Being English

Unknown_Genius said:
"My country is the world, and my religion is to do good." - Thomas Paine.
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Like it!

Abraham Lincoln said:
“When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion.”
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Oh on topic, err have no idea no easy to classify, watch a program a while back and that struggled to identify "Britishness" too!
 
If you know how to queue you are spiritually English. I often remind groups of slouching, lolling, ungainly youths at bus shelters of this as I am rearranging them into respectable lines of fine and upstanding citizens - often with no thanks at all. But it is my calling and the cattle prod helps.
 
I dont live in Britain but Im proud to be British, whenever I see pageantry like at Royal weddings etc I feel pride inside, Im proud that Britain still upholds those traditions.
Im proud that Britain declared war and stood up to Hitler & the Nazi's for all those years in WW2, Im proud of the men that got in those Spitfires and defended our grandparents & parents from the bombs.

Its just the way Im built, people are different and Im not criticising anybody who doesnt feel like I do.

It seems to me that its an English/British thing to question and try to analyse things too much, except when it comes to queueing and accepting bad service :)

When I came to Oz, I admired the way that they have such pride in being Australian, they show it openly all the time and even though my deep allegiances will always be British, after 25 years here I share their pride in Australia.
Love for ones nation. I feel is an entirely positive thing, even if only for the positive effect it can have on trivial things like graffiti, littering and smashing up phone boxes.
My kids were schooled in Oz, every morning thay sang the Australian national anthem in assembly, how did I feel about that ? = Positive.
 
ChicagoBlue said:
intheknow! said:
Do you live in the US?

If yes, how does it compare to England? Why do you feel the way you have posted about England but not America? What's the biggest differences because America has way more immigration than we do.
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Good question, nicely asked. Thanks.

I do live in the USA, in an old, tree-lined suburb of Chicago where my wife grew up.

So, "How does it compare to the USA?"

Well, we certainly have our fair share of immigrants(!), and there is an occasional cultural incident, but then when the country has 330M people, there is bound to be a little bit of that. England, being only the size of Oregon, with about 60M people, any such cultural issues are highly magnified. Magnify that even further by the fact that in England it is almost always a very high density enclave in an urban area, and the cultural issues are magnified along with that.

As you know, there are significant Jewish enclaves in England. Heck, I went to a predominantly Jewish high school in Whitefield! However, there is no projection of the Jewish culture onto the "English" culture in that area. Certainly, there are Kosher butchers, etc... but there is no projection beyond their community and certainly no effort to change the English culture to be predominantly Jewish, either peacefully or forcefully.

Accordingly, in the USA, it is essentially the same, but there are considerably MORE cultures that America is absorbing all at the same time. We certainly have Hispanic issues along the Southern Border states, but even those issues are being addressed by the Legislature, with the Immigration Reform Law passing the Senate Committee TODAY!

However, the OVERRIDING FACTOR in the cultural melting pot that is America is that people come to America for the GREATER FREEDOMS AND PERSONAL OPPORTUNITIES TO GET AHEAD. I just don't think that MOST people emigrate to England for those same reasons. I think they come for increased freedoms, but I also think they come because they have a social service safety net that is as generous as can be found anywhere on earth.....and the words "political asylum" allow you entry into the country from almost half of the rest of the world. That is ludicrous!

In addition, in America, there is a VERY STRONG "American" culture in the US. People are very proud to be American and have a very strong national identity. ANY attempt to subvert that with a "foreign" culture would be met with a swift and sure reaction. That is not to say we do not have Mosques, but people live their lives AS AMERICANS and go to Mosque at the appropriate time. Should they wish to try to project their faith into American daily life, there would be a backlash.

In short, THIS is Rome! Be Roman!

I hope that helps. If not, you know where to find me.
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Hey, thank you for that reply, you've expressed it very well and intelligently!!

I was genuinely interested in why you had those feelings when you returned to England but not in the US where, in numbers, immigration is much higher.

I understand what you are saying about high population density in England compared to the US. A lot of people don't realise just how vast America is.

In relation to the 'Patriotism' and assimilation of migrants in the US compared to the UK, America is a Nation of immigrants and needs American patriotism and the legend/myth of the American dream to bind its citizens, new or old, together. This doesn't really translate or work in, not just the UK but in Europe as well. Mainly because of our history. Europe inclu UK is the 'old Continent', where the Countries went out colonised the world, exported our cultures, ideals, language, beliefs to foreign newly discovered lands. Europe's history is not one of being founded by immigrants but of Imperialism and war and domination. So American and European ways of dealing with globalisation or the large scale immigration of people will always be different
 
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