Why does everyone hate us so much ?!

[englandd]

I’m talking about being English, spent alot of time on the cesspit that is Reddit this World Cup and the vast majority absolutely hate England, I known it stems from the British empire but as far as I’m aware it wasn’t just England who were bad back then was it ? I mean Spain and Portugal took a big part in colonialism too but why is it just the English that gets the hate ?
Last night I would’ve been genuinely happy to support Norway if they went through, I can’t imagine hating another nation so badly. Maybe I shouldn’t take it personally 😆

Aibu ? Do we deserve the hate we get from something that happened hundreds of years ago ? For what it’s worth the British empire were ruthless and I don’t celebrate anything they did, but I also don’t think we should be punished still for something that happened so so long ago.

I haven’t read the full thread. I’m Scottish, I’m not rooting for England to win the World Cup but I certainly don’t hate English people! I have spent many wonderful holidays in England, have English family and lots of English friends. There’s a lot of banter about football between England and Scotland but that’s all it is, banter. I wanted Norway to win last night as I like Haaland. I’d like England to beat Argentina but I think France will win overall. I’d have loved it to be Switzerland as I have them in the syndicate! England have a good team, no doubt about it. The “it’s coming home” annoys me but I’m sure Scotland has many phrases/songs that annoy them, it doesn’t bother me. I honestly wouldn’t pay attention to negative things people write on the internet, I don’t believe it’s a reflection of what the majority of people think. Looking forward to seeing how the last few games play out! Here’s hoping we’ll be there next time 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿. Unlikely but you never know!

Argentina is the LEAST underdog in all of those remaining in World Cup terms! Look up how many times they have won, AND they are the current champions! England are the underdogs in the last four. So ignorant.

I was actually in France the other night and I saw a man flagellating himself in the street. I said what’s wrong and he said he was ashamed and deeply sorry that France had reached the semi final. I said well don’t worry, you’ve won it before and he shushed me aggressively and said previous World Cup victories should never be mentioned, because it’s arrogant to do so. I later asked a barman if he thought France would win this year and he said absolutely not, they were the worst team at the World Cup, and he was profoundly embarrassed they were in the semi final.

He’s Scottish and British.

He’s got an English wife and children so he’s not going to be anti-English but he’s also a proud Scot which is as it should be.

And the press might have said that about him because they’re scum but it doesn’t mean that the rest of them believe it. He was always Scottish AND British to me, win or lose.

I don't think anyone would disagree with you that knowledge of English over the whole world is widespread.

But to go to someone elses country and not have the courtesy to makesonme attempt to speak their language, is breathtakingly rude and entitled.
And it generally goes hand in hand with an inability to take on board the culture and customs of the country visited

💯

Isn’t this just exactly how it should be.

Banter is good and it would no doubt be the same if the shoe was on the other foot.

I’ve seen some absolutely hilarious videos of Scots taking the piss.

Yeah exactly.

The media go out of their way to say Annie Lennox, Belle & Sebastian etc are clearly SCOTTISH. But the Rolling stones, beatles, basically any great band ever (😂) are never described as ENGLISH. They're firmly British bands. Scotland takes credit for English-grown stuff (primarily in the arts and culture) and describes it all as British, but then when youve got some bad shit in there it immediately reverts to being English.

Its kind of like how in Ireland you had these articles trying to actually claim that the Brontes were in some way Irish (tenuous link) but you'd never hear them claim Wellington for themselves despite the fact he was actually born in Dublin...

I don't get the 'don't bother learning other people's languages' argument.
Yes I know your average German/Dane/Spaniard might know more english than an anglish person knows their languages.

But they don't ALSO know all the other languages in the world. e.g. your average German won't be fluent in Spanish, so when they go there for a fortnight in their summer holidays they will also be speaking either their own language, just like English speakers. So it would be odd for Spanish people to be annoyed at English speakers for not speaking spanish, but fine with German people not speaking it?

We were recently on holiday in Greece and nearly everyone we spoke to who mentioned the football were routing for the English team and we're saying how good they were and how they were in a good chance of being where we are.

I think if you are online you are seeing the two polar opposites. Generally most people won't care if we win/lose unless we're playing their nation. Same as most English fans.

I don't like Norway only because I don't like Haarland.I do like Portugal because I've always liked Ronaldo. I wouldn't be supporting any other nation, even a home one but would watch the matches as a neutral.

