Hellas futebol

[Faliro]

I live in London. Down my road you see muslim women - head to toe in black robes - taking their kids to school, shopping etc. They speak no English. There are 10,000's of them in my area. All are on benefits and all don't work. They are breeders. Their kids go to muslim only schools funded by the UK taxpayer. Their council tax bills are in arabic so they can read them better. Most have 3-4 children. Even their kids speak extremely little English. There are similar situations all over Europe.

Some countries are worse than others. However I truly believe that the most dangerous people in Europe are those who believe Islam is simply another culture that is compatible with the west and our laws and human rights.

The hospital where I was born is one of the biggest in the country. It is in central London. Here is the sign for the accident and emergency section... there are others with the same theme all over the place..

[Godescalco]

UK is demented though.

In need of a major overhaul.

[H]

Although Cambridge is a super-multicultural city, we (still) don't get to see those adaptations. I would say that in here the muslim population is is equalled, if not surpassed, by the Indian population. We do get to see a lot of Turkish restaurants curiously, but the muslim population is mostly comprised of University students, who also work as well, which is great.

[Faliro]

BTW something hilarious happened concerning AEK on monday.

Remember, the owner of AEK is a major criminal and billionaire who was protected by the previous Governments and even encouraged to buy illegally OPAP, for very little money - OPAP is Europe's biggest gambling company..and formerly state owned.

So the only party the last 5 years asking for him to be sent to jail was... SYRIZA and now they in power!!

So, AEK went to a meeting on Monday concerning their stadium project. They should have been worried already because the minister who organised the meeting decided he could not be present at the meeting last minute..

So they are sitting there, expecting to argue about the famous trees that need chopping down etc.. however everything they say is not entertained by the mayor.. everything the AEK representatives state is met with negative. The mayor even states anything above 22,000 capacity is not an option! When AEK, now in total shock, asked what they are supposed to do - the council replied - find somewhere else to build your stadium! 

The AEK delegates panicked and now the AEK fans are in a total spin.. even starting to attack Tiger (the owner)...

[Festivus]

Europe is being tolerant towards the intolerants. I am a strong advocate of multiculturalism and social relationships between people with different ethnic backgrounds and I believe that only through this process mankind can achieve some kind of broader mutual understanding, but Europe is forcing this process a lot, going too far without really thinking about what's happening.

I know I might upset some people with this post, but I really need to say this.

Multiculturalism eventually leads to conflict. We humans need a sense of belonging to a group. We're wired like that. And it's impossible for humans to achieve full equality. Communism tried to put an end to the class system but that's against human nature. We're competitive and won't settle for less. We strive to be better than others. Different ethnic and religious groups will always have some conflict of interests at one point or another.

Things like Affirmative Action in the USA and minority quotas don't really help fight racism, in my opinion. Who'd be happy getting refused admission into a University or not being hired by an employer in detriment of an ethnic minority who's protected by Affirmative Action?

Another problem is the ghettofication of immigrants. Although that goes both ways. Many times the government gives free housing with low rents to immigrants and minorities and they end up turning the place into a ghetto. The thing is, some people don't really have culture anymore. The gypsies are a prime example of this. They really aren't a culture anymore for the most part, but more like a de-culture. The state offers them housing and they make bonfires inside them, etc. Also Gypsy kids abandon school as soon as they can... not to mention they fail a lot of classes until they're old.

One must also be aware of the cultural proximity between two groups. A Portuguese who moves to France will adapt himself a lot easier than a German who moves to Iran, per example. I've only traveled outside of Europe once, Tunisia, and I felt almost like I was on a different planet.

It's fine to ban institutional racism, but people will always fear the unknown and view each other differently deep down. I'm sure Faliro will always consider himself Greek first and foremost despite being a Uk citizen, per example. And many immigrants or children of immigrants eventually go through identity crisis when they're "forced" to choose a side.

