Quote:
Originally Posted by dxr
I've lived in and have visited England many times. The English as a *state* seemed VERY patriotic; especially when it came to other people from the UK (i.e. vs the Irish). Other than that, I haven't really witnessed it much there either (but again, I was mostly in London, so who knows how the rest of the country feels/acts). Also, I have never seen so many flags displayed in my life during the world cup. Yes, a sporting event, but I am talking houses and cars COVERED in flags and such. It was actually pretty cool  |
I don't think the UK is patriotic at all actually. I can see why you'd think London is, but London is the main hub for tourism that I'd say the majority of foriegn tourists go to and visit . . . because of all those foriegn tourists everything is geared to be 'British'. I mean I actually felt rather 'un-British' being there, because it was just so different from the rest of the country, lol. I think it's like say New York or Tokyo, in the main cities you'll seem to find much more 'patriotism' in forms of flags, parades, national cusine etc., than you would elsewhere.
In the UK no one
really seems to celebrate our Saint's day, or bother about the royal weddings, or ever wave a flag except maybe for sports events . . . I don't know, compared to what I've seen in Europe and on the media in other countries, it really is one of the least patriotic countries. Wales, Scotland and N.Ireland, however, they seem quite patriotic . . .
I know it sounds rather odd, but in my experience patriotism seems to be regarded with suspicion (or at least locally). Kind of like 'well,
why are you so patriotic?' . . . if you're English then you're English, why announce it to the world unless you're hiding something? :P