What do you dislike about your country's culture?

[WomenHour]

I would say the binge drinking culture of the UK

I dislike how opinionated and tactless people are here. Hell, I even catch myself being that way at times and don't like it.
(Denmark)

The way in which the press (and MN) talk about bad things as though they only ever happen in the UK, everywhere else is heaven upon earth.

I’m not trolling, I’m serious: why do I have to be proud of being English and why am I a bad person for not being proud of being English? I’m not ashamed of it either, I just don’t get why I have to be proud of it.

@Jaxhog I agree but I’ll further and say English people aren’t or they feel they can’t be. I was born in Wales, live in England. I regularly go back to Wales. Cardiff has Welsh flags everywhere, it’s lovely and encouraged. I assume Scotland is like this too. English people are scared to fly an English flag because of how it’s been hijacked. It’s sad and all it does is reinforce a feeling of guilt or shame when actually (and this comes from a Welsh person!) Be proud and fly that flag!

I think a lot of Brits are just not proud of being British in the same way as most other countries are. Which is such a shame

This is certainly the case, any show of pride is sneered at as being 'jingoistic' and 'nationalistic' yet one never sees those words used in other countries, eg it's very usual in the US to see their flag flying, even before Trump.

Yes completely agree @SuddenArborealStop

The begrudgery - ireland

Canada - on the upside I never see any littering and people are connected to the countryside for the most part.

Downsides (in addition to what I wrote earlier); when I was a teenager and young adult I don’t recall older middle-aged people and the elderly hating on the young, but for some reason the boomers, that generation who got jobs easily and bought houses and paid them off by age 40, seem to really dislike (and mock) the young. I have two adult children in their 20’s and they work and study hard and are polite and helpful and ... I don’t get it.

I also really dislike how we’re told which group is to be our collective focus and then we all unthinkingly must follow the line on it. So we’ve really fallen hard for twaw. And somewhat in the same vein, before every meeting at any place I’ve worked in the last ten years someone (almost always white) has to parrot that we’re “grateful” to the local Indigenous nation for “allowing” us to hold a workplace meeting on their land. As if I’d they said “sorry business/government body/health clinic, you can’t discuss your quarterly review” we’d stop. It’s like we don’t have to do anything about institutionalized racism towards First Nations if we give these acknowledgements. We talk Indigenous issues to death but they still have higher rates of poverty, incarceration and lower levels of education. But that’s okay as we thanked them for “allowing” us to hold a meeting.

This is all part of the mean girls culture here where we must conform at all costs, even if it makes no sense (twaw) or lets us off the hook for racism. There is no such thing here as a charming eccentric. Eccentricity is an itch that will not be tolerated. Quirkiness makes people uncomfortable (unless it’s a currently mass-adopted thing which we pretend is still quirky but isn’t).

Also our education is crap in my opinion. People are not taught to think or question, just follow rules and express feelings which are currently sanctioned.

Lots of good things about Canada, but if I wasn’t born here I wouldn’t choose to live here.

Morris dancing outfits do look a bit daft BUT it can be fun to watch. Same with maypole and sword dancing. I watched a sword dance and it looks easy at first glance but it’s actually quite intricate. We had a maypole in primary school and I always envied the kids who got to dance round it.

I should add that being Jewish, I have a weird relationship with patriotism. I feel like I’m not a real Brit and I don’t belong here. I don’t mean I want to make aliyah, I just feel a bit out of place in mainstream society.

Oh ya, and also the weird attitude to older people, or seeeee-niors as people insist on saying, where (way prior to Covid) we all agree that they need discounts on everything (though as a whole they are much higher income), and we agree they’re all terribly hard done by when in face children in poverty is a much worse issue, but kids don’t vote so let’s all put seee-niors front and centre. It just doesn’t feel very healthy to me to prioritize the needs of that age group over all others when kids are at least as vulnerable but they don’t get the focus. The number of times I’ve seen someone old (I’m almost 60 btw) bleat on Facebook “but I’m a senior” ... as if that means they get first dibs at everything. We’re all pieces of the puzzle and I don’t get the pushing to the front of the queue that the boomers (and slightly older) engage in.

Ritascornershop

Oh ya, and also the weird attitude to older people, or seeeee-niors as people insist on saying

What people insist on saying "seeeee-niors"?
I've only heard people addressing men in Spain saying that.

Mind you, I didn't think anyone said "Oh ya" anymore.

@LaMarschallin I’m not saying ya in a Sloaney way if that’s what you mean, it’s very normal in North America to say ya instead of yes.

I don’t mean they are pronouncing it senor (see-nyor), I mean they are saying it in a nasally generic Canadian way with a very long e emphasis on the first syllable, seeeeen-yur. I have a Canadian accent, but hopefully without the nasal.

Oh ya, as in “oh yes” as in additionally.

Little englander brexit assholes.

@Ritascornershop

My apologies

I have obviously fallen victim to the "Little Englander (or Weeny Welsh Woman)" syndrome myself. Your post makes perfect sense now.

Weeny Welsh Woman 😁 There's a username for anyone in need of one.

What is twaw sorry?

Middle East-
Blatant Misogyny
Blatant hypocrisy (linked to above)
Restrictions due to state religion
Inability to queue

UK-
Fear of offending everyone
Littering
General lack of pride

honeygirlz twaw - the idea that trans women are women

Toxic tabloids (UK)

Vandalism and stealing (England).

@LioneIRichTea absolutely. I'm also Canadian, and Canadians are immensely proud of their country. The English are not. It's almost as if being proud of being English is seen by the British media as critical of everyone else in some way. Truly sad, as we so much to be proud of.

Thanks @LaMarschallin no worries :)

Here the twaw thing, especially amongst adults who are around kids a lot at work ... it feels like a rush to look cool, to have the approved viewpoint without pausing ...

Lots of good things about Canada but the conformity gets on my nerves and the classism. Well, a few things, but we have lovely clean air and socialised medicine, so good and bad everywhere.

What does ‘lack of pride’ mean?

Rampant racism, sexism, trans-phobia, homophobia, disablism, and assorted bigotry.

It would be a much nicer place to exist in if none of these things existed.

UK- entitledness and benefits culture.