To be so ashamed of my country and being British?

[KenDodd]

For so many reasons recently. I feel so, so sad about what has happened to our country.

YANBU to feel that way
YABU to feel that way

Honestly, some of these threads lately are beginning to make me understand why so many people voted Tory/Boris. Say what you like (I know you will!) it’s small wonder IMO that his air of cheerful optimism beat the doom, gloom, everything’s shit, not to mention being ashamed of or despising your own country.

This!

Ashamed of your country and nationality ? Grow up what a pathetic sweeping statement

Probably the ‘I am ashamed to be British’-types aren’t so ashamed that they’d move anywhere.
To be fair, it would be pointless to move to a country which you were then also ashamed of. You'd have to move somewhere really amazing and perfect, like ... er ...

@dontdisturbmenow “Being judgemental of people you don't even know is much more idiotic than whatever they think of the government.”

Except that me thinking someone is an idiot doesn’t really lead to people needlessly dying now does it? Blind support of this government and it’s policies, however, did.

@Alsohuman “Only the last part of that may be true in a few months’ time”

Amen and Hull will emerge the shining beacon from where all glory and riches shall flow. - Brexit Chapter 2, Verse 37

Blind support of this government and it’s policies, however, did
Yep, that's definitely a very intelligent statement! You got me in this one!

And surely, if you feel do strongly about it, it's not a bit of difficulty that should stop you moving abroad. You should make it your mission of life...or is it that it's not so bad here, or certainly not much worse than most places.

Out of curiosity, where you live tomorrow where you could be assured of the government decisions ensuring noone dies from Covid?

Because, internationally, we (collectively) are a joke

I don't think we are. I think other countries are pretty much indifferent to us as we are to them

Likewise they think that people elsewhere see us as more important than they actually do. I think some of these trendy, woke-types actually need to consider their unconscious bias

You're absolutely right @Teateaandmoretea, it's pretty arrogant and narcissistic to think that other countries are wringing their hands in despair at the UK or laughing and pointing the finger. Other countries certainly don't view us as a guiding light for God's sake, and as for Cool Brittania that was just created by Labour spin doctors and was utterly meaningless to the rest of the world.

I’d love to move abroad. I’ve done it before and I know I could do it again, although I’d have far fewer options post-Brexit.

But my parents are older now and can’t bear the idea of DD and I leaving. DM got upset and described it as “turning your back on your family”. And we’d miss them too, of course. There’s no way they’d consider moving.

So, we’re still here, but I do worry about DD’s future and feel sad for her generation.

The British government does not act in my name or with my consent so I have nothing to be ashamed of.

I am not ashamed because I did not vote for this government, nor did I vote for the Tory austerity which has crippled the NHS & our other public services nor did I vote for Brexit. In fact, I campaigned and demonstrated against it. I am not ashamed of this weekend’s nauseating jingoistic gammonfest because it is not happening in my name.

You might want to ask the people who did vote for these things if they are ashamed of Britain as it is in 2020, or if they are ashamed of the Tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths that this government’s complacency and callous incompetence has caused.

The British government does not act in my name or with my consent so I have nothing to be ashamed of.

They may well not act with your consent (although that means you don’t believe in democracy), but they most certainly act in your name, what with having won an election in keeping with legal and constitutional norms, and all that...

The British government took away my right to vote on Brexit, something which affected me considerably as a British subject living abroad, so I am not a big believer in British democracy.

YABVVVU to say such a thing the night before VE Day for a start! Regardless of your reasoning

newbie111 - You are using offensive language.

So let me get this right - You’d like me to pay shedloads in tax and when retards like you elect a government as incompetent as this one, you want me to flee the country instead of being critical?
Oh the assumptions! I'm not British, don't vote (and wouldn't even if I could), lived in 5 different countries but decided the UK wasn't too bad in comparison.

But thanks for calling me a retard for pointing out that there are some people who are naturally miserable, only seeing all the negatives in everything, get some perverse 0leasure in criticising everything and indeed would probably be miserable wherever they lived because miserable is just what they are.

In the meantime, I've been happy here for 25 years, through each government!

In fact, the way this government has conducted itself over the last few years is simply disgusting. Erm, this government hasn't been in for ' the last few years', but since last year iirc. I seem to remember popping down the village hall to cast my vote.

The British government took away my right to vote on Brexit, something which affected me considerably as a British subject living abroad, so I am not a big believer in British democracy. You must have been away a long time then, as I voted in the Brexit referendum having organised a proxy vote, and I lived abroad. You know the rules are, and have been for some time, that if you are resident outside the UK for 15 years or more, you can't vote (except if on the HM Forces register, or the one for Crown Servants). If you knew that, then you knew what you had to do to vote, or you decided when you moved abroad, that potentially losing the right to vote didn't matter to you.

YANBU

One of the words used by newbie111 is a disablist slur as bad as any racial slur.

@BovaryX
George Orwell did indeed nail it. I think it was also the reason that the effete middle class/upper class were so easily infiltrated by the Soviet Union and turned to being spies and traitors because they thought and valued so little their own country. There are numerous examples, not just the most famous ones like Philby. Corbyn was roundly rejected by Northern working class voters because he was seen as being in this mould.

The Brexit vote was led by the working classes at the bottom of the pile. They couldn't see any benefit in cheap labour from Eastern Europe.

@newbie111 have reported you for your disgusting use of disabilist language.

They may well not act with your consent (although that means you don’t believe in democracy), but they most certainly act in your name, what with having won an election in keeping with legal and constitutional norms, and all that...

No they don’t Cendrillon. Those of you who voted for this shitshow are going to have to own it. Not in my name. Not with my consent. I flatly refuse to be tainted by it.

Alsohuman. Absolutely not in my name either.