Bordy

Your not one of these "New Sensitive Type" of blokes then.

expressos

if you were born in england
like myself,you will allways be english
i think what makes you feel either is where most of your familly were born and live
i love the australian culture,and feel really happy to be living in such a wonderfull country
as im proud to say im english,because its not the english people who have gone down the pan its the country unfortuantley

you dont have to change your heritage to fit in with the aussie,s
as they say
"no worries mate"



still a gooner and always will be

although my seat in the north bank is empty

RichS

I was asked to comment (about 3 pages back) on why I think Australia is racist. I think I'd be best served directing you to threads on that topic in general, but will say that one mans 'up front aussie attitude' is anothers racism.
My rule of thumb is that if you look at the comment made, imagine you are in England and imagine directing the same comment at a black person substituting the term nigger or coon in the apppropriate place, would they react favourably. I suspect not. In my mind racism is hugely endemic in this society. Not saying the UK is any better, just that to pretend this is some sort of cosmopolitan utopia is on what I've seen a bit short of the mark.

I also don't see why the rose tinter is beating up on Ceri. the fact that she sees Wales as home is entirely her business. Millions of people on this planet don't live at home. Even when I lived in England, I lived in London and considered Gloucester home. Should I jack my London job in and go back to live there on that basis. I think not. That type of thinking is the way of the buffoon.

Flipping the theories around - should we demand Kylie become a UK Citizen, and if she refuses tell her to sod off home? ditto every other aussie actor/actress/singer who pitch up in the UK?

renth

I used to be a North Bank regular, before they put seats in and when Arsenal had more than a handfull of British/Irish players.

Badge

Ceri, I see where you are coming from, in that you shouldn't choose your nationality like it is a 5 min chore. I would never dream of picking German nationality or American nationality and wanting to be one, but then I might not move there or pledge undying love......but many of us are NOT going where the wind is blowing; the whole point is that many of us are matching a lifetime of experiences against the place where we want to pledge our lives or our homes. You stand for being Welsh. The fact you were born there, is cool. How would you feel if you had been born an Australian, gone to Wales aged 12 then felt the way about Wales you now feel? Maybe you don't know, maybe you don't need to care.

Either way, most of us have made our choices and it is nothing to do with the way the wind is blowing.

It would be like a born Conservative son of a Conservative Prime Minister deciding in later life that he had become Liberal. If that is how he feels, good luck to him, it wasn't his fault he was born in a Conservative household.

Maybe you should be feeling sorry for the people who have no clue about life, no direction, no passion, hey I do(!) but don't feel sorry for people who have grasped life by the horns, who have made a decision and made it work for them, and are maybe.... just different from you ..

Badge

Badge

In fact Ceri, I feel you are only "lucky" the way you feel the way about your nationalty of birth. I feel sorry that you have boxed yourself in to a corner and thus can never have another opportunity or view to enjoy something else. Do you feel sorry for the people that have no nation state, no identity, as such to feel proud about?

RichS

Sir the language you speak is I believe "Authentic Frontier Gibberish".

All she said was she feels Wales is 'home' to her, and there you are coming off the long run about people with no state etc etc.She was born in Wales, feels Welsh. Big deal. No need for further lunacy to ensue.

Badge

You don't have to call me Sir. I said Ceri had the right to feel the way she feels. But there was no need to feel sorry for anyone else, which was my point.

And, to add to the argument, probably as an aside, I mentioned that the concept of a nation state is still quite new in some parts of the world. There, feeling part of the country, would be a novelty and a luxury.

I have no idea what Authentic Frontier Gibberish is.

Badge

jad n rich

I cant really see how moving somewhere makes you an aussie or whatever, your still the same person

Besides aussies dont think of people from overseas as aussies just because they live here. You see people who have been out here 20 or 30 years and they are still called poms.

Besides aussies and poms are very different, trying to act like the other race usually looks ridiculous.

Merlot

It more about how you have adapted and taken on your environment, rather than labelling. When you live and work in a place you do pick up other cultures, part survivial, part human nature. I am a complete mixed bag of POM, Oz, little HK and little Israel because of this. I hate and love aspects of all places.

Inner happiness is the key here, bugger all to do with the country, it is within yourself.

M

G'Day

Yep, that's EXACTLY what I mean.

Badge

[QUOTE=jad n rich]I cant really see how moving somewhere makes you an aussie or whatever, your still the same person
QUOTE]

hmmm...It doesn't make you anything, as you say, but it just might make you feel where you want to be. I know I am a Pom, but I still identify with my new country.

I haven't changed a bit.

