a democratic parliamentary system, the modern judicial system, railways, the aspiration towards social equality, shakespeare, stonehenge, cricket and football, the landscape of this green and pleasant land, the language itself, the art, WWII,the NHS, the eagerness to learn from other cultures, the BBC, the sheer awe inspiring influence that a tiny island race could hold over such a swathe of the planet, in the face of such overwhelming odds, just the sheer indomitable spirit of the English over the centuries. i could think of an A4 page full of them if you’d like but you get the picture.
do you think that the legacy we left in a place like India, for instance, is generally positive or negative?
ask an Indian, you may well be surprised by their response.
so to turn the question round to you sir, what do you think that I should be ashamed of, as an Englishman?
i mean, that I wouldn’t be ashamed of if i were a citizen of any other nationality.
ie: aggression towards one’s neighbours for instance is a fairly generic quality of nationhood, if you got on all fine and dandy you wouldn’t be seperate countries in the first place would you?
I think you jest with me ol chap and I know from past experiences chatting to you that you like to play devils advocate, even though I question the motive of those that only announce this after the debate rather than declare it from the start I’ll bite
but I dont know if I can do justice to the question you have put me because its not as simple as you make out. The need for countries and defense of your borders, is more to do with the aggression of those that would lord it over others and not down to members of the general public of any nation. You put forward imperialism as a good thing “ask a Indian” you and I know that would depend on who you asked and your mistaken if you think our rule in India was bloodless or that we were wanted there by all. I think you should ask a native American or a aborigine. Maybe you should ask a arab or a slave I don’t think slavery was much to be proud of, I don’t think our feudal system is anything to be proud of or our acceptance of the remains that we all live under still.
Our parliament is a joke and if the British weren’t so subdued we would see its true colours and its only something to look up to if you are in denial or full of the English disease of doublethink.
I am ashamed of the acceptance or denial of a two tier class system and the level of control the unelected upper section have without contest.
WWII is not as clear cut as it seems and what it was about is linked with national disputes and power struggles above and beyond Hitler.
are you proud of war, or that we started bombing civilians, or that we wouldn’t let londerners down the undergrounds until they had to take them by force or that we bombed whole cities so they were completely destroyed by fire storms.
The sheer indomitable spirit of the English over the centuries is despite our leaders and to get our so called rights and freedoms were hard won and often not popular by the collaborating classes and are being withdrawn daily
