[Off To The Races]

After the influx of British gold medals the other day I heard a lot of people describe how 'proud to be British' they were. But is the success of an athlete such as Jessica Ennis/Andy Murray anything to do with him/her being British? Or is the pride more because of the fact that he/she's making Britain look good as he/she's wearing the Union Jack? If the latter is the case then does it matter whether the person representing us is actually 'British' just as long as he/she's wearing the flag? This is just a thought I had.

[desdemonata]

I think the fact that we manage to have some damn fine athletes considering how relatively tiny we are compared to USA and China is something to be proud of. You don't get many countries our size getting as many golds as we do

[Off To The Races]

(Original post by desdemonata)
I think the fact that we manage to have some damn fine athletes considering how relatively tiny we are compared to USA and China is something to be proud of. You don't get many countries our size getting as many golds as we do

But is being 'British' anything to do with why these athletes are successful?

[T-Toe]

I'm not proud to be British, I'm proud of the athletes who happen to be British. I'm not particularly into patriotism.

[Sweetcorn_1]

(Original post by desdemonata)
I think the fact that we manage to have some damn fine athletes considering how relatively tiny we are compared to USA and China is something to be proud of. You don't get many countries our size getting as many golds as we do

High population density with a wealth of resources available to citizens, I'd say we have a large advantage over a lot of countries.

I believe New Zealand had the highest gold medal per capita before this Olympics, so hats off to them.

[Jack93o]

Who doesn't like to live off the success of others?

I know I do

[tufc]

(Original post by Off To The Races)
But is being 'British' anything to do with why these athletes are successful?

Why does it matter? Nationalism is one of our most basic instincts, and the truth is that people will always be happy when their desire for national achievement is sated in this way.

[Theafricanlegend]

(Original post by Sweetcorn_1)
High population density with a wealth of resources available to citizens, I'd say we have a large advantage over a lot of countries.

I believe New Zealand had the highest gold medal per capita before this Olympics, so hats off to them.

Indeed but being third is very much a big achievement! Lets remember uk: 60mil, china: 1 bil, usa: 300 mil

[NR09]

There is nothing wrong with patriotism. I've noticed that there's alot of ****erish liberals on here that immediately discount anybody showing the slightest patriotic tendencies as being morons of the highest order.

[Juichiro]

(Original post by tufc)
Why does it matter? Nationalism is one of our most basic instincts, and the truth is that people will always be happy when their desire for national achievement is sated in this way.

Biggest bull**** I have heard for a long while. What is next? Machism is one of our "basic" instincts too?

[Stalin]

None of you contributed to Jessica Ennis', Andy Murray's or Sir Chris Hoy's gold medal, so why should you be proud of being British, which has nothing to do with their achievement, or proud of them, when you've done nothing to help them accomplish their feat?

Everyone claims that they're proud to be British when team GB win a gold medal, but their nationalism seems to quieten down as soon as a silver or bronze is won, or even nothing.

A bit of a double standard, if you ask me. I suppose if you apply the same logic, you should all be proud of being British when UK forces kill a member of the Taliban. Surprisingly, however, you don't show the same spirit.

Nationalism 101. Well done, boys.

[Miss Mary]

Not exactly proud to be Argentinian, but the guy on the right is my hero

[Tier]

I'm proud of being English because of our culture and history. I could give a toss about sports, but it gives us entertainment and it's fun to see our country succeed.

[Juichiro]

(Original post by Off To The Races)
After the influx of British gold medals the other day I heard a lot of people describe how 'proud to be British' they were. 1-But is the success of an athlete such as Jessica Ennis/Andy Murray anything to do with him/her being British? Or is 2-the pride more because of the fact that he/she's making Britain look good as he/she's wearing the Union Jack? If the latter is the case then 3 does it matter whether the person representing us is actually 'British' just as long as he/she's wearing the flag? This is just a thought I had.

Good point.

1 - No, their nationality has nothing to do with this. It is all about individual performance not individual representation of national performance.

