What is Britishness?
- Thread starter Traitorfish
- Start date
OTOH, I get to hear less about how we have the flag of another country in the corner of our flag.
ParkCungHee
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you are worst sassenach. you are the sassenach idiot you are the sassenach smell. return to germany. to our germany cousins you may come our contry. you may live in the zoo .ahahahaha ,England we will never forgeve you.
Domen
Misico dux Vandalorum
If Scotland splits from the UK, weakening this country, then who will be stronk enough to halt another German attempt of annexing Europe in World War 3 until Americans arrive or until Germany invades Russia ???
I would rather see the demise of Germanness first, and the demise of Britishness later.
Please British people, keep your Britishness intact at least as long as Germanness exists. OK ???
After Bavaria finally splits from Germany, Scotland can also split from the UK. But not earlier!
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I'm joking. Do what you believe is right, Scottish people!
I would rather see the demise of Germanness first, and the demise of Britishness later.
Please British people, keep your Britishness intact at least as long as Germanness exists. OK ???
After Bavaria finally splits from Germany, Scotland can also split from the UK. But not earlier!
==========================================
I'm joking. Do what you believe is right, Scottish people!
Goodfella
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Or you'd have two foreign flags on your flag.
Cheetah
Deity
Well, nationalism is more easily defined by contrasting 'us' to 'them', than by trying to define a 'we', isn't it?
In today's Europe there is very little to contrast a Scot from an Englishman, a German from a Frenchman, a Norwegian from a Swede, or a Scot from a German. As such, it's a general trend that nationalism is on the way out among Europeans. I believe the mass immigration of the last half century, both within Europe and from outside Europe, isn't helping to preserve nationalism much either - except when certain discomforts with life ends up in the safety valves of the UKIP, PVV, Golden Dawn and others.
The point I think is that Britishness might well have become redundant. It used to be a common super-nationality for the people of the British Isles, all the time they could contrast themselves to the monarchy or Republic of France, the papal Spain or the feuding German principalities. Now it is simply an unnecessary extra layer between, say, a Scottish identity (for whatever that's still worth!) and a European identity.
I know from my own point of view, if Norway was still in a union with Sweden, I wouldn't vote to divest Norway from them. Unless western Norway could also leave the eastern parts: Whether the North Sea oil profits go to Oslo or Stockholm makes little difference for me.
However, I hold my Norwegianess to the same importance as Frenchness or Germaness. If the Swedish-Norwegian Union joined the EU, I would have no reason to have an extra layer between my own identity and that of my European identity. Then I would probably vote for independence (the oil profits would just end up in Brussels instead of Stockholm or somesuch...).
...
Thinking some more about it, even without the EU, there would be little reason for me to have any intermediate identities between my Norwegian and my European identity... Or why would I need a Norwegian identity at all!?
In fact, I believe that the only thing that can currently keep an identity for a smaller set than the European identity is language! Because I speak Norwegian, I believe I have something in common with other Norwegians.
I suppose that if (as?) Scottish becomes more important in Scotland, there will be less support for any remaining Britishness.
Did any of that make sense in the end?
It's just inertia: Everything is pretty okay now, so why do something as radical as splitting from the UK? Most people will just leave things as they are, because there simply isn't any reason to change it much.
Lillefix
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I agree with the last poster. The idea of nationalism is very much a new idea. A couple of centuries ago, people with the means to do it, didn't hesitate to switch countries in order to benefit themselves. In many ways nationalism still is second to a good economy. It's not a coincidence that the two of the richest countries in Europe are the ones that are outside the EU.
Cheetah
Deity
How come I'm just 'the last poster'?? 
Lillefix
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How come I'm just 'the last poster'??
I'm sorry. I noticed it sounded very cold when I wrote it. But I didn't read through it after I wrote it so I forgot to correct it
Tahuti
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It's perhaps also a matter as identifying with the locale.
Cheetah
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Eh, it's not a big deal. It just seemed a bit strange to me.I'm sorry. I noticed it sounded very cold when I wrote it. But I didn't read through it after I wrote it so I forgot to correct it
Which locale? My city? My area of my city? My region?
Except for the language, there is no reason to identify with a whole country unless I want to identify myself away from others.
Tahuti
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Country in this case.
A local identity indeed makes more sense than a national one, since identifying yourself away is only implicit in a local identity, the result of identifying yourself with others you consider part of the local identity. In the case of a local identity, that's actually possible.
There is a reason if you cannot fully identify with any of the smaller subdivisions. If you live in different cities or regions for longer periods of time, it will be difficult to fully identify with any of those. So if the only constant in your location is your country it makes most sense to identify with that.
The extent of your mobility and your success in integrating into the local culture determine the size of the locale you are identifying with. Someone growing up in Wales, studying in Scotland and working in England will probably feel much more British than someone who has been living in the same UK village for his whole life.
It's like an old marriage.
Domen
Misico dux Vandalorum
Nothing to be ashamed of.
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