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Yes, especially the British and the Irish I don't mean meaningfully racism my subconsciously racist...
Anyway Britain & Ireland is in Europe its a simply fact and even if someone disagrees it doesn't change the fact Britain is in Europe geographically, culturally and in mentality wise.
Its like saying Japan isn't in Asia because its separated from China by a sea.
The Japanese are very distinct, they have the most in common with the west compared to other countries in Asia.
The British are the least "European". The commonwealth is an identity in itself already, like a divergant continent on its own.
Difference between actually being part of Europe and feeling like you part of Europe as a general feeling.
Yes, there is. Not many people in the UK would actually identify as European, but they are European nevertheless. Everything else is debating semantics. Brits are Europeans - Great Britain and Ireland belong to the continent of Europe. End of.
Every nation has to be part of a continent. If Britain isn't part of Europe,of which continent is it part then ?
They aren't that different from many european countries even if they want to think they are.
The Japanese are very distinct, they have the most in common with the west compared to other countries in Asia.
The British are the least "European". The commonwealth is an identity in itself already, like a divergant continent on its own.
I dont think there is anyone in Europe who identifies themselves as being "European" in front of their own country. Here in Sweden I would say most people identifies themselves as, in this order:
1. Swedish
2. Scandinavian
3. European
Both our Swedish national identity and our Scandinavian cultural/regional identity is stronger than our European identity. We are geographically seperated just as far from western Europe as the UK is.
I don't think the commonwealth identity is unique to just English speaking countries, I heard many times on this forum that its the same between German-speaking countries, Spanish-speaking countries and Dutch-speaking countries. And with language also comes culture, in most cases. Of course people identifies more with countries who speaks the same language and has a similar culture, so the British are not unique in that respect.
And by personal experience I can confirm that we Swedes identifies more with Scandinavian/Nordic countries than with other European countries. A Swede or a Norwegian feels culturally much closer to Iceland (which geographically is much closer to North America than mainland Europe) than he/she does to say Germany (just 100 km south of Sweden). But I don't think anyone would deny that we are Europeans, even if our Swedish and Scandinavian identity comes first.
Last edited by Helsingborgaren; 07-19-2014 at 12:42 PM..
Yes, there is. Not many people in the UK would actually identify as European, but they are European nevertheless. Everything else is debating semantics. Brits are Europeans - Great Britain and Ireland belong to the continent of Europe. End of.
I feel that UK should be leading the EU. You can't trust the French or the germans. The UK, the dutch, and some of eastern europe are the only reliable partners in Europe. Plus, the UK should be spreading the english language more aggressively on the european contintent. Who has time to learn all those different languages? Bring order to chaos. Where is Europe's Alexander Hamilton?!
The Japanese are very distinct, they have the most in common with the west compared to other countries in Asia.
The British are the least "European". The commonwealth is an identity in itself already, like a divergant continent on its own.
Why is Britain least European? That makes no sense English is a Germanic language, they are of European descent, they have the same mentality as Europeans and religions are European in nature or is the Christianity practiced in the Uk Middle eastern?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dangerous-Boy
I feel that UK should be leading the EU. You can't trust the French or the germans. The UK, the dutch, and some of eastern europe are the only reliable partners in Europe. Plus, the UK should be spreading the english language more aggressively on the european contintent. Who has time to learn all those different languages? Bring order to chaos. Where is Europe's Alexander Hamilton?!
Why?
The Brits already spread their language (imposed actually) everywhere around the world its time for the world to stop focusing on Britain and Europe in general.
I feel that UK should be leading the EU. You can't trust the French or the germans. The UK, the dutch, and some of eastern europe are the only reliable partners in Europe. Plus, the UK should be spreading the english language more aggressively on the european contintent. Who has time to learn all those different languages? Bring order to chaos. Where is Europe's Alexander Hamilton?!
Why is Britain least European? That makes no sense English is a Germanic language, they are of European descent, they have the same mentality as Europeans and religions are European in nature or is the Christianity practiced in the Uk Middle eastern?
Why?
The Brits already spread their language (imposed actually) everywhere around the world its time for the world to stop focusing on Britain and Europe in general.
Germanic language? You do know the English language is considered inferior by 90% of Europe,
descent? Then Americans are Europeans.
Mentality? No, it is not that way, there is a mindset to being "European" that the British don't have, they are more Australian than European if forced to compare.
Christianity is practiced in many countries elsewhere.
Germanic language? You do know the English language is considered inferior by 90% of Europe,
descent? Then Americans are Europeans.
Mentality? No, it is not that way, there is a mindset to being "European" that the British don't have, they are more Australian than European if forced to compare.
Christianity is practiced in many countries elsewhere.
Americans are not Europeans, but they are decandents of Europeans (namely English, Irish, German, Dutch, Spanish etc) and is culturally European, though not a part of Europe as North America is obviously a different continent. Same as with Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, the white South Africa etc, also decandents of Europeans.
What mindset are you talking about? People from each and every country in Europe thinks of themselves as being their own nationality in front of being European.
British are more Australian? Are you joking with me? Australians (the white ones) comes from the British Isles originally so of course they are similar as they are technically the same ethnicity. Would be like saying the Dutch are more like South African Boers (who are linguistically and historically Dutch) than "Europeans". The British are Europeans and Australians are European (British and Irish) decandents. The Dutch are Europeans and the Boers are European (mainly Dutch) decandents. Etc, etc.
How could Britain then be "the least European"?
The British Isles are in Europe, they are Christians (specifically: Protestant and Catholic, who both are European versions of Christianity) and they speak a Germanic language, which are very clear European traits. That they may be a little bit geographically seperated from the continent does not matter, cause by that definition Iceland and Malta (both of which are way further from the continent than the British Isles) as well as most of Denmark is not European either.
The UK is one of the core states of Western Europe. English is not considered inferior by 90% of Europe, infact in many other Western European countries the vast majority are even able to speak English. If something would be "the least European", I would say something like Albania or Chechnya.
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