Divide and conquer

I have said this to people in the past and been told not to be silly or that's because it affects you personally or even you can't compare those situations. I leave it to you to decide.

To join people together in order to push them in a particular direction or to get them to ignore some of the less positive things they are doing, they divide us by creating enemies within, usually quite small things in this country, things that appear insignificant but as a whole will divide us. Religions are quite good at this by making judgements about those who are different or by stopping human progress by not accepting the loss of bigotry and the changing of old cultural myths.
The current fears being disseminated in different ways appear to be firstly, immigrants, Scary facts and figures are being disseminated, everyone who has a different religion or comes from another country is a potential terrorist. This is a great reason to hate and not welcome or help these people who believe this is a great country to live in. We should prove to them that this is a great and welcoming country. However they are a good target for fear and hatred and to blame for all our ills. Even more frightening is some of the controls put upon all of us because of this fear e.g. people arrested for taking photographs of fish and chip shops. This must not be the tip of a very large iceberg.
Who else can we hate?
What about smokers and people who are overweight A health authority in Kent has refused to care for these people unless they accept a reprogramming course.
My family have been smoking for at least 150 years, admittedly some of them have died, some through poverty, some killed in wars but most lived to their seventies, should I feel guilty for living? There are those who believe that smokers can kill a child from ten yards and many doctors have added to their cv's by being anti smoking. All doctors have been, I believe, instructed to question their patients on this and record this, sinister! Some people are overweight for many reasons, it does not make them any less human. People are different, that does not mean that they are out to harm us. As I was born just after WW2 when people were pleased to be alive I learned to not just tolerate but also to enjoy the differences. I lived in South London where we had in our road people from all over the world trying to make a life for themselves. Some were escaping the Hungarian uprising, some were from the Carribean, some were Jews from Europe, we had fun with them all and many are still friends but I also remember the shock I felt as a youngster when I first read notices in shop windows saying "no blacks or Irish". That had a great impact on me as they were talking about my friends and it appeared quite acceptable to say these things and a greater shock was when I discovered that the people who were quite happy to put these notices up were regular churchgoers but adding to my confusion I discovered that not all churchgoers felt the same. I gradually worked out that making any assumption about groups was wrong. As soon as we make these judgements we are in trouble and have lost control. I find it much better to be tolerant and never to be guided by any club, religion, newspaper or source but to think humanely and to enjoy people. We shall then keep control who we elect to manage the country.