To be ashamed of being British?

I have always found nationalism and pride in one's country of birth a strange concept to be honest. It wasn't my decision where I was born, and is random as is race, skin colour and religion of parents. I am glad I was born in Britain, like paddyann I was born in Scotland, but I am saddened by the ravings of the nationalists. I realise that in the lottery of life I was lucky to be born healthy, have food, and a home and a family who love me, and have no fear of my front door being kicked down by the secret police. I am sickened by the behaviour of loutish, vulgar, racist people of all classes, races, colour and nationality and have, unwisely, sometimes stood up and told people that their behaviour is unacceptable ( in a restaurant when a well spoken, but drunk arse of a man was shouting at a Eastern European waiter). I am saddened by my reaction when I see someone 'flying the flag' whether it is from their car, their house or on their t'shirt because I immediately class them as right wing extremists and 'Little Englanders'.

Henetha I could not have put that better myself.

Quote Morgana
"What was also shocking was that in the mobile footage of incidents on the train/tube, no one stood up for those being attacked verbally."
It could be that people are dterred from helping because there have been some cases of the 'helper' being prosecuted for causin harm to the offender.
In France I think there's a law that it's an offense NOT to help.
But OTOH many french people are much more openly verbally racist than the british.

Thanks White wave for your comments. I guess for anyone who didn't see the programme it is difficult to imagine the invective and violence against others. What was also shocking was that in the mobile footage of incidents on the train/tube, no one stood up for those being attacked verbally. We cannot just say 'not in my name' can we?

I agree with lemongrove. I do not feel ashamed to be British. There is a minority of people who should feel ashamed of their own behaviour, but they don't speak for me or mine.

Terribull

Good post.

I am absolutely not ashamed to be British. Nor ashamed to be English. That doesn't mean I agree with everything we have done, nor the way this country is right now. There is a lot that needs putting right. But, there is still much good, especially amongst ordinary everyday people. Too many acts of kindness to be counted. But the press seem to concentrate on the bad, and it seems to me that some people these days just look for things to find fault with.
There is too much negative attitude and not enough positive. Let's stop being grumpy Britain and become Great Britain again.

As lemon says we are pretty good at accepting foreigners. I think the British don't stand up for themselves enough and don't take a pride in what we should be proud of, especially the English.

If we are so racist why do people queue up to come here? Why trek all across Europe to sneak in at Calais?

Did the programme make reference to the lack of white working class people getting into university? I thought the statistic about the success of those from the Chinese community was interesting. Pretty sure that showed that the big influence in these things is parenting.

Perhaps we have tried too hard to be multi-cultural which has led to very distinct areas where people from each country live. Perhaps we should be working towards integration rather than separation?

Our family is quite diverse. We live in the countryside but have an Indian Muslim dentist and and Indian Hindu doctor and they are certainly integrated.

My perception is that it's based on a desire to make the wearer adapt to the culture of the country they are living in, possibly with an element of fear that indigenous cultures are being undermined by zealous religious practices. Although the contrary point of view would be that by banning such a garment the host country is interfering with personal liberty and freedom.

Wanting to ban the burka is based on fear not racism as are anti Muslim rants

You didn't give any information OP for those of us who haven't seen the programme, so my post is apropos of the posts that followed in trying to get the gist of the content.

I don't think you can pick any one country in isolation and say that it's any worse as far as racism, xenephobia and extreme nationalism is concerned. there are elements of all of those not only in Europe but the entire world. Turning to Europe though, the Eastern bloc are very upfront in it's nationalism which imo is more reminiscent of Germany in the 30s than here. For example Victor Orban of Hungary has made it clear that he intends to keep his country very white and very Christian, contrary to EU directives and ethos. Meanwhile, many western EU countries are putting measures in place to ban the burka, including liberal Denmark. I don't see any such moves afoot in this country, in fact I can't see that happening, but I'd never say never. France particularly can be quite confrontational and draconian in pursuing such policies. I felt the incident on the beach last summer where police told a Muslim woman she shouldn't have been covered up to the extent that she was , leggings and a kaftan top, didn't do them any favours. Neither will France tolerate the burkini. Our black footballers don't get a warm welcome in quite a few European countries, particularly Eastern Europe and have been greeted at times with pathetic monkey noises from the crowd.

