I'm afraid that David is nostalgic for a world that never was. There are a fair number of people such as this. It's the "good old days" or the "Golden Age" syndrome. Were one of these custodians of illusion to be time-machined back to the era they idealize, their disillusionment at what they really find there would quite probably be devastating.

Perhaps it's their general inability to cope, and they fasten onto a former time in which they feel they would fit.

Sad, but what can one do?

Unfortunately, though, David's ideas about his "pure English culture" seems to be based on his erroneous belief that there actually existed a time before immigration, and it's this sudden influx of immigrants that he blames for both "corrupting" English culture—and for taking jobs ("capitalistic immigration") away from English citizens (i.e., him).

I've seen this kind of thing before. In the United States, when affirmative action laws came into existence, there were people who blamed the laws for their own inability to find work, claiming that people from minority groups keep getting chosen over them. There were many who could manage to get down to the unemployment office to pick up their weekly check, but wouldn't stir off the sofa for the rest of the week and go looking for work. "Why bother?" they would rationalize, "They'll only give the job to a black or a Hispanic or a woman. . . ."   Blaming affirmative action for their not having gainful employment and thus having to live off their unemployment checks was a very convenient excuse for them to sit at home and watch soaps or spend their days hanging out at the local coffee shop or bar.

Amazing how quickly they got motivated—and managed to get a job despite affirmative action—when their unemployment insurance ran out.

Now, on another subject:

Spaw is one of nature's noblemen.

When I first posted on Mudcat on September 2, 1999, catspaw49 was one of the first people to warmly welcome me to this forum.   I find that he is generally friendly, informed, and both incisive and humorous in his comments. This is when the discussion is at least marginally rational.

It is when someone from the nincompoop brigade climbs aboard and begins trying to peddle pure blather, baloney, claptrap, drivel, twaddle, and gobbledygook that he often darts into the nearest phone booth to emerge a few seconds later wearing his cap-and-bells. On these occasions, he tends to pour forth such a burst of outrageously creative imagery that the heavens echo and ring with the laughter of the gods! One looks forward to these occasions!!

Catspaw49 is possessed of Super Powers!

Let 'er rip, Spaw!

In awe and admiration,

Don Firth