This discussion is now closed.

Check out other Related discussions

This stupid statement - Being British is about driving a German ...

Being British is about driving a German car to an Irish pub for a Belgian beer, then traveling home, grabbing an Indian curry or a Turkish kebab on the way, to sit on Swedish furniture and watch American shows on a Japanese TV.

I take it that Indians, Chinese, Mexicans, Nigerians etc. do not drive German Cars or eat Mcdonalds or sit on Swedish furniture, or drink European alcohol, or watch american shows on japaneseTVs.

The moron who wrote this statement obviously has never travelled outside the UK. Anyone who who posts this on forums trying to make a point, please slap yourself

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 1

Alexx53

There are stupid people in the world.
Get used to it.

Reply 2

Concupiscible

Original post by Riddle Me This

I take it that Indians, Chinese, Mexicans, Nigerians etc. do not drive German Cars or eat Mcdonalds or sit on Swedish furniture, or drink European alcohol, or watch american shows on japaneseTVs.

Ermm, yeah we do...

Reply 3

Riddle Me This

Original post by Concupiscible

Ermm, yeah we do...

Thank you, that was my point.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 4

Concupiscible

Well...I've just looked up "speshul" in the Urban Dictionary, and I am not particularly flattered. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=speshul
Also...I was joking.

Reply 5

username453132

Original post by Riddle Me This

You've taken the whole thing too seriously, I'm pretty sure the 'moron' knows full well what other cultures use. They just wanted to make a light hearted statement about how different cultures 'borrow' from each other.

In other words, chill out :tongue:

Reply 6

fibrebiz

Oh will you look at that!

It turns out that Britain is multicultural - who would've thought it, eh?

I don't care about national identity and I never will.
I perceive people as far too unique to be defined by their geography.

As for what it means to be British?
...It means I don't care.

Reply 7

Riddle Me This

Original post by fibrebiz

The culture of people IS defined by geography, are you actually telling me otherwise. And what you banging on about Multiculturalism for ? Does using a japanese tv mean you are emmersing yourself in other cultures :confused:

Reply 8

fibrebiz

Original post by Riddle Me This

Ignoring the first and last nations in the 1st post, yes I do believe that's multiculturalism.

If geography defined me, I would be an Essex chav. I'm not.

QED

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 9

Riddle Me This

Original post by fibrebiz

Ignoring the first and last nations in the 1st post, yes I do believe that's multiculturalism.

If geography defined me, I would be an Essex chav. I'm not.

QED

Is it really that difficult to understand that when I say geography I am refering to country ?

Is it really that difficult for you ?

Reply 10

KJane

Original post by Riddle Me This

I find that pretty hilarious, so British people can't drive a Vauxhall car to an English pub for a pint of strongbow with a roast dinner, sit on furniture that can easily have been manufactured in the UK to watch eastenders? That's more about being British, but the fact we import goods doesn't make us any less British anyway, some international companies have factories based in England anyway, which just creates jobs for British people. Such a silly statement. :rolleyes:

Reply 11

TheRealDarthVader

How does this mean the author has never been outside the UK?

I could make any number of observations about Britain, but I fail to see how that would mean I have never been anywhere else.

Reply 12

Listovski

Well, most young people do think like that. What they don't realize is that such thought is just a manipulation of global system richest countries are imposing. Not saying it's wrong, but it does serve those countries the most.If you are surgeon from let's say poor but stable EU country like Hungary. You grew up there, your childhood friends are there, you love food and company of your own. Then you get a lucrative offer to go to UK amd you go. You start earning double or triple than you did back home, but you can no longer enjoy good food, comfortable housing (all EU housing is on different level than UK) and social life. You also do not feel Brittish and start thinking as you just stated, citizen of the world, and life is good because you are having tons of money that you couldn't have earned in Hungary.Now let's see how that affects Hungary. Higher education there is free, only commonwealth countries charge attrocious Uni fees. So for UK to produce a surgeon, about 300k is needed and more. To produce a surgeon in Hungary does not cost that much, but the fact remains that UK saved 300k by bringing that surgeon there. So you'll think, ok, there are not many surgeons, so overall Hungary probaly loses couple of millions every year due to overall doctor migration. But then comes the fact, that statistically only 15% of humanity is capable of getting higher education, and roughly 5% is very talented, meaning that world supply of talented people is limited. That surgeon is now helping UK citizens, people who he does not care as much as they both don't share the same culture (which explains cold nhs treatment to patients) . While Hungarian patients don't have enough surgeons, and might even start going to UK to get a surgery at much higher price. And finally, on 30 year career, surgeon in UK earning 70k a year, retires spinning 21M in his lifetime, in Hungary he would've spinned 7M, so for every surgeon that left Hungary, they've lost 7M of money rolling in their system and 100K to educate the surgeon.So the situation is quite serious when you take into account all surgeons that leave. It leaves the country weaker. Furthermore immigration ocurrs at all levels of expertise, leading to complete dependence on importing foreign technology.Richness of the western countries isn't there because they're more capable than the rest, it is simply there because of disbalance of money caused by import of foreign talent, and foreign countries not caring when someone leaves.It gets worse if too many smart people leave, because it is then when their parliaments fill with corruption and incable people who can't even grasp the issue what it means for the country when smart person moves away.The big irony of commonwealth countries (incliding USA) is that they relied on foreign talent for decades, while their education systems were degrading. Today, Uni in UK is a laughing joke when compared to system in Germany or rest of EU? Why, well if you need to pay 50k of fees to get education, than such system must give you something for your 50k. They can't just say you suck, go learn some handyman craft instead (which is ironically much more lucrative). It goes so far, that the system can't even tell you, you are average. Highest grade in EU is obtained if you score over 90% in every exam. In UK, you get first class honours if your GPA is above 75%, and first year of Uni does not count towards your GPA. 75% is jusy slightly above statistical average by normal distribution, which is 65%. Furthermore, passing grade in EU is typically above 50%, in UK it's 40%.So because education turned into a business rather than selection and education of top talent to drive the country forward, these countries became fully dependent on importing foreign capable people.I am not saying it's wrong to migrate, I am just illustrating the dynamics of what migration is causing. Progress for the host, great loss for the home country, while if you depend too much on the guests and neglect your own talent, you end up in complete dependance on the guests, while home countries end up in complete dependence on foreign tehnologies.