britain seems to be going down the drain!? recent news headlines have painted britain as a whole in a poor light... gone are the days of honour, steadfastness, good sportsmanship, even chivalry. binge drinking, racists, looters, ASBO-teens are the current face of britain! im here, not to moan about this, (well, not much!) or to try to figure out how to tackle this, but to ask a simple question: "What is it to be British?" its a question for everyone really. if you are british, what makes you so, and if your not, what would someone expect of a british person? in short, this is hoping to be a discussion about national identity, and national pride.
To be British, as I have always pictured it, is to be virtuous - honorable - honest - gentlemanly - merciful - courageous. The Christian virtues are, traditionally, deeply valued, if only as a way to hold society together, but it was a very real thing. Once upon a time, if a man charged you with certain crimes, you could offer to fight your accuser - God would make the defendant win if he was innocent and make the accuser win if the defendant was guilty. We've lost much of that. In America, too; Britain isn't alone. I'm not telling anyone to be Christian; I'm more of an agnostic or deist myself. But those values certainly did hold civilization together for a long, long time. Now, these are the "virtues": to rely on others, to conform, to place being a British citizen second and everything else first, to be openminded to the point of being blind. Much of this is in low doses, and you must understand that this is a great simplification, even an oversimplification. But the old values are being lost. "Then up spake brave Horatius, the captain of the gate. 'To every man upon this earth, death cometh soon or late. And how can man die better, than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his gods?'" No one, at least in America, knows that poem or would understand the Greco-Roman-Christian values that it embodies. No one here cares. We are BRANDNAMERS - we conform, we fight the system even if it works and we have no better idea to run things, we worry about how we look instead of who we are. But it is late and I'm in a bad mood. You fellows should probably ignore me. I need some sleep. G'night.
Yeah exactly...."what makes you british"....being born in Britain! Anyway I always thought to be british was to have a nose that can block out the sun and posess a supremely dry wit. No offence even in consideration of the offence implied.
The only people I've met from Great Britain [in real life, at least] have been international girl guides camp counselors, all of whom I've liked, all of whom have a sense of humor. This, however, might just be the mark of a good camp counselor. Being from America, I would expect the average British person to be smarter than the average American; when on the internet, I wouldn't be surprised if the better speller of a group was British. yeah, I'm terribly ignorant about people from other countries - I need to travel when I'm older.
Hhahahahah! how about... being bad at cricket!!! (sry, couldn't help it... didn't we ozzies win the ashes?) But it doesn't matter what country you are from, I expect people to have more respect and compassion for fellow humans/animals and whatever critters that are out there roaming. But British people.... hmm... I have images of the Bill and East Enders... (EE Is a show that I have never watched!) Yeah, my intrest in visiting London or Britain in general has waned a little but not much. I'm sure there are some pretty decent people out there. After all, it is the Mother Country!
I do not see why people from another country should ahve any expectations of people from any other country. We are all human and honestly I expect the same thing from every person and that is to show respect and consideration to everyone. There will always be the sods out there that try to ruin it for everyonne, but they are not what makes a country what it is, what makes a country is the love and respect and consideration form the inhabitants not their ignorance. Maybe look at what is good about the British, I am sure not everyone is like that and every country has it's rotten apples so to speak, but not everyone is the same. You can't judge an entire country on what a groupd of people have or haven't done, yeah there is obviously problems there, but then when I walk out my door every day I also see that there are problems here....It is not my place to lay judgement...and I do not.... Ariella
The reason Britain is now unpopular is because it once ruled about half the world. Many countries dislike the british, hence the reputation as thinking they are better than everyone else. I have to admit though, some of the reputation is deserved BUT its not wrong, its a way of life... sheesh, what is so wrong with Pommy's!
Admittedly, I was in a bad mood when I wrote that. Yes, newspapers and televised news will tend to focus on the negative, ignoring good trends, valour, and bravery on a local level in favor of explosions, angst and the blame game. Sadness sells; sunshine and daisies doesn't, and will not receive the same amount of news coverage. What I was thinking about was a sort of "overall" trend, colored of course by my own experiences in America. The youth of today really do seem to focus on the outer layers of everything. Hopefully that's a localized problem. But I have heard some things about Britain recently that made me wonder, and those news stories (which were negative, as I should have remembered most news stories will be) colored my writing. I'm still not sure that Europe in general is doing all right . . . If the news sources here are accurate, cars are still being torched by ones and twos in France and elsewhere by 'youths' and that's considered so normal it doesn't much get on international news, Germany's busy fighting legal battles over a homeschooling law from Hitler's time (at least one 15-year-old was forcibly removed from her parents' custory because they were homeschooling her and that is, apparently, still illegal), and a non-dark-skinned person can be charged with racist speech if they get attacked by someone who does have dark skin and then dare to report the crime. I've heard some of that is due to cultural differences - in America, believe it or not, if you get attacked by two men, larger than you, and put them both in the hospital, not much happens. I'm serious. A few months ago, just north of my home and down the street, a woman was walking home when a man threatened her. She picked up something nearby, a club of some sort, and when he attacked he was smartly rebuked. I don't think he died. But the newspaper ran a story praising her bravery. I've heard that in Britain and elsewhere, her actions would have landed her in jail. Occasionally they might even in the United States, but usually if the situation warranted violent action, the one who was attacked and defends himself gets off.
The british stereotype is a far cry from the UK stereotype. British people are said to be such noble and upstanding citizens, where people from the UK are pictured to be the drinkers, the smokers, the gamblers, etc etc.
Sadly depending on which town you live the UK is drenched in hate. hate towards asylium seekers hate toward alot of coloured people hate towards the law. The crime rate that corrupts a great postion of england especially the north east and east is astronmicle. And gets worse. People drink and fight have pub brawls there are way too many smokers. And the chavs are just damn right nasty little sods. The cause trouble were they go rob others and assult people in the homes. Not forgetting this strange breed of human life(Chav) crave the attention of the law casting down ASBOs on them. (Anti Social Behaviour Order) However if you live the the right places like cornewall for example the place is filled with beauty the country roads are clean the citizens are friendly and the community is good. Even certain parts of the west are pleasent to visit or live.
