What do you dislike about your country's culture?

[WomenHour]

I would say the binge drinking culture of the UK

USA -
The belief in American exceptionalism
All the people who thought Trump would be a good idea
Celebrity obsession
Unbelievable waste of food and plastic
Evangelical Christians
Guns

@SwedishK The flip side of Jante (not thinking you're special) is what I hate about USA culture - bragging over the smallest thing.

Scotland- the Independence notion that everything should be tartan and speak Gaelic when this is a REGIONAL language not national. No one north of Stirling every spoke Gaelic before...

Tartan 19th century invention much like the wearing of dress kilts but now adopted as the norm.

Scotland has so many things to be proud of, engineering, invention and (relatively) positive international outlook I just cannot fathom why we have to concentrate on the twee shortbread tin elements...

Im not experienced the hate the English mentality, tories yes, English no...

UK- mysogany, consumerism, racism, expectation and inability to see the world past Dover.
Having lived in the south of england the culture seemed so different, so entitled, so consumer led, so anti migrant (well I didn’t see any of you offering to pick fruit as it was beneath you), anti anyone receiving benefit (yet your working cash in hand and not paying tax) it just baffled me...

Living abroad I saw so much more of raising hildren as a community. Helping people out as much as you could and happiness. I wish we could import those things as culture....

@moreginrequired

Scotland- the Independence notion that everything should be tartan and speak Gaelic when this is a REGIONAL language not national. No one north of Stirling every spoke Gaelic before...

Tartan 19th century invention much like the wearing of dress kilts but now adopted as the norm.

Scotland has so many things to be proud of, engineering, invention and (relatively) positive international outlook I just cannot fathom why we have to concentrate on the twee shortbread tin elements...

Im not experienced the hate the English mentality, tories yes, English no...

UK- mysogany, consumerism, racism, expectation and inability to see the world past Dover.
Having lived in the south of england the culture seemed so different, so entitled, so consumer led, so anti migrant (well I didn’t see any of you offering to pick fruit as it was beneath you), anti anyone receiving benefit (yet your working cash in hand and not paying tax) it just baffled me...

Living abroad I saw so much more of raising hildren as a community. Helping people out as much as you could and happiness. I wish we could import those things as culture....

Someone upthread posted about the Scottish Renaissance. I'm not Scottish myself but I am a half-Scot and I hate the twee shortbread thing as well. There is so much more to Scotland than that.

Spain 🇪🇸
Bull fighting (can’t abide this or understand why it’s still allowed to go on).
Cruelty to animals in general. Lots of abandoned dogs/cats and puppies/ kittens found in plastic bags in bins etc. It’s actually shocking.

😆 🤣 😂

The always apologising and taking responsibility for everything bad that’s happened in the world.
The desperation not to offend
The being taken for mugs
The lack of patriotism

[UK obviously]

laughing at the saggy grey jogging bottoms!

[Or rather England]

I don't see what's wrong with acknowledging our colonial past. We don't have to bend over backwards to apologise but neither should we be like Japan over WW2 or Turkey over the Armenian genocide and go 'lalala nothing happened'. Germany doesn't ignore the Holocaust. It's not woke or whatever to say 'actually the British Empire did do some bad things', it's just what happened.

Also, genuine question, what do you mean by lack of patriotism? People not knowing enough words to the national anthem or something? I'm not saying this to make a snide dig, I genuinely don't understand.

Brits including government not taking Covid seriously. UK European record Covid fatalities, mixed and hypocritical government(s) messaging including procrastination (constant u turns) and non awareness of global (developed first world) norms regarding best practice Covid risk mitigation strategies and policies etc. Therefore UK Covidiots still rebelliously unmasked and holding illegal mass gathering parties (despite increased criminal sanctions and monetary penalty fines) being disrespectful to those more medically vulnerable neighbours etc. Brits also seemingly (as according to locals and media coverage) exporting some elements of this bad illegal behavior overseas while on the beach etc.

@WomenHour

I would say the binge drinking culture of the UK

I agree with that though it isn't everywhere, plenty of people don't binge drink.

Racism and 'little Englander' mentally where it exists. I don't encounter it in London.

@PhilSwagielka

I don't see what's wrong with acknowledging our colonial past. We don't have to bend over backwards to apologise but neither should we be like Japan over WW2 or Turkey over the Armenian genocide and go 'lalala nothing happened'. Germany doesn't ignore the Holocaust. It's not woke or whatever to say 'actually the British Empire did do some bad things', it's just what happened.

