'm afraid learned by heart and as a recital for important audience.
