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Re: Thought this would of been done by now
Not to mention the fact that England wasn't always England - and also the angles are immigrants. :-)
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Re: Thought this would of been done by now
Originally Posted by britexpat76
(Post 10673715)
I think a lot of people are forgetting we are talking England and not Great Britain ;)
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Re: Thought this would of been done by now
Originally Posted by nonthaburi
(Post 10673726)
or what about the bad things Empire did ?
Like taking over loads of other countries by force and profiting from it . |
Re: Thought this would of been done by now
Originally Posted by the_red_sheep
(Post 10673699)
And this is best done by naming a day after a Greek who slayed a mythical monster?
Is it just me, or has St George’s day slowly been given gradually greater prominence over the last decade or so as the English attempt to establish an identity and culture for themselves out with the comfy banner of ‘Great Britain’ as that now archaic misnomer dispels with increasing rapidity? *ducksforcover* Your statement "the English attempt to establish an identity and culture" is laughable. We have always had an identity and culture, but we don't always feel the need to parade it as many others do. The UK (I'm inclusive on this issue) has an incredibly interesting and colourful history and it's disingenious to suggest otherwise. |
Re: Thought this would of been done by now
Originally Posted by nonthaburi
(Post 10673702)
It is a bit of a childish argument to say this . Along the lines of what people would say to a complaining expat of " if you don't like it here , then leave ! " .
As I said in a previous post there are good things about England , and I did agree that many great individuals have come from England , but let us not forget that there are many bad things that have happened too . I mentioned two things . Slavery and the Empire . Slavery was without doubt highly profitable for the UK as was the British Empire . These two things have defined so much about how Britain as a place as developed with negative consequences for millions of people . As to where I would have liked to have been born if anywhere . A stupid question , without having any idea of the life you might of had . If it makes you happy to tell yourself that England is a great place that's up to you . Personally , I've not lived there in 15 years and I have no intention of doing so any time soon. Sorry if you find it hard to accept other points of view . I always thought tolerance of others was one of these 'British' values . I assume when you were younger you were told that if you have nothing nice / positive / constructive to say, you should just say nothing at all? No matter how much you try to make yourself sound better / more intelligent than me (or others) with your patronising tone, this advice would have been ideal before just blasting us all with negativity for no reason whatsoever. Just relax, think about how lucky you are in life and smile. It'll feel barrel loads better. |
Re: Thought this would of been done by now
Originally Posted by nonthaburi
(Post 10673726)
or what about the bad things Empire did ?
Like taking over loads of other countries by force and profiting from it . I remember being in Burma some years ago and talking to some old guys who could remember the British Rule , although they did say that they had better education under British rule ( which was probably more of a reflection on the military junta at the time) , ultimately for them , they wanted to be their own bosses and not have some red faced man from Manchester ruling them. And that is why they rejoiced in 1948 on gaining independence . :rolleyes: |
Re: Thought this would of been done by now
Originally Posted by Scamp
(Post 10673735)
Just relax, think about how lucky you are in life and smile. It'll feel barrel loads better.
*meaning by being British, not because of your sparkling and welcoming personality. |
Re: Thought this would of been done by now
Originally Posted by Meow
(Post 10673739)
Oh FFS. Every country has done 'bad things', but today is about focussing in the positives for once. No one has denied that Britain has a history, but you need to put it into context.
:rolleyes: |
Re: Thought this would of been done by now
Originally Posted by nonthaburi
(Post 10673726)
or what about the bad things Empire did ?
Like taking over loads of other countries by force and profiting from it . I remember being in Burma some years ago and talking to some old guys who could remember the British Rule , although they did say that they had better education under British rule ( which was probably more of a reflection on the military junta at the time) , ultimately for them , they wanted to be their own bosses and not have some red faced man from Manchester ruling them. And that is why they rejoiced in 1948 on gaining independence . |
Re: Thought this would of been done by now
Critical self-analysis is a great English trait. We certainly have the ability to reflect upon ourselves and accept widespread public discourse about the merits of our society, to a much greater extent than most nations and cultures. Some outsiders do view this constant self-criticism to be a disadvantage but I’m not one of them. True jingoism is rare in Britain unlike, say, oh the Arab world where tribal insularity and mentality prevents people from openly criticising the society or culture or nation.
