Genuine question about Muslims and trees..

[Shay HTFC]

Ok, so I have a genuine question about housing and wondered if someone knew what the reasons behind certain decisions are..

So my mother lives in the wealthier part of a West Yorkshire town, which is full of large stone houses full of lovely trees in gardens etc and generally quite a nice prosperous feel about the place.

Since I was last back a few years ago, a number of Muslim families have started buying up properties (white flight is definitely kicking in), and coupled with a sudden explosion of high end sleek black Mercedes cars parked in the street, all the trees and greenery are essentially completely removed, and in go paving slabs and gravel, turning what used to be really nice places into slightly bigger versions of the bleak sthole terraced houses in the areas these Muslims have moved from.

So my question is why?
Why is all the greenery just ripped out? Is it haram? Is it simply something cultural, related to the sort of modern Saudi Arabian/UAE desert look?
Have other people experienced it?
Have I just become a bigot?!

[Shay HTFC]

Alucidnation said:

First thing to go when I buy any properties is trees, especially if i feel they are too close to the house etc or showing signs of age.

Can't be doing with having to maintain them.

Sounds like you are a multi-property landlord type then?

Because that's annoying too. In an even more exclusive street than my mother's, two end terrace houses (and we're talking big old Victorian terraces with French windows and living rooms full of bookcases and grandfather clocks; not pokey Coronation Street type things) have just been sold, most likely to property developers, who have just ripped everything out and sandblasted the walls and it looks seriously ste!

If it continues then the street is going to go from a place that was genuinely impressive to drive down, to basically just a slightly beefed up Coronation Street. It's actually cultural vandalism that's going on!

[Shay HTFC]

Countdown said:

There’s a surprising viewpoint.... from the guy who thinks Mo Farah isn’t really “British”....

OP - we chopped all 3 of ours down. They were a PITA to maintain and the roots were screwing up the lawn.

Do you have a black Mercedes S class too?

[Shay HTFC]

Puggit said:

Is it the requirements of large family groups living together and needing more parking than is available?

It's not actually converting gardens into driveways, as a lot of the greenery is above street level.

It's just the stripping back of anything green or that needs tending to, to the extent that plants go out and plastic flowers go in!

It's just really gaudy in a really tat way!

[Shay HTFC]

Thorpy said:

I'm white and non religious and I've ripped out a large amount of greenery in my front and back garden including a silver birch. Still need to get rid of the pond too though!

Genuine question: Did you go to university? Did your parents go to university?

[Shay HTFC]

alabbasi said:

and not seeing your mother for a few years is bad business. You should see her more often.

To be honest, thats not strictly true! Spent a while camped back there and visiting every few months - just this is the first time I've been back properly in a while and had a look around. I'm not that bad a person!

Edited by Shay HTFC on Sunday 19th August 17:00

[Shay HTFC]

Jag_NE said:

I used to live in an area that had a high % of Bangladeshis living in it and the majority were not particularly interested in keeping the area pretty. They were not keen on keeping windows clean and gardens tidy, houses were often shabby looking. Lots of German cars kicking around however. The white folk were in the main moving out and cheesed off with the situation. At the end of the day it’s their property and they can do (or not do) what they choose but I’d be lying if based upon that experience I would ever choose to live in an area like that again, I can’t shut out that I keep my house nice and many others don’t give a monkeys. On the plus side they weren’t likely to be having cider parties on a Tuesday afternoon so swings and roundabouts.

To be fair I had a Muslim mate at uni who used to say "Why does it matter what the outside of the house looks like, as long as its neat and tidy on the inside", which has always sort of been the opposite to my approach of making sure everything looks neat outside first, and then sorting out inside.

Everytime I've been to Asia, the street has been seen as a sort of waste space. You just chuck everything onto the street and make sure the inside of your house is clean. Literally seen people just dumping buckets of st filled water into the street outside their front door, and its someone else's job to clean it up.

I can't help but imagine that some of that attitude carries across, because parts of Halifax are literal st tips!

It could also just be a poverty thing and I'm sure the white council estates can be just as grim!

Edited by Shay HTFC on Sunday 19th August 19:19

[Shay HTFC]

Jag_NE said:

It was the same where I lived mate. I’m sure London is different but in the provinces if your street becomes a predominantly Asian area then when you come to sell, the white people generally arent interested which means your home ends up being worth far less. The area I grew up in descended into an absolute tip and I had a nightmare shifting my house. The practical reality is that many Asians (in my personal experience) who are otherwise extremely decent people have lifestyles that don’t contribute to an area being “nice” in the eyes of a typical brit who is looking to buy a house. Think awful parking, bad driving, messy gardens, badly maintained houses and an extremely casual attitude to household waste. I felt sorry for the elderly people who weren’t in a position to move and had seen the area descend from a very decent area 20 years ago into a filthy ghetto.

This as well. It almost becomes a race to get out before the only offers you get are cash in hand offers at 60% of the expected value of the house!

Countdown said:

James_B said:

Countdown said:

What is genuinely bizarre is supposedly intelligent people thinking muslims have something against trees.......

Why? They have a fair few customs that seem bizarre to outsiders, such as thinking that dogs are unclean, or that you can’t eat Walls finest pork sausages. Asking the question is surely fair enough.

Not to anybody who has even the most limited of critical thinking skills.

Do some muslims cut down trees and pave over gardens? Yes
Do some non-muslims cut down trees and pave over gardens? Yes
Do all muslims cut down trees and pave over gardens? No
Do all non-muslims cut down trees and pave over gardens? No
Has there been a national increase in the trend for paving over gardens? Yes
Has there been a national increase in the need for off-road parking? Yes
is there a correlation between garden-paving-over and muslims? No

Tune in for tomorrow’s question “Do jedis prefer magnolia paint for cultural reasons?”

If you had any critical thinking skills you'd realise that when whole swathes of towns turn into barren wastelands, then maybe something is amiss. Maybe it's not religiously driven, but it's very much cultural from what I can gather - as in void of culture!

And do you have the stats proving that there isn't a correlation between greenery getting wiped out and Muslims - because my guess is that you don't, and my guess is that there is!
Because funnily enough, if you used your critical thinking skills then maybe you'd be able to make a link between lack-of-education levels and a complete disregard of anything remotely classy!

Please could you also stretch your critical thinking skills to explain why when a few of these national-trend followers move into an area then the house prices tend to rapidly plummet? Or will your amazing critical thinking skills jump to what we all expect they will?

Edited by Shay HTFC on Tuesday 21st August 00:19

[Shay HTFC]

Countdown said:

So if people have block paved gardens it means they’re thick and lack class?

If the people who have been 'upgrading' their houses on my mum's street have more than 2 A-levels between them then I'll gladly wire you across £100!

Cheap pinkish-looking concrete slabs dropped down at wonky angles is hardly the work of a design genius!

Edited by Shay HTFC on Tuesday 21st August 09:28