3 ms·

> It's a fairly stereotypical British trait to be self deprecating. If we were singlehandedly saving the world from a rogue asteroid the general sentiment would

• VBprogrammer 6y ago
  It's an interesting question. I'm sure you could probably do a study and find that on average British people are no more self-deprecating than the average; and yet it does appear as one of those commonly accepted parts of the British psyche.
• blibble 6y ago
  Orwell noticed it 75 years ago: > England is perhaps the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality. In left-wing circles it is always felt that there is something slightly disgraceful in being an Englishman and that it is a duty to snigger at every English institution, from horse racing to suet puddings. It is a strange fact, but it is unquestionably true that almost any English intellectual would feel more ashamed of standing to attention during ‘God save the King’ than of stealing from a poor box. though since the 2016 vote the visible self-loathing on the internet has vastly increased it's utterly relentless and I personally find it extremely boring that any articles with any positive mention of the UK (no matter how slight) are always swamped with the same self-loathing commenters
• Ichthypresbyter 6y ago
  "England is perhaps the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality. In left-wing circles it is always felt that there is something slightly disgraceful in being an Englishman and that it is a duty to snigger at every English institution, from horse racing to suet puddings. It is a strange fact, but it is unquestionably true that almost any English intellectual would feel more ashamed of standing to attention during ‘God save the King’ than of stealing from a poor box." -The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius, George Orwell, 1941.