2 - Yes it is. Everybody wants to be made look good to others. Be a member of the champion team.

3 - (To me) it does not. (To your patriotic laymen) yes. If you are not British wearing the British flag is meaningless. The British flag symbolises certain team/group and wearing the British flag symbolises membership to a certain team/group.

[Juichiro]

(Original post by Tier)
I'm proud of being English because of our culture and history. I could give a toss about sports, but it gives us entertainment and it's fun to see an individual of our country succeed.

I corrected your sentence.

[Juichiro]

(Original post by Stalin)
None of you contributed to Jessica Ennis', Andy Murray's or Sir Chris Hoy's gold medal, so why should you be proud of being British, which has nothing to do with their achievement, or proud of them, when you've done nothing to help them accomplish their feat?

Everyone claims that they're proud to be British when team GB win a gold medal, but their nationalism seems to quieten down as soon as a silver or bronze is won, or even nothing.

A bit of a double standard, if you ask me. I suppose if you apply the same logic, you should all be proud of being British when UK forces kill a member of the Taliban. Surprisingly, however, you don't show the same spirit.

Nationalism 101. Well done, boys.

Love!


I love this post!

[Dmon1Unlimited]

E.g britain

I'm proud I have the privileges and rights that are here, to be raised in a good home which may not necessarily be the case elsewhere. The culture here has made a significant influence to my personality, what I love/hate, my views, who I am... I believe this is more important than the fact that my families originated in a place that has given me my brown skin.

Said britain also birthed these athletes be it simply being born or more importantly being raised by said culture. So it is understandable to be proud of your blahhh

It is awesome when the culture that raised you birthed a gold medal athlete, and also explains the 'quietening down' with bronze, though people can still be happy with a bronze rather than say nothing at all...

I don't see it as being particularly patriotic. Why should saying such a statement be justification for you lot to blag off?

[Off To The Races]

(Original post by NR09)
There is nothing wrong with patriotism. I've noticed that there's alot of ****erish liberals on here that immediately discount anybody showing the slightest patriotic tendencies as being morons of the highest order.

If this is in reference to me, I would like to just assert how patriotic I actually am! I get chills when thinking of how the British managed to defeat the Nazis and how British morale didn't suffer from the German Blitzkrieg attacks. I was just questioning the nature of patriotism/nationalism (for politics hot heads out there, what is the difference?).

I was proud when Jessica Ennis won but then I thought to myself, 'why am I proud?' Being 'British' isn't why she won. The fact that she mainly breathes British air surely has no impact on her ability? So then I thought, it must be because she makes Britain look good by acting as an ambassador. By wearing the flag she makes Britain look good. So then I went a step further to ask myself 'does it matter whether the person representing Britain is actually ethnically British or not?'. I would say 'yes it does matter!' initially but considering how being British has no influence on her ability at all (unless geneticists can prove me wrong!) it seems a fair question to ask.

Do people understand where I'm coming from? Am I making a good point?

[tufc]

(Original post by Juichiro)
Biggest bull**** I have heard for a long while. What is next? Machism is one of our "basic" instincts too?

If it's not true, then why is there such a clear desire for national achievement in every culture across the globe? Face it: it's a tribalist instinct embedded in the human psyche. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's not there.

[tufc]

(Original post by Stalin)
None of you contributed to Jessica Ennis', Andy Murray's or Sir Chris Hoy's gold medal, so why should you be proud of being British, which has nothing to do with their achievement, or proud of them, when you've done nothing to help them accomplish their feat?

Everyone claims that they're proud to be British when team GB win a gold medal, but their nationalism seems to quieten down as soon as a silver or bronze is won, or even nothing.

A bit of a double standard, if you ask me. I suppose if you apply the same logic, you should all be proud of being British when UK forces kill a member of the Taliban. Surprisingly, however, you don't show the same spirit.

Nationalism 101. Well done, boys.

I'm extremely proud when our lads cap one of those savage demons.