| Product: |
Patriotism |
| Date: |
12/07/02 (487 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Love for the country, more enjoyable lives, Probably get more passion for the sports
Disadvantages: Some people cannot distinguish between Patriotism and Racism, Hostility towards immigrants
How bad is the future where you cannot say which nationality you are for fear of being stereotyped and pigeon-holed.
What a state this country is in where they stop us from saying we are English and displaying a St George's Cross on our house. O.K. it's all right when the footballs on and when we're doing well in cricket, but is that enough? Are we losing our sense of patriotism?
Patriotism should not be 'hating' other countries, other cultures, other people. Patriotism should be loving thy country alone, being proud to bear the cross, being proud as you answer "Where do you come from?" with ENGLAND.
It could be a reason for the state of the country in general, People are no longer proud to say they're English, so they don't care about the country they live in no more. Littering becomes commonplace, no love for the fields, Vandalism also rears it's ugly head, and there are no longer the keen public servants that used to 'run' the country, Streets get dirtier, and public transport becomes dispondant to improvement.
It seems that because of idiots like the BNP, who equate patriotism with racism, the rest of us feel that if we show love for our country does that mean the next step is blind racism? Well let me settle your nerves, NO, THERE IS NO RACISM IN PATRIOTISM, LOVE THY COUNTRY AND THAT'S IT.
To the Scots, well done, they have accepted their patriotism well, there is a lot of love for Scotland form it's people and only a slight dislike for englishmen but that goes far back. They have shown the good side of patriotism, it is only england that are holding them back form getting their country in order.
To the Welsh, Half way there now, they have accepted a love for the hills of wales and have put a lot of wrongs to rights there. BUT they have a strong hatred for Englishmen. Now this is actually a Jealous hatred, having spent ten years there (I can speak the
language better than almost half the population) I saw all the friction that had built up over the years and saw that clearly it was unjustified. I will not go into detail as this op is long enough.
To the Irish, You feign a love for your country, you all do. If the true love was there, there would't be half as many irish in America. Now before you say ought, I have to say if all the irish who live abroad cam back every year, the place would be swamped. Now how can you say you love your country if most of you don't even see it? But from what I can see in the papers, there are still people who cannot seperate LOVE THY COUNTRY and HATE THY NEIGHBOUR. oh well there are SOME true patriots about.
Well I think that about wraps it up, patriotism should be dragged out of the gutter and polished into a firmer more sensible ideal.
Slight addition.
The scottish can call themselves scottish, the Welsh can call themselves welsh, and the irish can call themselves irish, why can't we say we're English and not British?
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Last comments:
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- 19/10/03 It worries me somewhat that the first review suggests that there is a problem with "Irish patriotism" (and that no one has made a suitable retort), because if we loved our country, why are there so many Irish spread around the world? Aside from the fact that the other countries (England, Scotland and Wales) that are mentioned are constituents of the UK or Great Britain, Eire however, is not - and the review may just as well have gone on to talk about Australia, New Zealand and Canada; though having said that, these countries are more related as they at least share the Monarchy, something that Eire doesn't.
Iri sh have every right to think of themselves as patriotic, because we are the only country to have undergone the atrocities visited upon the Scots by the English in recent times, whereas the other intra-British conflicts are buried in history, we are still living with the repercussions of one of the longest and unspoken 1000-year Irish genocide. The reason for there being Irish in so many other places is that they were forced to flee - or die. What is forgotten is that at the time of the Scottish (and even earlier Welsh) massacres by the English, their populations by modern standards, were miniscule. In comparison, at the height of the Irish atrocities, and the concomitant occurrence of the potato blight famine, there were 13 million. Within a matter of years 10 million had been forced to leave, or died. There are still only 3 million people in Ireland and all a proud that the world's only free Celtic state, which has been fought and died for a millennium, is finally ours - that is true patriotism - of a people who came through so much and in living memory have found themselves free as they should have been in all history.
Regardi ng the patriotism of those overseas, I ask you this: do you think that second generation Indians, Pakistanis, West Indians who were born and brought up in this country shouldn't be patriotic for their parents and grandparents countries? If in fact, as happens, they continue to live in communities that follow the traditions of their ancestors, then they are culturally united. They can call themselves British, as they are, but they also can call themselves whatever their parents are - unless you are white....here is the paradox....if you are white, and your parents were born in Ireland/Scotland/Wales, but you were born in England - then you are English, despite the fact you may have the accent of your parents and been brought up in their tradition and with the idiosyncrasies of that nationality. Would you say the same of a British born and schooled child of a Nigerian family if they turned round to you and said they were Nigerian - you wouldn't argue. Just because different countries doesn't have different coloured polka-dots, doesn't mean they have any less right to call themselves what they feel they are. I guess this is what people disliked about the Jews, who have a strong cultural identity and have the best of their current country, as well as the richness of their own cultural identity....I guess people just think you can't have the best of both worlds.
...and yes, just what is Englishness? Is it the drunk in Ibiza, the football hooligan, the Hugh Grant-esque gentleman? Alan Rickmann? The Royals? All I have encountered is the former, and aside from fanatic support of the national team under St. George's flag and a like of beer, I feel that any true cultural identity is buried few and far between in the Fens, Cornwall, Cotswolds and so on. As my Gran used to say, the last time there was an English culture was during the Second World War, and it degraded from then on. |
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- 12/07/02 I think shewhosmiles (below) has it right: the last thing we should be doing is setting up rigid boundaries. After all, I'm English but support Wales at rugby, partly because of my ancestry and partly because of the insufferably smug English team... |
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- 12/07/02 I'd say the scottish have just as much antipathy towards the english as the welsh and the irish, but that's not the point. The point is you've overlooked the obvious: England is an incredibly multi-ethnic country, and a melting pot for the Irish, Scottish and Welsh alike. By singing our englishness from the rooftops we would be making an awful lot of people feel excluded. What is englishness now anyway? |
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