Originally Posted by Sally Redux (Post 8184833)

It seems that way on a visit, but it's hard to get any further than superficial pleasantries.

Originally Posted by The_Wookie (Post 8185064)

What an absolute load of nonsense.

Why are the Italians not constantly chastised for their Roman invasions? Or the Nordic countries for their Viking invasions? Or the countless other countries that have at one point or another in the past invaded other countries including France, The Netherlands, Spain etc. I mean for gods sake, the Germans don't even get it in the neck like the English do and they started two World Wars.

As others have said, get rid of the ridiculous chip on your shoulder.

Originally Posted by MDawson (Post 8186172)

Well said, Yes I agree , why do Aussies go on and on and on and blame the Brits for colonising the place and keep on bashing the English about Anzac for Christ sake

Originally Posted by Amazulu (Post 8186197)

Many Aussies will have you believe that British generals sent Australian troops to their death while UK troops stayed on their ships. Reality is quite different.

Originally Posted by MDawson (Post 8186172)

Maybe in another 200 years the Aussies will grow up ..!!

Originally Posted by moneypenny20 (Post 8179354)

Not sure I agree. We had the 'I'm Backing Britain' campaign in the 70s and people were proud to show their feelings towards the country and it's people. That peetered out and suddenly it became very fashionable to negate everything Britain does well, schools stopped teaching how the empire came about and what good was done by Brits abroad and other brilliant historical aspects of British life.

I honestly think the slide started when we joined the EU, suddenly we were part of a bigger picture and we were almost brainwashed into thinking that Britain was a piddly little bit of Europe and nothing to shout about. France had better food apparently, Italy had better men (sounds daft but that's what we were led to believe), etc etc. All Britain had was a few historical buildings and some pretty countryside. Successive governments have pushed this belief further and further and as a result I think these daft programmes found a niche and they have simply reinforced the previous belief.

Originally Posted by kporte (Post 8179297)

The other side of the coin(and the pond!) There always is one. For me, I wish the Brits were more proud of their country and shouted it from the rooftops. It may not be the power it once was but it was instrumental in shaping the world we live in today and has brought countless benefits to the world through it's perseverance and ingenuity.
I will never knock the yanks or the Aussies for patriotism, it's to be lauded.
Bush was a tosser though.

Originally Posted by chrisfromusa (Post 8179274)

The former also leads to depression and anxiety, and in extreme cases, suicide. By the British track record, when things start to go south in your country, what is the British thing to do? It's either sit at home on election time sipping and munching away at the tea and crumpets daydreaming about sunny skies or packing up your bags and going on invading Australia and the U.S. (specifically Florida, Texas, California, and Arizona) instead of staying at home and getting the politicians to listen to you. But then again that's what happens when it becomes the norm for society to start making patriotism like it's an extreme form of denial. In our daily life when we are depressed do we engage in some activity to relieve our depression? Some of us do, but clinical studies show most depressed people lose interest in life. See my point?



Like my quote above, lack of patriotism in your country only leads your politicians from stepping all over you like doormats. And I'm tired of being told I'm ignorant, stupid, and uneducated because I have pride in my country. Nobody's perfect, but why not celebrate what's GOOD? What's wrong in seeing that each country does have some good? Us Americans and Australians can see the good in our countries, but as usual, the defeatist British are always trying to shove down our throats with a huge magnifying glass that we have to hate ourselves because they mistreat aboriginals or we discriminated against blacks. Can you see why I'm PO'd? Because I can sure see why Australians are when you bash their country, on purpose.

Originally Posted by dave99 (Post 8178615)

I have noticed this to, often I feel like a second class citizen. Some of them look down on english people and if you ever dare to question anything australian you get the kneejerk reaction 'why dont you piss of back to england then'
They seem to live in their own little bubble, thinking they live in the best country in the world, which if you question them by pointing out how crap something is or a better way something could be done they cannot handle it. They act like a child whos toys have been stolen.

I am sure you will get some reactions like that from aussies on this topic in this forum, they seem to like to troll here and ignore the whole british expats banner at the top.

Originally Posted by verystormy (Post 8178850)

A lot of Ozzies are plain old racist. My wife is Peruvian and last Peruvian independance day we got together in a park for a bbq. We decorated the area with a combination of Peruvian flags and Australian flags, but we had people walking past saying some pretty derogatory remarks.

Originally Posted by mohogony (Post 8179069)

Maybe its becasue of the Way Britain has treated OZ in the past that explains the Aussies attitude to the English. A dumping ground for its convicts, Th galliploli disaster, the bodyline 1930's cricket,
The nuclear testing in the 1950's, and so on

Originally Posted by WillBlack (Post 8186399)

What a lot of ethno-centric billious making bilge in this thread. "The best possible world is a British one." As is self evident to any non-traitorous Australian, the best possible world is, without question, an Australian world, all other worlds are cheap fakes and poor imitations.

Originally Posted by iamthecreaturefromuranus (Post 8186486)

Oh... and if you will insist on using your new catch phrase of "ethno-centric" you might want to learn to spell it correctly. It's not hyphenated.

Originally Posted by WillBlack (Post 8186495)

That's a lot of hyper-ventilating about a hy-phen. Still, I understand, dictionaries must be hard work for you - so, thought-fully I thought, I broke it into more readily recognizable bits for youse-all. Can't stress enough the value of getting a good edjumication.