English people are second class citizens

[NotAnotherScarf]

Aibu To be annoyed about so many Facebook posts about celebrating st George's day being racist. No one post this for st Patrick's day, st Andrew's or st David's.... Hogmanay and burns night have parties

By celebrating being English, passing democracy to the world, Shakespeare, Agatha Christie, TV, the jet engine, the internet... railways, the industrial revolution, beer, the Beatles... All should be celebrated.

Yes we did some shite things...but white slavery (20+ million), the Holocaust, programs in Eastern Europe. King Leopold of Belgium hunting African people. The depopulation of parts of the USSR, the ethnic cleansing of Bosnia.....all things that in the last 125 years England has nothing to do with...yet people like to think that we who celebrate our Englishness are scum.

Do these people even exist? I haven't seen these posts.

YABVU - the ancient Greeks invented democracy, the Scots invented the TV (and the telephone), Scotland was also a powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution (it wasn't just an English thing!).

And England (Britain) was involved in the 'white slave trade'. Port cities like London, Bristol, Liverpool, Glasgow all financially benefited enormously from it. Have you ever read about what happened in the British colonies? It wasn't a picnic for anyone other than the colonisers!

I don't care if you celebrate St Georges Day, I don't think that is racist at all. I think what is problematic is the assumption that your nation has bestowed so much benefit on the world and done very little harm which suggests a certain misplaced cultural superiority. Is that maybe also reflected in the Facebook posts that are being criticised?

No, I'm saying we fucked those countries up and designed systems to keep them fucked up, such as the IMF.

Bother a few hotels
I am married to an Irishman, st Patrick’s day has always been a huge celebration
don’t be all faux innocent about the surge in the flag, you know it is directly related to xenophobia

TBF, the English did pass on the concept of parliamentary democracy. Which is the main one used world wide in democracies.

People prefer to rule themselves, even if the outcome isn't quite as good. Perfectly natural. See Brexit for example.

No, lets all dress up in lurid green, wear stupid hats and drown in vile Guiness.

Not really, the first parliamentary systems were below:

Cortes of León (1188, Spain) is considered by UNESCO the earliest documented parliamentary body with commoner representation.
Parliament of Sicily (1130 onward) is also cited as one of Europe’s earliest parliamentary institutions.

TBF the Scots were heavily involved in the Empire and benefitted hugely from the transatlantic slave trade.

Yes, probably. I have perjorative thoughts about racists.

Ahem, pretty sure the television was invented by John Logie Baird, a Scot; the internet was invented by Cerf and Kahn, both Americans; we have the ancient Greeks to thank for democracy; and the earliest production of beer (I had to consult wikipedia for this one) can be traced back to the ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. 😂

The use of the flag has sadly become a symbol of racism,due to the popularity of Nigel Farage,who attracts right wing extremists. Surely you must have realize tbis.

Although the seed of democratic principles came to the US from the UK their system was actually designed in direct opposition to UK structures (written constitution, no monarchy, a much wider suffrage much earlier). Britain actively suppressed democracy in India and it emerged as a result of choices made post-independence. The development of democracy in Australia was much more influenced by the British system, but it was a penal colony where convicted criminals shipped out from the UK had more rights than the indigenous population.

This.

Im 57 and have never seen a celebration of St George's day ever. It's not a BH, no one ever really bothered about it til flag shagger times.

I am a Christian and pro-English of course and all that. Are really English banned from their own country and lives? Wherever I go, it is predominantly English people having the rich lives and doing what they want here.

Oh, wind your neck in, OP. You wanted to celebrate St George’s Day, and you did celebrate it. What’s your problem? I don’t think anyone is calling out people who celebrate every year…just those numpties who have jumped on it this year, presumably as a form of virtue signalling of their ‘Britishness‘ to others who share their politics.

You’re not one of those virtue signallers, are you, @NotAnotherScarf? If not, then carry on as those posts are not about you.

“Passing democracy to the rest of the world” - wow, learn some history?

there are some weird protest going on in the capital but no one so far has stopped the English being English and living in England in full freedom

The British obviously had far more world wide influence historically. I thought the premise we were discussing is who passed on the concept of parliamentary democracy to the world? I expect we were pretty early too anyway given we had the witans pre the Conquest.

Yes, if you read my post fully I said that "England (Britain) was involved in the 'white slave trade'. Port cities like London, Bristol, Liverpool, Glasgow all financially benefited enormously from it."

My point wasn't that it was just an English thing, but that OP was incorrect in her assumption that it had nothing to do with England.

Yes good that you acknowledge the Scotch were heavily involved.

Why do you mention England and not Scotland as well. Presuming you are Scottish. When are Scots going to stop white washing their place in the British Empire. Many Jamaicans have Scottish ancestry due to Scottish slave owners. Don't just blame us for it. Guess it doesn't fit with the being victims of the English narrative.

Happily I found out my daughter spent all day learning about St George and making the flags wtc in nursery today. So pleased they didn't shy away from it for pathetic reasons. England has much to be proud of. I personally am starting to find the anti-england types & their supposed position of moral superiority deeply unpleasant.

However Dt George is not just the patron saint of England! He is patron saint of Georgia, Portugal, Ethiopia and Palestine. He is also venerated as the patron of Lithuania, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, and Moldova, along with regions like Catalonia and Aragon in Spain. The original patron saint of England was St Edmund!