A day where we can celebrate the virtues and accomplishment of a country is not tantamount to ignoring its flaws or past misdeeds. I’d also say there’s also the disadvantage of focussing too closely on a country’s flaws that you forget they are greatly outweighed by the positives. Slavery is a perfect example. Yes, Britain benefited from the slave trade. But, yes, Britain was the first major country to truly oppose the slave trade and spent much of the 19th century eradicating the slave trade, using its fleets and armies to stop the trade in Africa insomuch as possible. British mills may have benefited from cheap American cotton but British leadership and its people also refused to recognise the American South’s attempt at independence and workers in the northern mills held large scale marches in support of abolitionism.
Originally Posted by nonthaburi
(Post 10673702)
It is a bit of a childish argument to say this . Along the lines of what people would say to a complaining expat of " if you don't like it here , then leave ! " .
As I said in a previous post there are good things about England , and I did agree that many great individuals have come from England , but let us not forget that there are many bad things that have happened too . I mentioned two things . Slavery and the Empire . Slavery was without doubt highly profitable for the UK as was the British Empire . These two things have defined so much about how Britain as a place as developed with negative consequences for millions of people . As to where I would have liked to have been born if anywhere . A stupid question , without having any idea of the life you might of had . If it makes you happy to tell yourself that England is a great place that's up to you . Personally , I've not lived there in 15 years and I have no intention of doing so any time soon. Sorry if you find it hard to accept other points of view . I always thought tolerance of others was one of these 'British' values . |
Re: Thought this would of been done by now
Originally Posted by Scamp
(Post 10673746)
Don't....in a minute he'll start telling us that although his kids do have some plus points, he hates the fact that they shit themselves as babies, didn't clean up after themselves, have never done the washing up and damn well didn't always say please or thank you.
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Re: Thought this would of been done by now
Originally Posted by Scamp
(Post 10673735)
I think the problem is you just wanted to cause an argument from the outset....a trolling concierge? Bizarre.
I assume when you were younger you were told that if you have nothing nice / positive / constructive to say, you should just say nothing at all? No matter how much you try to make yourself sound better / more intelligent than me (or others) with your patronising tone, this advice would have been ideal before just blasting us all with negativity for no reason whatsoever. Just relax, think about how lucky you are in life and smile. It'll feel barrel loads better. Just putting forward another point of view . It is a public forum . |
Re: Thought this would of been done by now
Originally Posted by Ethos83
(Post 10673753)
Critical self-analysis is a great English trait. We certainly have the ability to reflect upon ourselves and accept widespread public discourse about the merits of our society, to a much greater extent than most nations and cultures. Some outsiders do view this constant self-criticism to be a disadvantage but I’m not one of them. True jingoism is rare in Britain unlike, say, oh the Arab world where tribal insularity and mentality prevents people from openly criticising the society or culture or nation.
A day where we can celebrate the virtues and accomplishment of a country is not tantamount to ignoring its flaws or past misdeeds. I’d also say there’s also the disadvantage of focussing too closely on a country’s flaws that you forget they are greatly outweighed by the positives. Slavery is a perfect example. Yes, Britain benefited from the slave trade. But, yes, Britain was the first major country to truly oppose the slave trade and spent much of the 19th century eradicating the slave trade, using its fleets and armies to stop the trade in Africa insomuch as possible. British mills may have benefited from cheap American cotton but British leadership and its people also refused to recognise the American South’s attempt at independence and workers in the northern mills held large scale marches in support of abolitionism. |
Re: Thought this would of been done by now
Originally Posted by britexpat76
(Post 10673754)
I Wonder what passports his children have??
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Re: Thought this would of been done by now
Originally Posted by Scamp
(Post 10673759)
I couldn't care less. It was the first example that I thought of without wanting to spend too much time on a troll.
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