I’m back and ready to blog! I apologise for my recent absence, but as stated I was out of town celebrating my birthday in Belfast. I’m a year older but still none the wiser. Oh well.

As I said in my introductory editorial post, I plan on doing a regular feature / update / whatever you want to call it on the increasingly sad state of this great country of mine (Britain). Before I begin, however, I thought I ought to explain why exactly I feel the need to rebuke a country that, believe it or not, I love. There are two main reasons; the first is that it’s so frustrating that having an outlet for it will hopefully be somewhat therapeutic, and the second is that I do love this damn country! And, as any parent will tell you, when you love something you hate to see it screw itself up, so when it does screw up you have to rebuke it in order that it might set itself straight. Now I know bloggers are famous for being a tad egocentric, but don’t worry, I’m not a big enough egomaniac to think this little column is going to change the course of Britain or light Parliament on fire, but nevertheless I can’t help hoping that if enough people moan about the state of this country then maybe someone in power will eventually do something to change it. An idle fantasy I’m sure, but stranger things have happened… “That horse becoming Pope…” (A lollipop to anyone who knows where that quote came from).

 Anyway, without anymore ado whatsoever, I present qualm No.1 with Britain (and how it really didn’t used to be this way):

 

Britain in Decline: National Pride

             This may seem like a minor or even trivial issue to discuss when there are so many bigger problems that this country faces (many of which I’ll address in later issues of course), but that’s looking at it from a purely surface-level perspective. Ok, it is true that hanging a flag out of every window is hardly going to fix anything, but that’s not what national pride is all about. It’s also not about looking at your country through rose-tinted glasses and thinking that you’re the greatest at everything, that’s just jingoism. No, national pride comes from someone seeing their country for what it is but still loving it, warts and all. Or at least giving a damn about it! It’s where you can say “I’m British” with a sense of pride. That attitude has sadly all but disappeared.

            The biggest problem with the loss of national pride is that issue of simply not caring about it. The general population of the U.K. just don’t really care what happens or where this country goes. More than that though, there are some quarters where being proud to be British is seen as a fault or even bigoted.

            I studied abroad in Florida for two years (’05 - ’07) and the contrast I noticed, going back and forth was really quite jarring. Americans really care about their country and it’s noticeable. You really get the feeling they have something to be proud of and they’re not afraid to express it. To give you an idea, last year was the 300 year anniversary of the ‘Act of Union’, the effective founding of Great Britain as a unified entity which ended centuries of conflict and strife between England and Scotland. How was it celebrated? How indeed. I’m not aware of any major celebrations that took place to honour the occasion. Can anyone imagine that happening in America? Come July 4th, 2076, I expect the party of the century to take place. I expect fireworks displays that would blow your mind, parades in every city, a national ban on all colours that aren’t red, white, or blue. All we got in this jaded country was a few headlines that the Scottish National Party was using the event to once again push for independence from the U.K.

            Speaking of Scotland, it’s not just the Brits as a whole who suffer from this, but the English also are almost not even aloud to be patriotic! In several English universities the displaying of the St. Georges Cross has been banned, lest it offend Scots, Welsh, Irish, or Muslims. The unity of the United Kingdom is slowly eroding and that of course is hurting our sense of ‘Britishness.’ Many Scots don’t consider themselves British but rather Scottish and I consider that a great shame. I was born and raised in England, but I consider myself British before English. Just as most Americans consider themselves American before Alabamian, Floridian, or Hawaiian, etc…

            It didn’t used to be this way. For hundreds of years, being British was seen a badge of honour (granted, the Scots have always been ‘Scottish’ first, but that’s by the by). It seems to me that the decline of national pride can be directly correlated with Britain’s decline of national prestige and power. Following World War Two the British Empire shrunk alarmingly fast and after just a few decades, the largest empire in history consisted of just a few small islands scattered about the globe. Add to that the pointless apologetic attitude that was thrust upon the population by its politicians, where we were told that we Brits were a source of great evil and oppression for more than a quarter of the world. Now I’m not going to debate whether or not the British Empire was a good thing right now, but there’s no reason why we should still carry that subconscious burden on our shoulders for something that’s long in the past. I didn’t oppress anyone and I’ll be damned if I’m going to feel bad about it!

            I don’t know how this general feeling of apathy or even anti-Britishness within the population can be fixed, or even if it is possible to fix it. One day the U.K. may just have to split up and each chunk can start fresh, but regardless, if people don’t regain that sense of pride and patriotism, then those “bigger” problems I alluded to earlier will be all but impossible to fix. You have to fix something at its most basic level, before you can expect to fix anything more complex. That is exactly why national pride is so very important and not trivial in the least.

-----------------------------------

Click here to read comments for this piece or to add a comment of your own!

------------------------------------------

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------