davywavy | Travel the world, meet interesting people.

One interesting difference I’ve noticed between Britons and Americans is the different ways they appreciate their countries.
To put it bluntly – the less an American travels, the more they seem to love the good old US of A. The less an Englishman travels beyond our borders, the less he loves his homeland.
Now this is just a general rule, and I know there are exceptions, but it remains remarkably true of those people who I have met. Go to America, and if you meet someone insisting that the US is the best place in the world, you can usually draw a graph displaying the inverse relationship between the distance they’ve travelled beyond their borders and their conviction of the greatness of their homeland.
Conversely, the more loudly a Briton insists what a hellhole England is, the less likely it is that they’ve seen anything of the world.
I could make some very trenchant observations as to why this should be, but I’m interested in hearing other peoples views as well, so comment away.

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...that sounds pretty darn accurate.

That's really unsettlingly true.

Brits are an island nation with a long, often great, history 'behind' them. Most feel that the best is over, no longer a great power, no longer the empire upon which the sun never sets. The english are the butt of jokes - while scots have a positive cultural identiy [along with welsh/irish etc] the english don't - also a nation of warriors whom peace is not the prefered state - war, or activity, is when brits shine. peace.. nah. Brits have traveled the world, lived there and brougt back much of it to be integrated with the psyche - now trapped empireless on their little island they think back to better days, and are pesimistic - however the natural sense of humor is cynical, self depreciating - it isn't done to talk about how sucessful you are, how much money you earn to put yourself above the crowd, to praise yourself or what you have or where you live, tain't good manners don'cha know?

America is a continent as large as europe with multiple climates and few, but persistant, neighbors. they are a young nation on the upswing and without the cultural history they have started inventing it - the flag must be respected, cannot be defaced, they are aware others do not favor them and are reactionary in their preference for the USA - how do they know otherwise? They havn't gone places from the US, they came to America cause the rest of the world wasn't good enough! They make a big deal out of their ancestors moving to America, home of the free, and how much better it was, and is. They boast of what they have & what they are because to suggest otherwise is herasy - America the Great, where most kiddies make the pledge to the flag, hand over heart, every morning. And they believe.

Not sure I'd agree with all of that; the English have a cultural identity so deeply ingrained that I don't think we're even aware of it any more. This is highlighted by the fact that the Scots/Welsh/irish et al all define their cultural identities by the differences to - and conflicts with - the English. I'd argue instead that the English cultural identity is still in the ascendant, and so the only way to really see it is to counterpoint it against that of others.

I don't see also why the feeling of being a declining power would result in people that travel appreciating England that much more when thay come back?

English Identity: how would you describe being 'english'?

Not being British by birth or much by upbringing I can't answer this. I have come across, on a radio program?, a study that looked into mental health/cultural identity in Scotland compared to England and found that very few English came up with positive descriptions of being English, as opposed to British.

I don't see also why the feeling of being a declining power would result in people that travel appreciating England that much more when thay come back?

The idea [random and shootable :)] is that Brits have a glorified idea of the rest of the world that they once owned, which they compare to the detriment of current reality. Once they go and actually see the reality of the far away places they can more accurately compare it to reality at home, and hence are happier with home.

However I also think it may simply be cultural - Brits are a self-deprciating lot and hence deride 'home', but once having travelled and come in contact with other cultures who are proud of home, the visiting Brits become less self-depreciating and more positive.

Maybe the English just hope that somewhere, somehow there is something better over the water, whereas the Americans are content to sit at home because they know everywhere else is shit (possibly because they've contributed to making it that way)

And this from an American and a former Oxonian. :)

I'll throw in a related quote for good measure:

"When nations grow old, the arts grow cold, and commerce settles on every tree." - William Blake.

I think, Britain has, for the most part, learnt the real value of commerce, that it is a means to an end - the US has not.

Travel the world, meet interesting people.

Now that I think of it...

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Much randomness

Re: Much randomness

Re: Much randomness

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Very accurate