The incident of the attack on the Polish man in Essex soon after Brexit and conflated with the referendum, appalled most people, but it emerged later there was a background to that story. The man who died had had a drink or two and was shouting at some local boys, one of whom was black or mixed race but his comments were of a racist nature and a fight ensued in retaliation to his slurs, unfortunately he was knocked to the ground and suffered a fatal injury. That wasn't how it was reported though and we had Jean Claude Junker et al berating Britain because this fitted in very well to the negativity of the British character apropos of Brexit.

I can't comment on the programme because I haven't seen it, I don't doubt racism exists here, but it exists everywhere, unfortunately it's a negative of the human condition. It exists not only in the context of a black and white racial/religious equation but in all manner of ethnicities, for example black people have their own dislikes of other black cultures and act on those animosities in more extreme ways than casting racial slurs.

What is the link between a state controlled energy company and racism ?

Another SNP trumpet blowing excercise Paddyann?

I've never felt British ,so had no reason to feel ashamed of it.I am Scottish and have always ben proud of MY country.There hasn't been the huge rise in racism here that there is in other parts of the UK ,WE have a government thats working FOR the people not agianst them and life here has the potentail to be very good indeed ..WHEN we gain independence.Our government announced yesterday the plan to create an energy company controlled by them that will be non profit making so a benefit to us all...now THATS what governments should be doing..looking out for everyone ,not just the rich. Saor Alba

There is an obnoxious side in every country.

I didn’t see the programme, but the feelings of being ashamed of my country were there already. I used not to be. It’s only recently that I’ve recognised how strong the obnoxious side is.

Only change is racists now speak openly, just as they did in the sixties and did no one here speak to people of the Windrush generation.

We are no worse and I suspect somewhat better than some other European countries on this subject ( ever been to a French football match?) In any case, no reason to feel ashamed to be British, I doubt that French or Italians feel ashamed, if they are decent they will just feel ashamed of their countrymen but not their country.Big difference.
It seems to be a British thing to constantly feel guilty about almost everything in life.

Not directly related to the programme - I haven’t seen it - but further to Chewbacca’s point. Much of the racism suffered by the Central European Roma community in Britain comes from other Central Europeans who are living here.

Police Statistics show us that race hate has indeed risen by at particular times 100%. Particularly after the referendum, when the decision to leave the EU somehow enabled people to give vent to their suppressed prejudice. Something must have happened to instigate this, and I can only assume that the sort of rhetoric present throughout the campaign encouraged this behaviour.

Complacency over the matter which indicates that we are good at accepting foreigners is simply ignoring the lessons of history. Immigrants have never been welcomed with open arms and in some cases the population was openly hostile towards them, which is why the government of the day felt it necessary to bring in the race laws and “education” was stepped up to teach diversity etc.

Well said Miss Adventure

Yes, I think you are being unreasonable to be ashamed to feel British.
This is one programme about certain types of people.As mentioned upthread, you will find these attitudes in many countries , probably all! Here, we have laws in place to protect people from overt ‘race or hate crime’ and it is to be remembered that the vast number of people abide by them.
We are still one of the main Western countries that other nationalities want to come to.
Harder to change perceptions perhaps, but we are generally one of the better countries when it comes to accepting foreigners, and always have been.

It was about racism and how figures of reported race related crimes have increased since the referendum. But please don't let this thread be side tracked into a BREXIT discussion!

I'm not ashamed of being British. The repugnant element doesn't represent me.

I did not watch the programme - not sure what it was - but I feel embarrassed to be British watching Boris/Theresa and crew trying to negotiate Brexit - what a load of buffoons! It makes me want to crawl under a stone.