h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Indeed Blackberry Cat.

More or less what I said in the post, Stealth Kam.

My issues with the situation in Iraq are not just around the British government's behaviour, and as one of the 1,000,000 marchers they chose to ignore, I do have major issues with that.

My issues with the situation in Iraq in terms of US actions are based on the cavalier way that they are treating the rest of the world, the way that they ignored the UN, the way that they ignored international law, the way that they ignored the international commuinity at large, the way that they villified the French, the way that they assume that Western Europe owes them some enormous debt of gratitide for following their own self-interests during WWII - a debt that they are now trying to collect on. And that is just a short list.

These are issues between the US and the rest of the world, not the US and the UK.

This thread is about self-categorisation.

It is meaningless to me to view myself as a citizen of the world - there are no other planets one can be a citizen of. I am however a citizen of Europe - hell I voted in the European elections last month. My comments were designed to show that in certain contexts I consider myself to be European, and the war between the US and various Islamic groups and nations is the most obvious context for that.

Ben

>> Maybe he was trying to be part of a larger collective? Seeing as we are technically part of Europe?

As I said, this thread is about self-perception and self-categorisation.

Remove the words "trying to be" and "technically" from those sentences and - so far as my view of myself is concerned - you are getting there, Kat.

B

Am I to asume that you are from the right side of the Severn Bridge?

Looking North or looking South?

Like I said, he is Welsh and I am English....

B

I went to Peru with a group of friends in '99, and there were times during that trip when I felt very much European. Other than that, a feeling of real common identity with those across the Channel (or the North Sea) is rare for me.

Well, I was born and raised in Denmark and consider myself Danish. I think genetically I`m also danish but beyond a few generations I don't really know for sure. If I was adopted and raised the way I was with that culture and attitudes, I think I would still consider myself Danish. I don't think it is anything genetical. But if I was of a different race, I suppose if everybody assumed you were a foreigner when they met you, you might not feel that Danish then.

But it's not something I thought too much over untill I started living abroad, then you start noticing what it is that sets the different nationalities apart.

>> there were times during that trip when I felt very much European.

Yep, that is what I am saying, really. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. Depends on context.

B

What always puzzles me are those Scots who display car stickers bearing St Andrew's flag and The word Ecosse. What's all that about then?

BTW "Yorkshire" first, English second, British on my passport!

What I don't understand is why people are so keen to point out they are Welsh, rather than English. I just don't see the difference, is it an attempt to avoid all that "post-imperial guilt"?

Got to be British to understand Xanatic.

You'll find that the celtic countries of the UK (Scotland Wales and bits of Ireland) don't tend to like the English much. Something to do with centuries of atrocities and going on and on and on and on and on about 1966

Ever hear of the Auld Alliands between Scotland and France? Possibly that may have something to do with the Ecosse thing

Auld Alliance

Well, you're all english to me.

Well you're just a German to me

Hmmm, possilby that was a little blunt.

You would get away with saying "You're all British to me".

That is fine but otherwise what you are doing is the same as telling Portugese people that they are Spansish or Belgians that they are French.

Wales and Scotland are different countries with different cultures and (at least for some) different languages from England. They also to varying degrees have different legal systems, education systems and even some degree of independent governance from England.
English, Scots and Welsh are *not* the same

Well, Ireland and Scotland I can see could be considered different. But I`ve been to Wales and I'd put that down as England.

The irony being that Wales has the strongest minority language of all.

I agree with you that Wales has the least historical claim to be treated as a separate country. Scotland and England were more separate then England and France had been until 400 years ago after all, and they have always had varying degrees of legal separation.

However, if you are raised 20 miles from people who are agitating for political independence by burning houses owned by your compatriots and who have TV and Radio stations and roadsigns in a foreign language, then you are aware that all they need to do to invade you is organise and march!

I do agree that the main racial differences between the English and the Welsh go back to the fact that the English are of Germanic / Nordic stock, but that the Angles and Saxons didn't bother to go past Offa's dyke.

Be very careful of calling a Welsh person, a Scot or an Irishperson English.

Bis spater....



B

Well frankly Xanatic, you'd be wrong.

Did you try suggesting that to any Welsh people when you were there?

You may have had a less friendly repsonse than you've had here if you did.

Which part of Wales did you visit Xanatic
In south Wales the differences between the Welsh and English are mainly cultural but in north Wales they are linguistic as well and pretty hard to miss. Other parts of Wales like Pembrokeshire and the Borders have a long tradition of English settlement and many inhabitants who consider themselves English whatever the government say.

I'm an American. I think of myself as American with Irish and Scottish ancestry. I come from a very large family (grandfather was one of 16 children) and family/history are important to us. I'd say the way I think about myself is due in large part to that as well as to the general rootlessness I felt growing up from moving all the time. I changed schools/states/friends every 1 to 4 years until I was 18. By identifying with the past, I created a sense of place and stability for myself.