Poll: Proud to be British

[Xpwn3ntial]

I said no, because I'm not British. I'm American, but not really proud of that...

Be proud of your country always and proud of your government when it deserves it.

OT: I am not British, but I am proud of my country.

Due to my ignorance of the world outside of the US, I'm not sure if it is just this country or the entire world, but people here are just morons half the time. My mom keeps going on about how "this is the greatest country in the world" and also how hypocritial everything is. Abortion for example. They say it should be illegal because the bible says it is bad. The bible says nothing about abortion, the colonist came to this country to escape from the government telling them what to believe (and, in my eyes at least, making laws based on religion is the same thing), and this isn't even a "christian" country, freedom of religion is in the constitution (then again, the patriot act sort of got rid of the constitution). Not to mention this country seems to slowly be moving closer and closer to fascism...

Trust me, every country has its share of the less than knowledgeable and agreeable people.

Most people who say "X is bad because the bible says so" are not in fact saying it for that reason, but because either they or someone with influence said that to control others with their opinion.

Most people who argue for something "in the name of x religion" are merely trying to control people. They do it because it works.

Since the majority of the "morons" are Christian, they generally believe in full extent that the U.S. is in fact a Christian nation. Settled by Christians, founded by Christians (though in fact most were deist and a few were atheist i.e. Jefferson or Satanist: Benjamin Franklin. No joke. It is in his autobiography.), and mostly populated by Christians, they have little reason to believe otherwise. Constitution? That thing lets me keep guns, right?

The Patriot Act is a joke, at best.

 

[hawkeye52]

I'm not British, but I have had British friends over Xbox live and other online places. There are a lot of policies that I wish America would take a serious look at. This is coming from an American college student $9,000 dollars in debt. I heard that you can get paid for going to college and that would be a huge relief because balancing a job and school work is hellish if you plan to have a social life on top of that. Also, who needs guns besides for hunting and law enforcement. No gun policies seem fantastic, no worries on getting shot on the street you grew up in. That being said, I don't think that the UK is a magical land were no violence is held, but its a lot manlier to fist fight someone if you have that bad of a problem with them rather than getting shot because you wear the wrong colors in the wrong neighborhood.(I'm sure I'm not the only American on this forum that has been hassled for wearing blue in a bad neighborhood lol) I plan to holiday in the UK one summer and gauge my own experience there and maybe plant my roots there. So Brits keep on keepin' on and show your pride lol

im not entirely sure of what the age range of college in america is but for britain its 16-18 and 18-21 for univeristies and yes we can get paid to go to college if your income is below a certain percentage or used to at least ever since the tory government came in and fucked everyone over. For univeristies its now a cap of £9000 (about $18000 i think) to go for a year so many students will be in debt by the time they get out of university unless they have an extremely rich family.

on the gun thing yes it is illegal for people to own guns but its just ended up in knife crime between the chavs et al and guns for the more hardened criminals where our police are only armed with a baton and hand cuffs and protective vest due to the gun law crimes. its still good to have them in place though tbh since in my view its better this way.

 

[emeraldrafael]

Snip

well, a little more civility is nice for anywhere. I wasnt expecting what i saw in the movies, but a, "hey, whats up?" instead of "Why are you so dark?" or "Is that tan natural" would have been just as efficient and much more pleasant. and its hard to make a case against it when it prtty much happened everyhwere i went, which encompassed Five major cities, moved up 3/4s of the country, and pretty much anywhere i walked even in the small villages too.

What you call civility isn't necessarily what everyone else does. If you look and sound different people are going to be interested in that, especially in small villages. You've either managed to walk into all the wrong pubs or you are taking offense where none was meant due to cultural differences, probably both.

Probably. But hten again the small villages seemed the nicest. But hten again, most thought i was spanish and by that point i was willing to let them.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

I said no, because I'm not British. I'm American, but not really proud of that...

Be proud of your country always and proud of your government when it deserves it.

OT: I am not British, but I am proud of my country.

Due to my ignorance of the world outside of the US, I'm not sure if it is just this country or the entire world, but people here are just morons half the time. My mom keeps going on about how "this is the greatest country in the world" and also how hypocritial everything is. Abortion for example. They say it should be illegal because the bible says it is bad. The bible says nothing about abortion, the colonist came to this country to escape from the government telling them what to believe (and, in my eyes at least, making laws based on religion is the same thing), and this isn't even a "christian" country, freedom of religion is in the constitution (then again, the patriot act sort of got rid of the constitution). Not to mention this country seems to slowly be moving closer and closer to fascism...

Trust me, every country has its share of the less than knowledgeable and agreeable people.

Most people who say "X is bad because the bible says so" are not in fact saying it for that reason, but because either they or someone with influence said that to control others with their opinion.

Most people who argue for something "in the name of x religion" are merely trying to control people. They do it because it works.

