back_to_basics

You think you’re going to lead me down a path I don’t mean to go down with pseudo-intellectual babble, but you’re not.

Identity; a sense of belonging, a sense of self.

I give my children a sense of identity because I am their mother and I love them. We are family and we "belong" to one another. Yet they are unique individuals and as different from one another as night and day.

They sometimes squabble but they live in the same house and are subject to the same rules, and they know their boundaries. I don’t favour any one of them and I don’t expect them to be the same. In fact, I encourage and celebrate their individuality. Because of this, they feel secure and they are loyal to me and to one another.

And so it is with national identity, or, a sense of “Britishness”.

“That includes the white members of the population”. Means they are included in the comment and are not an exception. No more, no less. But you knew that was what I meant, didn’t you? It just suited your purpose to deliberately misinterpret so you could make a point that wasn’t really there to be made.

Like you, I respect anyone's right to freedom of speech but with freedom comes responsibility to consider the effects your words could have on others. More specifically, what your words could incite others to do. Just because you are free to do or say something, doesn't mean you should.

I'm not attacking you, either, back_to_basics, but if I choose to vigorously denounce extremism that doesn’t mean I am an extremist. If you think I am, then tell me what extremist views you think I hold and I will gladly explain myself.

Call that hypocrisy if you want. I prefer to call it forthright.

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