Incidentally, I've been giving this a lot of thought recently, well, months, years(!) ever since I found this site and all the discussion, and the most amazing thing I find, for myself, and this forum HAS really opened my eyes to it, is that the way things are done over here, is the way I do things. I find myself identifying with Aussies, it might be a comment, or a choice, or a joke shared - yet I wouldn't say I WAS an Aussie - I just identify with them, in a way to me is VERY obvious - and personal - I can't otherwise explain it. I sound like Ceri now probably(!) Actually, I do have an idea but many people don't believe me unless they have also gone through similar life experiences so I have given up explaining. I used to on this forum and people couldn't see it - well why should they - their experiences are different, so I gave up.

This is not new, people have travelled for years and lived amongst other cultures having experienced this affinity.

I find I identify with Australian culture, and lifestyle to the point where sometimes I laugh at English ways and customs and find them strange, especially when peple who otherwise like Australia miss those very English ways. Not all. Some.

Do I care? No - I find it a hoot actually - why - because people CAN be so different. I laugh when 99 pc of complaints about Australia I cannot share. I almost feel I am ''missing out'', or *should* feel I am missing out?!

We all constantly tell each other how different we are....we are all only ''united'' on this site by a constant buggerance called ooSTRAYA. It's the single reason why I am on this forum. It really, really, makes me smile. And I don't think identifying with another culture is a great shame. Hey - I can identify with aspects of English culture too.

cheers ...

Badge

G'Day

Damn, why can't I give karma twice to the same person? 'Cause you deserve it BIG time. I agree with this statement 200%. I am a citizen of the world - French mother, German father, Dutch husband, raised in several countries, now immigrated to Australia - I'm a regular United Nations all by myself . For me home is not a piece of soil, it's the people I'm with. My husband and children especially. To me the whole idea of national pride is just a bunch of baloney used by governments when they want to start a war. I have been in many stunning places in my life, some of them will haunt me forever and just thinking of them brings a smile to my face, but they are not "home", not one of them. Home for me is any domicile where my family gathers together and has fun together and fights together and gets through hard times together.

I feel passionate about Australia only because it is a country that has some ideals that I, personally, share. I think, possibly because it has no strongly defined "culture" of it's own, I feel more at home here (there IS a culture, it's just quite flexible). Like Badge says, I have an affinity for the people of Australia and it has drawn me like a magnet for many years. I love the mix of people, cultures and opinions. I love the weather, the forests, the deserts. I want citizenship here and because this country is a haven for my family I respect it and it's people. Someday I might move on again, my husband is already getting itchy feel to see yet another place and to live in yet another country. My company might send me to Switzerland yet, maybe the USA, but God forbid that I should ever have a snotty, condecending attitude towards any place that shelters me and mine.

Badge

hmmm...Karma to you, SIR, (Sir is warranted I think now), Karma to Merlot (I also agree with you) , Karma to Ceri for being passionate about what she believes in, (that is a great trait), even when you look at it from a different angle. Even Karma to RichS who seems to be getting a tad peeved(!) exact reasons I'd better reread this thread to see why.

Badge

ozzieeagle

Apologies for be pendatic on the following quote by Jad and rich, however it led to the following thoughts.

Besides aussies and poms are very different, trying to act like the other race usually looks ridiculous.

One thing is for sure, Aussies are not a different race to english / british people, Different Nation, sure but certainly not different race.

The characteristics that Aussies seem to share with people in England, seem to be similiar to people from the North of england, than People from london or the south east, Thats the way It seems to me, With an up front Yorkshireman/woman as a perfect example. So to me at least, being sarf london born and bred, the differences here are only what I would imagine I would experince in Leeds, Excepting I'm probably better accepted here. In fact besides the shops (which with globilisation are probably very similar to ones back in the UK now) and Vegitation, Melbourne in particular could be almost seen as an appendage of Britan.

Which leads me back to Ceri, because the Welsh, Irish, and certain elements of Scotland, and even cornwall, can claim different racial heriitage, in the fact that they are mostly celts, with a touch of spanish, (if I remember my history lessons correctly, thats certainly the case with the Irish, I mean the Spanish influence)

Coincidentely, My living Parents Retired about 15 years ago, to North Wales, and reside in Prestatyn, So Straight out of Bermondsey, via a small stint in Mkeynes, and up to North Wales. Hopefully Ceri, you dont receive, in this country the little bits of angst that my parents receive now and again, from their Clywd neighbours.

Ohh and as a little Football dig, I noticed a couple of Arsenal Supporters on here, They (Arsenal) Certainly dont 'CURRENTLY' have British heritage, Palaces 1-5 drubbing in our last game, was thankfully overshadowed and noticed that for the first time in 119 years a team fielded 100 pct non British players. In Fact when Arsenal played Bayen munich in their 1-1 draw this week, Bayern Munich actually fielded more British players. (I needed that )