The Middle East is definitely currently going through some "dark ages" period like Europe went through in the Middle Ages. Some say that there aren't better and more advanced civilizations than others but I disagree. Civilizations go through cyclic periods, having their golden ages and also their lowest points. The thing is, the "nazism" and "racism" paranoia ever since WW2 as over has affected a lot of people, so if you tell someone "well European civilizations as a whole are more advanced than African and most Asian ones" people will immediately call you a racist, when you're not even referring to genetics and shit. Most people in Arab countries aren't educated and live under theocratic regimes. Imagine if we allowed fanatical Christians into power in Europe? We don't because people here are way more educated on average. Sadly, many people in the West allow those loonies to get what they want, because people are afraid of getting killed by terrorists. If politicians had the balls to face those religious extremists, they wouldn't blackmail European politicians with such threats any longer. As jase25 said, we're becoming tolerant towards intolerance. In countries like Sweden and the UK it's getting considered racist to even fly your country's flag because it offends immigrants.

That being said, I consider Portuguese society more backwards than most Western European ones. Just look at the inequality here in comparison to central and northern countries. Also the general attitudes towards sex here. Also, the fact that we still air bullfighting on public tv in 2015 is pretty absurd. No one is perfect and all civilizations and ethnic groups have their own faults. I have to be coherent and admit we have a lot of flaws and as does our country. And our society being more backwards than many other Western European ones ends up hurting the country as a whole since those same people end up getting in power.

Despite all the flags you see on the windows since Euro 2004(some of them even have lost color), I don't think Portuguese people as a whole are very proud or patriotic. Well maybe patriotic somewhat but if they were truly proud they would buy more national products, wouldn't back down to other countries on a political or institutional level, would promote the Portuguese language(it's gained a lot of importance since Brazil has improved its economy) and culture better worldwide, etc. Many foreigners don't know jack about this country, not even about the Age of Exploration. You might blame it on their ignorance... but then they know France, the UK and Spain all had empires. Clearly we're doing something wrong. Remember Faliro, when you've said that Italians were the best salesmen on Earth or something like that? Well, I dunno if they are or not but they sure now how to make good publicity. Italians have convinced the world that their men are handsome and great lovers, that their women are the finest in the world, that their products will make you sexy and good looking as well, and that their country is beautiful and romantic. What does Portugal show the world? "Oh we have nice beaches and Cristiano Ronaldo!". As much as I love football, it disgusts me that my country promotes itself as some sort of European Brazil. And speaking of Brazil, they also know how to promote their country and culture. Also they promote their people as friendly and their women as all being hot. If you ask someone "where would you like to live in?" you'll see many people answering "Brazil", "Italy" and hell even "Jamaica". Jamaica is a shithole, but dumb potheads and impressionable teenagers and young adults who are into reggae and Rastafarianism actually believe is some sort of paradise. Now I dare you to go up to someone and try to convince them Portugal is a paradise and they wont' believe you. They'll be like "Where's that?" or "What, the poorest country in western europe?". We're clearly not doing enough for our image and reputation worldwide. And while we do have nice beaches, we need to promote our urban areas, our architecture, etc. Tourism has been rising in Portugal lately, but some things needs to be improved. Our gastronomy needs ot be better promoted. Everyone knows about Spanish, Italian, Brazilian, Indian, etc. gastronomy. But they wont' be able to mention a single Portuguese cuisine dish. And what comes ot their mind when you mention "Feijoada" is the Brazilian version.   

Anyway, nothing wrong at all with being proud of our best sportsmen... but before them should come our contributions to literature such as Saramago, Pessoa, Eça de Queirós, etc.

Brazilian's seem to have somewhat woken up in the last few years and protest against their politicians and try to change the image of their country worldwide that is pretty much Samba, Football, Carnaval, and big asses. Sadly for them, their most famous Brazilian author is Paulo Coelho, but hey I'm not Brazilian, so I don't care. Gotta look after your own yard, not your neighbour's.

