Idiocy in Immigration - An False Belief

Immigration has to be one of the most contentious issues that politicians can discuss today. Somehow it has become ingrained into the British mindset that immigrants bring nothing but crime, unemployment and, frankly, mean trouble. It seems to be even more the case that it is not just extremists like the BNP that think this, but also a small minority politicians in the more ‘respectable’ and main stream British parties.
One of the main reasons why I think that immigration has been such a controversial issue for the UK is because of the legacy of the British Empire and what it has left in this country. For there still exists in Britain an ideal that somehow the British are superior to the rest. Now this is not a view that is expressed very often, certainly not vocally, but at least in our attitudes towards other countries, in particular Eastern Europeans and Asians it is very apparent. Whenever the immigration issue crops up in discussion or politics, there are always those that bring out the argument that immigrants are just here to live off the state and the benefits it awards. Aside from being misguided and completely incorrect, the idea typifies the attitudes some people have in this country towards foreigners. Somewhere the thought has been put into their heads that, simply because they are not British, they will not be putting something back in this country. There is absolutely no basis for any claims that immigrants to this country will not work when they come here. Immigration figures from independent sources show that unemployment amongst the white male population stands as 4%, whereas in Indian or Chinese male populations the figure is 7-9%. This shows that although unemployment is higher amongst other ethnic groups, the change is hardly on the scale that is often represented.
So why does this idea exist? Where has the idea that British people work harder and deserve more come from? We cannot simply put it down to a sense of national pride. If it were true that a nationalistic feeling was responsible for the notion that foreigners deserve less in this country because of a false belief in their work ethic, why aren’t people in the BNP and other right-wing groups up in arms about the thousands of American, French or Irish natives who live here? Of course they aren’t. So we have to turn to another solution, which I believe is the simple fact that it somehow irks certain people that others should be enjoying this country and working hard for it just as much as themselves. It is the selfish attitude that people such as Poles or Pakistanis should be allowed to enjoy the privileges of living in such a fine country, because that means they will have to share what they enjoy so much.