Happy Jubilee, my UK friends

[darkemeralds]

I hope all my friends in the UK are enjoying a splendid Jubilee celebration. It all sounds so uplifting and festive and proud.

I was struck, on looking at the Twitter stream for the #proudtobebritish hashtag, by how many less-than-positive tweets there were, pointing out various iniquities perpetrated by Britain (some of them pretty recent). I get it--the great nations have done great evil. I'm not a fan of blind patriotism and it seems prudent to remember the past, bad and good.

But still. Symbolic day. Great nation. Long history. Deep roots. Proud traditions. I'd be proud to be British today too, if I were.

Comments

[scribblemoose]

Thank you! I am proud of my country, and looking back I think the Queen has played a vital role in freeing colonised countries in a positive, harmonious way and trying to sustain long term relationships with them.

I love our nation's indomitable spirit and sense of the ridiculous - but yes, there's a bit of a tendency towards cynicism, as you've seen. Rest assured though, most of us have been partying with the Queen this weekend one way or another. And it is lovely to see and be part of. Big year for us, with this and the olympics too! *waves little union jack*

[ruric]

I've not been partying with Betty (or anyone else) this weekend - I've been cleaning house *G*

I'm always a bit bemused when people confuse pride/patriotism with jingoism.

It's perfectly possible to be proud of one's country and a patriot (another horrendously misused word with terrible connotations) whilst still being very aware of the things historically one has to take collective responsibility for and recognising that currently things are nowhere near perfect.

We'll all be back to being cynical and snarky by the weekend at the latest anyway! *G*