Well done again! -- FCS Discussion Forum

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Subject: Well done again!

Author:
Paddy (Scotland)

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Date Posted: 10:52:18 11/30/04 Tue
In reply to: Ian (Australia) 's message, "Eureka letter" on 19:38:39 11/29/04 Mon

I fully agree that raising awareness of our common heritage, even on a small scale is very important.

One thing that I have never understood is the attitude adopted by many in Aus & NZ (and perhaps Canada - but I don't know) where they blame the "British" for less savoury incidents in their history and say, almost in the same sentence, that their nation was built not by the British but by them. The latter is true, but they wish to pass on the bad aspects of history to the "British" without acknowleging that all of their political and legal systems and most of the things that have made these countries good places to live are also British in character.

Perhaps it has something to do with Britain's near-catastrophic, Socialist-led collapse in the late twentieth century that people wanted to dissociate themselves away from Britain in decline.

Also out in Oz, some people would tell me that they were "Norwegian" or anything else non-British when their name was "Ryan" or "Smith" and all of their relatives, except for one female grandparent, were of British descent.

Please, can anybody from Australia, New Zealand or Canada explain my observations or tell me if it is not relevent to their experiences?

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[> [> Subject: I think it has a lot to do with the wish to be exotic
Author: Ian (Australia) [ Edit \| View ]	Date Posted: 16:06:49 11/30/04 Tue Ironically, it could be seen as reinforcing the fact that "British" is not an ethnicity, and that "britishness" is so fundamental to our society that we don't even refer to it. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]