Also, genuine question, what do you mean by lack of patriotism? People not knowing enough words to the national anthem or something? I'm not saying this to make a snide dig, I genuinely don't understand.

Agree but not as a constant stick to beat us with. Every country has committed atrocities over the centuries and there was hardship,and injustice in the UK as well during this time period.

"Every country has committed atrocities over the centuries"

Very few have committed atrocities on the vast scale of the British empire. I honestly think it's mind boggling that we're not more apolgetic about it to be honest.

Very few have committed atrocities on the vast scale of the British empire. I honestly think it's mind boggling that we're not more apolgetic about it to be honest. Have you ever heard of the Roman Empire?

@derxa

So, do you think the Romans need to apologize then? Who are you going to ask to do so?

Fucking hell, some of you are just...the Roman Empire! Fuck.

@derxa

Very few have committed atrocities on the vast scale of the British empire. I honestly think it's mind boggling that we're not more apolgetic about it to be honest. Have you ever heard of the Roman Empire?

Turkey, Persia... history of mankind is full of one nation being shitty to another. Not forgetting all the European countries who went land-grabbing in Africa and Asia.

"Turkey, Persia... history of mankind is full of one nation being shitty to another. Not forgetting all the European countries who went land-grabbing in Africa and Asia."

On the same scale as the UK? In the modern era?

We're not talking about the same thing at.all.

Yes, the Spanish, Portuguese, French, Germans, Japanese all did similar. No one is disputing that.

Still, I am still mad at the Romans, I demand reparations NOW. How DARE they.

@DancingCatGif

"Every country has committed atrocities over the centuries"

Very few have committed atrocities on the vast scale of the British empire. I honestly think it's mind boggling that we're not more apolgetic about it to be honest.

I agree and so do friends throughout North America and Australia. Brits pretty much terminated (depending on your history source) local indigenous populations in many lands far and wide let alone enforced people and labour management policies.

I suppose saying sorry would be detrimental to the status quo and end of Britainia as we know it let alone commonwealth etc etc. Still we did leave some positives like common language (after replacing many original local ones as throughout Africa etc) and some train sets for the Indians etc to use.

Most nations have good and bad but Britain after being colonised over centuries by neighbouring populations had at one point the largest every enforced colony empire. Why do you think UK is still top 10 global economy despite being much smaller than so many bigger population nations!

Comparison: History's Largest Empires

That everyone lives behind their closed doors.

So, do you think the Romans need to apologize then? Who are you going to ask to do so? Fucking hell, some of you are just...the Roman Empire! Fuck. It was a joke but never mind.

DancingCatGif Have a read about the Belgian Congo.

It's not woke or whatever to say 'actually the British Empire did do some bad things', it's just what happened

Of course, but what you're not allowed to do is say that maybe the British brought some good things to the countries they overlorded it in, too. Which is also "just what happened". You're not allowed a balanced view, only the woke one.

1.5 million Armenians killed by the Turkish on around ww1 (the ottomans have a lot of blood on their hands).

Japan killed an estimate of 10m Chinese during WW2. Cambodia, Rowanda, Indonesia, Iraq, Greeks in turkey, indigenous people on Brazil, Armenia, Congo, Croatia, Bosnia, the Tamils, the Holocaust... not to mention the the not uncommon termination of girl fetuses and murder of baby girls in some parts of the world

God it’s depressing how man’s inhumanity to man just goes on and on and on.

the way teachers are treated and how much responsibility lays at their feet when a lot of parents are just crap. Which, leads into my second point- It's always someone else's fault their life/kids are terrible and take no responsibility for their choices

You've reminded me of one of the things I hate about the UK - the whole notion of "parenting" and how if your child does good things or bad things it's all to do with your amazing (or awful) "parenting".

Whereas in other countries they treat their children as individuals and don't see "parenting" as a thing you do, but "parents" as what you are and don't try to preen themselves every time their child does something amazing. Yes we are proud of our children but there is a difference between being proud and preening yourself on your oh so amazing parenting, when in reality you're just lucky that they sleep well or work well in school or have a talent for music or sport or something else even if you have supported that talent eg by getting up every day for 5am swimming practice.

I get the impression that it's quite a British way to be.