So why are you in Greece?

A short time ago EllasDevil posted this question at ELSOKAI:
"So why are you in Greece?". I came up with the usual answer:
the sun, the sand, the sea, the relaxed way of life on a Greek island.

Reading through the press recently has reminded me of other reasons:

The Muslim cleric Abu Hamza preached that killing non-Muslims was justified. Guardian Hamza was heard calling for the "blood and destruction" of non-believers and describing Britain as a country "like the inside of a toilet". Telegraph

I am no fan of this bigoted, bloodthirsty racist leech. However, I’ve often heard ethnic Brits declare that Britain is going down the toilet.

Peter Wareing was beaten unconscious in an unprovoked attack and left in a coma. He was placed on a life support machine and his wife was told that he might not survive. He has been left with some permanent disability and had to give up his career as a barrister. Telegraph

A teenager punched a father-of-four in the face so hard that it left him fighting for his life. Phill Carroll confronted youths who threw a stone at his car. The punch knocked Mr Carroll to the ground, causing him to hit his head and a blood clot to form on his brain. He was in a coma for 18 days and needed three operations on his skull, one of which removed part of his brain. Mr Carroll still suffers from memory loss and mood swings and is unable to resume work as an engineer. Telegraph

Mr Waring’s attackers are to be imprisoned for 18 months. Mr Carroll’s attacker for 12 months.

Now consider this: A posse of police officers arrested a student and charged him under Section 5 of the Public Order Act for making homophobic remarks… about a police horse.


Photo from RollOnFriday

So, I quite like living in a country concerned about the return of a 2,400-year-old marble heel. BBC

Not that I’m claiming it’s perfect. For example:

In an opinion poll for Skai Radio, reported in Kathimerini, 32% of respondents thought the Albanian community was at least partly to blame for the murder of a 17-year-old Albanian in Crete, on New Year’s Day. OK, I don’t have a problem with that as such, as I’ve seen part of the local Albanian community act provocatively when Albania beat Greece at football – which resulted in an Albanian being killed on Zakynthos. However, I do have a problem accepting that anything in any way justified these murders. 44% of the 949 people questioned agree with that. Uh… guys… what about the other 56%?

Over the past six months or so we’ve repeatedly been told that Greeks are anti-immigrant, so I was surprised that 53 percent believe the Pakistanis were kidnapped and questioned. OK, so are they happy with that?

Meanwhile, a substantial number of Greeks do not seem to trust the official explanation about the death of a Russian prisoner, Maxim Zhilim, this month. Zhilim (allegedly?) shot and killed two police officers while being transferred to prison but was found dead three days later. 20% do not believe that Zhilim committed suicide but thought that police officers killed him. Just over half of those polled accepted that Zhilim shot himself. I wonder how many of those 20% think it would be a good thing if ‘the police’ had shot him? I’m just glad that he didn’t get the chance to kill anyone else. And if ‘the police’ did kill him, well, some proof would be nice.

It seems the government are struggling to communicate its views on these issues – well, communications are a problem out here.

Elsewhere in ELSOKAI:

Would you go home for €4,500? Thousands of asylum seekers are to be offered millions of pounds in cash to return to their home countries under a scheme announced by the UK Home Office.

The Gospel according to Judas: Was Judas acting at the behest of God when he sold Jesus to the Romans for 30 pieces of silver?

Comments welcome in the ELSOKAI Forums