2017 Story of the year: Prejudice is often in surprising places
Commentary by Robert Escandon, Sumner Newscow — Most of us comment that time seems to pass more quickly the older we get. It certainly seems that way for me. I guess there is a reasonable explanation for this: When you are 20 and then have your 21st birthday, the year just passed will have been a 20th of your lifespan.
Robert Escandon
Whereas, if you are 80 and then have your 81st birthday, the preceding year represents only one 80th of your lifespan — hence time (in perspective) seems to speed up. That’s my theory anyway.
2017 was a year fraught with political arguments and disagreement on almost any topic you can name. The Left and the Right are polarizing —- and emotions, in many instances, have become more important than cold reasoning.
And this is not limited to the U.S. Europe has been busy tearing itself apart as evidenced by a surge in nationalism. BREXIT, in my ex home country is a case in point. The financial fallout, since the Brexit vote, has not been good for the U.K.’s economy as businesses are frozen out of the European free trade market and the Pound bounces around in value compared with the Euro.Now that the financial ramifications are becoming clearer, there is a belief among many Brits that leaving Europe was not such a good idea after all. Some claim that the government lied to them and now there are public claims that the financial repercussions were not made clear before the referendum.
Personally, I think emotions were the main driving force with rising immigration from ex-European countries feeding racial unrest. I have several friends in England who have been candid about their reasons for wanting to leave Europe and immigration from ex-Eastern Bloc countries was their principal concern.
The photograph above shows a sign beside a fishing lake in Oxforshire, England which has to be reminiscent of notices put up outside stores in New York and Boston (during the early days of colonization) —- “No dogs or Irish Allowed.” To be fair, there is a commercial reason behind that sign. English fishermen operate on a catch and release basis rather than catch and keep.
The reason is that the main purpose of pleasure-fishing in England, is trying to catch a large fish. By returning it unharmed, it has more years to grow bigger and may give someone else the chance to catch it. Many small commercial fisheries have been formed over the past 10 years with easy access to the water, nice landscaping, usually a bait and tackle shop are provided and increasingly, a small restaurant too.
The owners sell annual licenses to fish the lake or they might walk around the bank collecting a day-ticket sum.
The popularity of a private commercially-run fishing lake is that it contains a good head of large fish, which brings the fishermen in. The owners and the fishermen are on the same page when it comes to catch and release and many fishermen use unhooking mats and barbless hooks.
The large stocked fish are a very valuable commodity to the business. This is one good reason why the owner of the fishing lake in Oxfordshire doesn’t want Polish or Eastern Bloc fishermen using the lake. They are interested in keeping and eating freshwater fish and not returning them to the water.
If this were allowed, then most of the fish would soon be gone from the lake and the business would suffer as a result. The old Eastern Bloc countries had relatively low population densities and lots of big rivers and lakes. In those circumstances, catch and keep would be entirely sustainable.
This is one trivial example of the problems that arise when different cultures and expectations try and come together. The above ban is being challenged in court and many similar commercially-run lake businesses are looking with trepidation at any future rulings.
As the world population increases the clash of cultures and movement of labor will only stimulate a basic human need to protect that which we have or that which we own. In the fishing-lake example, only one side will win the legal dispute but both sides will eventually lose. Operating a small fishing lake business will be pointless when you have to keep making expensive restocking your priority. Those Poles or Eastern Bloc folk will also lose, because they will have eaten-out all the local fish.
When resources are limited (in any circumstance) people have to come together and discuss compromises that, while not perfect, will allow all sides some degree of benefit.
May I wish everyone a happy, healthy and successful 2018.