Since the majority of the "morons" are Christian, they generally believe in full extent that the U.S. is in fact a Christian nation. Settled by Christians, founded by Christians (though in fact most were deist and a few were atheist i.e. Jefferson or Satanist: Benjamin Franklin. No joke. It is in his autobiography.), and mostly populated by Christians, they have little reason to believe otherwise. Constitution? That thing lets me keep guns, right?

The Patriot Act is a joke, at best.

I was thinking about another thing earlier (which probably explains why I never sleep; brain never shuts off): wikileaks. I don't really know the story behind it or anything, I just know the guy running it got arrested when he did nothing that was illegal, and yet I don't even know what it was he did that got him arrested... My mom was watching some news show about it, and that just made me even more skeptical. It isn't like the news would ever twist words around to make a story or anything...

 

[martin's a madman]

Just because you happen to be born in Great Britain doesn't mean you have anything to be personally proud of.

 

[Xpwn3ntial]

I said no, because I'm not British. I'm American, but not really proud of that...

Be proud of your country always and proud of your government when it deserves it.

OT: I am not British, but I am proud of my country.

Due to my ignorance of the world outside of the US, I'm not sure if it is just this country or the entire world, but people here are just morons half the time. My mom keeps going on about how "this is the greatest country in the world" and also how hypocritial everything is. Abortion for example. They say it should be illegal because the bible says it is bad. The bible says nothing about abortion, the colonist came to this country to escape from the government telling them what to believe (and, in my eyes at least, making laws based on religion is the same thing), and this isn't even a "christian" country, freedom of religion is in the constitution (then again, the patriot act sort of got rid of the constitution). Not to mention this country seems to slowly be moving closer and closer to fascism...

Trust me, every country has its share of the less than knowledgeable and agreeable people.

Most people who say "X is bad because the bible says so" are not in fact saying it for that reason, but because either they or someone with influence said that to control others with their opinion.

Most people who argue for something "in the name of x religion" are merely trying to control people. They do it because it works.

Since the majority of the "morons" are Christian, they generally believe in full extent that the U.S. is in fact a Christian nation. Settled by Christians, founded by Christians (though in fact most were deist and a few were atheist i.e. Jefferson or Satanist: Benjamin Franklin. No joke. It is in his autobiography.), and mostly populated by Christians, they have little reason to believe otherwise. Constitution? That thing lets me keep guns, right?

The Patriot Act is a joke, at best.

I was thinking about another thing earlier (which probably explains why I never sleep; brain never shuts off): wikileaks. I don't really know the story behind it or anything, I just know the guy running it got arrested when he did nothing that was illegal, and yet I don't even know what it was he did that got him arrested... My mom was watching some news show about it, and that just made me even more skeptical. It isn't like the news would ever twist words around to make a story or anything...

The fact he is running a site that releases classified information is "a potential threat to national security." He was charged with something else, but I forget what.

I do not know enough about that situation to tell you anything else.

Tell your mom to start watching/visiting BBC. It is a better news source than any I have ever encountered.

 

[DSK-]

I'm proud to be British/English. I'm not so proud of the government, however.

 

[mindlessvulgarity]

I small percentage. and not really, i wasnt born there. I run on the american basis of provable 2%-ism (mainly its you have ot be 2% to be considered seriously of that race/ethnicity.

I'm (rounded numbers):
6% Native American.
24% Italian
15% German
36% Polish/Pollack (i'm told there's a difference, but i dont see it)
14% Irish
4% mixed (pick a country in europe, chances are I'm part of it geneologically)
and
1% British

Its a waste of ink to even say i'm british.

So in other words you're (rounded numbers):

6% Native American
90-94% European (Depending on what 'mixed' means (mixed sweets maybe?))

And that makes you a Native American. Wow.

It makes me Native American cause i was BORN IN AMERICA. I'm Cherokee before anyhting else, American second, then American-Italian decent and then i go down the list by largest number of percentage in my blood. Besides, the Cherokee has had more influence on my life then aynthing else.

Snip

So.. You're polish? Not a native? Nothing wrong with being polish.

Didnt say there was. I find Polish people to be quite enjoyable. There's always so nice and friendly.

Snip

snip

People say they saved you from sin? Eurgh well i cant talk for religious fanatics but im sure they ruin everyone's experience. Sounds to me like youv gotten a very bad taste of Britain. Try Northern Ireland. Iv never been anywhere more friendly than the Irish!

p.s if it can be cooked in a takeaway it is not the sort of "traditional" food you should be trying

thats pretty much it in a nutshell. And it was out of a takeway, but I had to do research where i was going and i saw that a large part of British diet was fish and bread (especially during the time of my study whihc was colonial up to 1877) so thats what a larger portion of my meals had ot be.

