Do Europeans hate the Brits?

[Floofydawg]

We're in Spain at the minute and have encountered some pretty hostile behaviour. Not so much from the Spanish, as we speak the language, but from other Europeans. We've been coming here many years and I've never before encountered such hostility. It got me thinking, do many Europeans dislike the Brits?

Ireland didn't 'support the Reich'. Despite official neutrality, there was extensive cooperation between Irish and Allied intelligence, the use of the Donegal corridor by Allied planes -- Irish weather reports were what prompted the Normandy landings to go ahead when they did!

@Goodluckbinbin - that is patently untrue. I did O level history back in the 1980s and we learned all about partition in India. My DC certainly did a lot on the role of Britain in the transatlantic slave trade. I don't doubt that the history curriculum could be more broad, but it doesn't only focus on Britain as the hero of the piece.

I am English. We have been to Spain, France or Greece 2 or 3 times a year. Not noticed any hostility anywhere. In fact, the opposite. Could not have had better customer service in France for example. Perhaps it is you OP?

This seems like a non-sequitur.

Many people outside of Europe retire to warm, pleasant places as well, even Spain. It doesn't mean that they think their countries should be tied together in some kind of economic/political union.

I'm English and I've had similar interactions abroad more times than I could possibly count.

"Hello, where are you from, are you English?"

"Yes, I live in Manchester."

"Ah, fantastic, Man Utd! I saw them play once! I've never been to Manchester but I have a cousin who lives in Liverpool. How are you finding [name of resort]? We have better weather than the north of England, don't we, haha!"

Absolutely astonishing that you seem to think this kind of thing only happens to Irish or Scottish people.

Wow. Where to start. First of all your derision and mockery of English people is disgusting.

You said "they" to refer to every single person in England.

Blind hatred Is ignorant

First of all England today is a melting pot, made up of many people from many different cultures for a start. Which you well know. Which exact person In England today is responsible for the partition of Israel and Palestine in the past?

I was born in England. Both of my parents were born in other European countries. What have I personally got to do with the partition of Israel in the past? Or the colonisation of Ireland. Or any of it

it was done by INDIVIDUAL PEOPLE, not a WHOLE COUNTRY.

Learn that blind hatred of a whole country is ignorant

it was done by INDIVIDUAL PEOPLE, not a WHOLE COUNTRY.

Well, I agree, but this is a bit ironic coming from you @Pearlgemspark 😂 You make sweeping generalisations about Ireland all the time!

The last bit you said is not true.
You can't just make things up out of nowhere.

I went to school in England. We definitely didn't just learn that England were heroes in the war.

We learnt about the good and bad in England's history.

All countries have good and bad in their history.

Of course you were going to say that.

So predictable!

The nastiest posts on this thread by far have been about England.

There are a lot of extremely disgusting things in republic of Ireland's history that I could bring up if I wanted to, but I don't. They have not had a history of being kind to people

But i dont bring it up, because I know it's not the current irish people's fault.

Yet some irish posters including the one I replied to, just bring up England's colonial history over and over and think its okay to do that.

I have a German friend. If I walked up to her and said "Hitler killed millions of people and its your fault because you live in germany" she would be extremely upset.

I wouldn't do that. Because I know its nothing to do with her

Not talking about history at all really, just about the irony of reprimanding someone for something you yourself do very frequently.

"it was done by INDIVIDUAL PEOPLE, not a WHOLE COUNTRY."

That's a good message you wrote.
You should remember it when posting in future.

Are you just going to say everything back to me, that I say first? Like the game that toddlers play?

Do you have anything new to add?

Crikey I think there’s a need to google cognitive bias!

I think I'll add a large eye-roll 🙄
I've a feeling you're not listening to my advice.
Oh well, my hopes weren't high.

I've never understood people who think the actions of a few are the responsibility of a whole country.

It's a very immature and warped way of thinking.

Here are some examples of other warped ways we could think

Some very rich Americans owned slaves in the past.
Let's hate all Americans.

Some rich people from Spain colonised some countries centuries ago.

Let's hate all current Spanish people. Every single Spanish person.

It's a dangerous and very destructive way to think

I'll take your word for it that you feel that way @Pearlgemspark.

I think you should be careful to word any future posts to reflect that thinking, because it hasn't come across like that in many of your previous posts.
You have spoken in general and very negative terms about places (and their people) before.
That's why I thought what you said to pp was ironic.

@Pearlgemspark I listed a whole load of colonial European countries pages back. It makes no sense at all to keep going over this now. In terms of saying we are to blame. The French and Spanish had huge colonies. So did Portugal and all were involved in trading slaves. All of them. So many countries had a hand in all sorts of things we now find reprehensible. The USA still has the death penalty and uses it. We have Russia invading a country. Those in power don’t do things with 100% support but people who don’t agree are discounted. Brexit being the most recent folly!

They didn't.
Eire was quite pro-Allies in their neutrality.

Well if you are from Liverpool, do you perhaps have an Irish surname that these people saw on your bank card when paying - that maybe the reason that these interactions were so pleasant!

I would ask yourself the same question… I’ve just logged on to you repeating the exact same (largely incorrect, may I add) points that you have been doing since yesterday.

I think that's a stretch @Goldenbear!😂

Exactly. You could substitute any town, city or region from anywhere in the UK and get the same or very similar conversations on holiday. It's called being friendly and polite and seeking some common ground. I doubt very much if the average Spanish/German/Czech etc person cares very much whether you are Scottish, Welsh, or English, and some Europeans are very hazy about these distinctions, just as we, as visitors, are often hazy about their history and ethnic origins. Also most people, thankfully, judge you on what you are like and how you behave, not on where you happen to have been born.

LOL, did you dislocate your shoulder with that stretch? 😂I'm not from Liverpool, I've never even been there, I'm from a northern village. And I'm sorry, the idea that pretty well anyone on the continent would know the difference between an English surname and an Irish surname is hilarious. Possibly some people might realise that names beginning with an O' are Irish, but I wouldn't bet on it.

I know I was being sarcastic as you will see from my posts, I am very much in agreement with you!

People judge very much on looks before anything else so if you have to make the point that you are Scottish or Welsh they obviously just think you look British, maybe they are making a song and dance over it as they think they have offended you say then go into overkill with the flattery, "oh the Braveheart, oh the kilts" etc."

Ah, my apologies! I feel a bit silly now, haha. This thread is moving so fast that I lost track of who's posting. Now that I know it's a joke, I love it! :-)