As my DD says 'its not that deep'

And many of us still remember Maradonas
Hand of God...

@TheBlueKoala how.on earth are Argentina the underdogs? They are the current holders of the World Cup and have won it the most times out of all of the semi finalists.

Bloody hell, talk about the unbearable!!!

I think there are different types of anti-English sentiment.

From Europe it is a hatred of racist football hooligans and the behaviour of a certain type of England fan abroad. No they aren't the only ones, but they are very visible.

Then there's the Reddit anti-Englishness which comes from a much younger crowd, who seem to have grown an awareness of the various evils of the British Empire, for the first time, in the past 5-10 years. It's linked to critical race theory shows imperialism = bad and imperialism = British Empire.

The British Empire was as you admit, awful, but the Reddit/young American on social media view of it is very narrow and reductionist and completely ignores the horrors of the racist empires violently inflicted on the rest of the world by other European nations. This is problematic as it actually minimises the scale and impact of imperialism!

Oddly, a lot of people espousing these views on social media are actually very uninterested in the origins of racialisation, and you get ignorant claims that the Nazis weren't racists against Jewish people and shock when they discover 'white people attacked white people' in Europe over the centuries.

Don't even get me started on how non-existent and dismissive their views of Travellers, Gypsy and Roma people are. Yet, they will dismiss a British/European person's expertise on this as they will deem us to be unable to see the influence of our Imperialist nationalities on our political positioning. And the only legitimate analysis of racism is an American-centric one after all...

From a Scot, I agree.

You do realise that Argentina are the current holders of the WC - so not particularly underdogs and they’re the number one ranked team in the world rankings. Spain then, and then France. England are only fourth so really if you want to support the underdogs you should support them 😂.

Seriously support who you like but Argentina have almost certainly the best player in the world playing for them so they aren’t plucky losers.

@Taytocrisps
I am part Irish so know about the troubles

In relation to the famine, I don’t think you can compare it to the Holocaust as one PP has done. It wasn’t a deliberate , intentional and systematic means of exterminating the Irish population, even though the outcome resulted in millions of deaths.

However if I held such resentment for a country, I could never bring myself to live there, however financially advantageous it might be for me.

COME ON ARGENTINA

I was actually in France the other night and I saw a man flagellating himself in the street.

Well, that’s something you don’t see every day to be sure.

But that IS part of the answer. Batting back people’s genuine responses to your query is pointless - you asked us a question!

Its also the victimhood, articulated perfectly in your thread title. Waaah why do you hate us so?

Mostly we don’t think much about you! Very sure that you’re so brilliant that we must all be jealous of and hate you. I don’t see other teams simultaneously thinking they’re the dogs bollocks and crying about why they’re not universally loved.

The "Football's Coming Home" song was written for Euro 96, which took place in England, hence the "coming home". lyric. The last time England had hosted an international competition was the 1966 World Cup, which they won, thirty years earlier.

@Whattheflock "come on Argentina!"

You want to support a country with an appalling human rights record including unlawful killings, torture and arbitrary arrest by officials? A country with one of the highest rates of femicide and domestic violence in the world? And one that wants to severely restrict and control women's reproductive rights? I could go on, but unless you're Argentinian, then why would you want to do that? If you aren't Argentinian, I suggest you try living there. You might change your mind.

I'm not sure that the English are the ones needing a fingerwagging over victimhood you know...

I thought a lot of it was to do with their reputation for Football Hooliganism. They do seem to be well behaved at this World Cup.

Would English fans support scotland or Wales? Does anyone care? Football always has people for and against no matter the team.
Im glad England are doing well but the ‘It’s coming home’ chants (yes I do know the lyrics), the press coverage, the pundits being unable to conceal their bias all just gets a bit irritating tbh. I actually think the pressure put on the team with all the barrage of shite that accompanies them probably doesn’t help when it comes to them ballsing it up.
We are having a wee party for the final and I would actually like England to get there, possibly not to win but that’s because I have Spain on the sweepstake!

Also as someone who’s tried to speak other languages when abroad it’s quite tricky because they hear the accent and just reply in English anyway. I’ve had crazy situations where people have insisted on trying to speak their terrible English instead of my passable French or Spanish.

Other countries speak English not because of England necessarily but because of the global cultural reach of the US. You hear American music, watch American films you’re going to find it easier to learn English. If all our films and music was in Spanish for example and everyone spoke Spanish as their second language then it would be more motivating and easier to learn it by osmosis.