TEF's Question of the Day

[Captain...]

I feel very fortunate to have been born in the UK, and proudly call myself British, but I find I'm not proud of Britain.

Not for anything it has or hasn't done, I just don't see it that way. My idea of pride is when you have directly contributed something towards something good. I can't be proud of our former empire or the current commonwealth, as it had nothing to do with me.

The closest my generation has to be proud of is the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the only thing I'm proud about regarding them is I protested against it.

Maybe other people have a different definition of pride, but I just don't see how people can be proud of things this nation did before they were born.

[Jon the Hat]

I feel very fortunate to have been born in the UK, and proudly call myself British, but I find I'm not proud of Britain.

Not for anything it has or hasn't done, I just don't see it that way. My idea of pride is when you have directly contributed something towards something good. I can't be proud of our former empire or the current commonwealth, as it had nothing to do with me.

The closest my generation has to be proud of is the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the only thing I'm proud about regarding them is I protested against it.

Maybe other people have a different definition of pride, but I just don't see how people can be proud of things this nation did before they were born.

 

You could be proud of the fact that you were able to freely protest against those wars.

[Captain...]

You could be proud of the fact that you were able to freely protest against those wars.

 

I'm not proud of that though, I feel fortunate to live in a country that has these freedoms, that has a rich history and culture, and that has free healthcare for all, but all of this was achieved before I was born.

 

Thinking more about it I am proud that we are one of the most tolerant and diverse societies in the world, as a lot of these changes happened in my life time, specifically gay rights, making the age of consent the same, civil unions and now gay marriage, I feel a certain sense in pride in that as they are good things that happened in my lifetime and in a very small why I contributed to that change.

 

Maybe I'm just getting caught up in semantics, but I just find it odd to say you are proud of something then site things happened well before you were born.

[Trav Le Bleu]

 

Maybe I'm just getting caught up in semantics, but I just find it odd to say you are proud of something then site things happened well before you were born.

 

Indeed. That is just an accident of birth. Which is the whole crux of the debate. I was thinking that I'm proud of the diverse beauty of Britain, but pride isn't really the right word, since I recognise that most countries have many stunningly beautiful vistas and once again, that is purely the accident of birth thing. It does annoy me when people trash-talk Britain though. I often think such people haven't travelled enough within their own country or abroad (on digging deeper I've found that they are people who have been somewhere stunningly nice abroad, but whose idea of a UK holiday is Skeggy or Yarmouth.)

[MooseBreath]

It's all about the degree of seperation. If you watched Jeff schlupp from his lumbering teenage donkey days all the way through to scoring a hattrick for Leicester in the 2020 champions league final, might you feel some pride in the boy, despite not having any direct involvement in his progress?

[Parafox]

I think it's fundamentally more about loyalty than pride

[Trav Le Bleu]

It's all about the degree of seperation. If you watched Jeff schlupp from his lumbering teenage donkey days all the way through to scoring a hattrick for Leicester in the 2020 champions league final, might you feel some pride in the boy, despite not having any direct involvement in his progress?

 

And his being German?

[MooseBreath]

And his being German?

His nationality is irrelevant. The question is would you feel proud of him having been a fan of his football club even if you had no direct involvement in any of his progress

[Captain...]

His nationality is irrelevant. The question is would you feel proud of him having been a fan of his football club even if you had no direct involvement in any of his progress

 

But as a supporter you have a very minor part in his development, whether it is chanting his name, or the fact that your money has gone towards paying for his development.

 

I couldn't say I am proud of Banks or Shilton, even though it was my club that produced 2 of the best goalkeepers in the world, as I wasn't around for that, but in someone like Heskey I could as I watched him develop from raw potential to £11m England Striker.

[Kyle_Le_Don]

Its not an accident of birth to be born British its an act of God.

Here here.

[Rincewind]

Here?

 

I'm not sure I am too proud of the  education system?

 

[Guest]

Here?

 

I'm not sure I am too proud of the  education system?

 

 

 

You should be.