One for the "Brit Basher"

[MWC]

Maggie, I thought of you this morning:

From The New York Times, 1/26/08

Britain Looks for Its Essence, and Finds Punch Lines

By SARAH LYALL
Published: January 26, 2008
LONDON — It was a lofty idea: formulate a British “statement of values” defining what it means to be British, much the way a document like the Declaration of Independence sets out the ideals that help explain what it means to be American.
Because of the peculiarities of its long history, Britain has in modern times never felt the need for such a statement. But in an era of decentralized government and citizens who tend to define themselves less by their similarities than by differences of region, ethnicity or religion, the government felt that the time was ripe for one.
The proposal, part of a package of British-pride-bolstering measures announced by Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s new government over the summer, raised a host of tricky questions. What does it mean to be British? How do you express it in a country that believes self-promotion to be embarrassing? And how do you deal with a defining trait of the people you are trying to define: their habit of making fun of worthy government proposals?
Detractors spread the rumor that the government was looking not for a considered statement, but for a snappy, pithy “liberté, égalité, fraternité”-style slogan that it could plaster across government buildings in a kind of branding exercise.
Nor did it help when The Times of London cynically sponsored a British motto-writing contest for its readers.
The readers’ suggestions included “Dipso, Fatso, Bingo, Asbo, Tesco” (Asbo stands for “anti-social behavior order,” a law-enforcement tool, while Tesco is a ubiquitous supermarket chain); “Once Mighty Empire, Slightly Used”; “At Least We’re Not French”; and “We Apologize for the Inconvenience.” The winner, favored by 20.9 percent of the readers, was “No Motto Please, We’re British.”
“The point I was making is, this idea of a statement of Britishness; I cannot think of anything less British than that,” said 25-year-old David Bishop, author of the winning motto.
In the House of Lords, there was a surreal debate on the nonmotto, even after Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, an official in the Ministry of Justice, said flatly that there were no plans to have one.
“I do not think I will go down that route,” he said. “But I will say that the motto of Birmingham City Football Club is ‘Keep right on ’til the end of the road.’ ”
The Earl of Mar and Kellie then suggested that the British could use the Scottish motto “Nemo me impune lacessit,” which he translated from the Latin as “Do not sit on a thistle.” (Actually, it means “no one attacks me with impunity.”) Lord Faulkner of Worcester offered “Play up, and play the game,” a line from a Victorian-era poem comparing conduct on the battlefield to conduct on the cricket field. And Earl Ferrers said that if it proved too difficult to come up with a British-wide motto, the House of Lords could perhaps use its own: “Questions and answers ought to be short.”
Part of the trouble with the whole exercise is that Britain never really began as a country, but rather “just evolved endlessly through time,” said Vernon Bogdanor, a professor of government at Oxford.
“In the past, Britain was something that just happened,” he said. “You didn’t have to think about it. No one’s ever sat down and thought about what it means to be British.”
On the contrary, said Michael Wills, the Ministry of Justice official in charge of the statement-of-values exercise. “It’s absolute historical nonsense,” he said in an interview. “There’s been an intense preoccupation with what it means to be British from the 17th century onwards.” After a long period of post-imperial transition, economic decline and loss of heart in the second half of the last century, he said, Britain has a new confidence and robustness and is ready to say so.
“People are proud of being British,” he said. “When you ask people, ‘What does it mean to be British?’ they want to talk about it.”

[Rissask]

The readers’ suggestions included “Dipso, Fatso, Bingo, Asbo, Tesco” (Asbo stands for “anti-social behavior order,” a law-enforcement tool, while Tesco is a ubiquitous supermarket chain); “Once Mighty Empire, Slightly Used”; “At Least We’re Not French”; and “We Apologize for the Inconvenience.” The winner, favored by 20.9 percent of the readers, was “No Motto Please, We’re British.”

makes you wonder....is trying to define one's national identity a dangeous thing...does it smack of bigotry?

[Mindbender]

Originally Posted by Rissask

...does it smack of bigotry?

No, just branding. In the future there will only be companies not countries.


BTW, in case you didn't know, it's typical British play on words:

No Sex Please, We're British - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Rissask]

Originally Posted by Mindbender

No, just branding. In the future there will only be companies not countries.


BTW, in case you didn't know, it's typical British play on words:

No Sex Please, We're British - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I knew that....they put on that play in my hometown when I was in high school.