[T1n0_SLB]

For me, Turkey is the main problem in that region.
And I strongly suspect that ISIS has direct help from Erdogan and his buddies.

Saudi Arabia is another big cancer that breeds extremism in the Middle East. And ofc, American foreign policy wits its support of Israel doesn't help at all either.

The same far left loons that build mosques in Europe all day to make Sunnis feel 'welcome' in Europe are the same mentally deficient EU enlargement bureaucrats that are willing to start of war with Russia over some Russian speaking Ukrainians having an EU flag flying over their town hall in 5 years time.

The EU is becoming increasingly dangerous due to those dictating policy generally having very low IQs.

We barely have any Muslims here and they don't cause problems. then again our Muslims don't come from Middle Eastern countries.

Countries like England and Sweden have a lot of problems, though. And in Sweden the PC far-leftist lobby is insane.

In ME it's like this. Israel(US backed) vs Iran+Syria(Russia)vs Turkey(NATO)+Qatar vs Saudi Arabia(US)+UAE

[H]

I agree with your post entirely Festivus. I'm just going to highlight this tiny little bit:

Now I dare you to go up to someone and try to convince them Portugal is a paradise and they wont' believe you. They'll be like "Where's that?" or "What, the poorest country in western europe?".

It's either that or, continuing the joke for Faliro the other day, "That's in Spain, right?". I've lost count the number of times I had to explain that no, we're not Spanish and no, we don't want to be Spanish and will never be. The Spaniards are our brothers, but as we usually say:

"De Espanha nem bons ventos, nem bons casamentos" (From Spain no good winds, nor good weddings)

[T1n0_SLB]

I live in London. Down my road you see muslim women - head to toe in black robes - taking their kids to school, shopping etc. They speak no English. There are 10,000's of them in my area. All are on benefits and all don't work. They are breeders. Their kids go to muslim only schools funded by the UK taxpayer. Their council tax bills are in arabic so they can read them better. Most have 3-4 children. Even their kids speak extremely little English. There are similar situations all over Europe.

Some countries are worse than others. However I truly believe that the most dangerous people in Europe are those who believe Islam is simply another culture that is compatible with the west and our laws and human rights.

The hospital where I was born is one of the biggest in the country. It is in central London. Here is the sign for the accident and emergency section... there are others with the same theme all over the place..

Saudi money 

Do they speak arabic in India and Pakistan?

[Festivus]

I agree with your post entirely Festivus. I'm just going to highlight this tiny little bit:

Now I dare you to go up to someone and try to convince them Portugal is a paradise and they wont' believe you. They'll be like "Where's that?" or "What, the poorest country in western europe?".

It's either that or, continuing the joke for Faliro the other day, "That's in Spain, right?". I've lost count the number of times I had to explain that no, we're not Spanish and no, we don't want to be Spanish and will never be. The Spaniards are our brothers, but as we usually say:

"De Espanha nem bons ventos, nem bons casamentos" (From Spain no good winds, nor good weddings)

I've actually never had someone say that to me.

[H]

Probably because you never met any inbred rednecks.

[Festivus]

Probably because you never met any inbred rednecks.

Indeed I have not.

Did you walk through trailer parks in Alabama or something?

[josantiago]

800 years battling the Spanish to get out of our country, and there are still people thinking we are part of Spain

[H]

No man, these are the vicissitudes of having visited many countries in the Caribbean, which is dangerously close to the US of A.

[Festivus]

800 years battling the Spanish to get out of our country, and there are still people thinking we are part of Spain

Many peopel also think Republic of Ireland is part of the UK or even Great Britain. Also many people confuse the Scandinavian countries and think the Finns are considered Scandinavian and speak a similar language to the other countries in the area.

And you'd be surprised how many people think Minsk is in Russia.

[T1n0_SLB]

800 years battling the Spanish to get out of our country, and there are still people thinking we are part of Spain

I don't want to start it again, but we actually are part of Spain( Spain = Iberian península)