No it makes you AMERICAN, cos you were born in America.
I've got to say how do you narrow down your heritage that specifically? Also according to your list you are at least 4 other nationalities before you are Cherokee, you can't just decided what race you want to be.
Either you are talking utter shite about your experiences with English people or you spent the year in the BNP headquarters (extremist political party).
You sir, are a moron.

OT: I am British and proud of it. Also, everyone saying you have to do something to be proud of it, this is a different kind of pride, National pride is being proud of what your country and ancestors have done, not being proud of what you have done for your country.

 

[tehfeen83]

I'm English, not British. Proud? Sure, why not.

 

[emeraldrafael]

Snip

becuase its influenced me more then any other, so its what I would say I am. Who you are is dependent on the influences of your life. Thats why people say they are Something-American or American-something. I'm Cherokee-American, because the Cherokee customs a bigger part of my life.

and no i'm not a moron. brits just need to have a nice way of greeting foreigners instead of insulting me about my skin color or telling me how before they came to america, my ancestors were nothing but mindless savages. Brits themselves have said they do jabbing jokes with each other, its how they talk. So my point has been proven. Whether I cant take a joke or I took it the wrong way, Brits have said they can be coarse whne they talk to each other.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

*SNIP*

Also, to be fair America does fill the space in the UK that France does in the US although for different reasons. Basically if someone is going to be making dickish jokes and comments about another country and its inhabitants, chances are it's going to be the US. I'd like to see what sort of time a Frenchman would have touring the US. I'd be willing to bet he'd have to put up with a lot of crap even if he did meet some nice people.

 

[emeraldrafael]

*SNIP*

Also, to be fair America does fill the space in the UK that France does in the US although for different reasons. Basically if someone is going to be making dickish jokes and comments about another country and its inhabitants, chances are it's going to be the US. I'd like to see what sort of time a Frenchman would have touring the US. I'd be willing to bet he'd have to put up with a lot of crap even if he did meet some nice people.

Depends on the attitude and where he's from. People in paris dont care for the US, but people outside are thankful for what they did in WW2. we here know and the french know it.

 

[TheWwwizard]

Nationality leads to Fear, Fear leads to Anger, Anger leads to Hate, Hate leads to Suffering... Suffering leads to the Dark Side...

Anyways... I don't quite believe in nationality for reasons that might not be obvious to some people.

 

[Mr C]

Off topic to answer a previous question - Britain is an island, therefore people from England, Scotland and Wales are British. Though you will find many people do not like to refer to themselves as British, I for one am English. To put us all in the same pot is to spoil the wonderful differences that exist between us. That is why a previous poster said he was Scottish, not British, what he said isn't strictly true, but it is a good representation of how we feel and identify with ourselves.

I'm in my 30s and haven't lived in the UK for 8 years and (holy shit!) have no intention of doing so. The place is a shambles. I don't believe you can ride on past glories forever, though I am grateful for the successes the country has had that have allowed me to live a privileged existence.

It is time for the UK to pull its socks up and sort its shit out. When I see people rioting about cost cutting it makes me cringe. Yes oppose it if you feel you must, but destroying the life of others through vandalism is not the answer. I feel there are too many people who have a sense of entitlement back home, the country is broke they should accept that they have to pay for things. University fees are still considerably cheaper than other countries and our health service is still great. These people who are moaning should live abroad for a while, then they will appreciate how good the country has been to them.

EDIT - forgot the pride part - I feel you can only be proud of an achievement. I'm English by chance. I'm happy to be born in the UK, being proud of it is foolish and as many have said before me, it can be dangerous.

 

[trooperpaul]

I'm from one of those colonies you lost.
WE WANT TO COME BACK!
*sniff*

 

[Tdc2182]

I'm relatively impressed with the general people in Britain (not Government though, seems a little broken).

I'd be proud. Britain hasn't done anything it needs to hide its head from in the pasts 20 years or so, so that is usually good enough.

As an American, I am a little disappointed now. Its like everyone is stupid. The government, the people who hate the government... it goes on. Its kind of frustrating.

 

[RewardMe]

I hate the British so much it's unreal. If you're British just kill yourself, the rest of the world hates you. Pompous bastards.

Okay... but only because you asked nicely.

 

[astrav1]

I'm sure that if I were part of the empire, I would be both proud and ashamed. There are reasons for both.

 

[Treefingers]

For such a small island, we've had a massive effect on the world, most of it positive.

Quite the subjective statement there. The British weren't terribly friendly to the indigenous types, subscribed more to the 'We-are-white-and-therefore-superior-to-you-dirty-savages' school of thought. Not to mention the conflicts within Britain and Ireland itself.

That said, i do love the British these days. Historically though... i'm not too sure.

Just saying.

 

[flamingjimmy]

Also on a different note, yes I'm very proud to be British. Unlike the US we're more progressive with aspects of our society. You can get equal treatment for being gay and we don't hold people in torture camps.

Maybe we don't torture people, but we certainly have people tortured, we outsource our torture to other countries instead.