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I’m currently reading a book about the history of the British Empire and I think this temperament is older. When Australian and Kiwi troops were called to suppo
by yakubin 3y ago
I’m currently reading a book about the history of the British Empire and I think this temperament is older. When Australian and Kiwi troops were called to support Britain in the first World War, they were baffled by how much shit the Brits were ok with taking from their superiors, while the Brits were surprised how undisciplined and prone to protest their Australian and Kiwi counterparts were. You can look even earlier. While France at the end of the XVIIIth century had a bloody revolution, which did make some people in Britain think about their lot in life, they ended up mostly just talking things over, making some mild reforms and that’s it.
So I don’t think it’s blitz. It’s an older trait of avoiding internal confrontation (which doesn’t seem to extend to the Irish who on a number of occasions throughout British history decided to either leave Britain for greener pastures, or were more willing to be a bit more aggressive).
- barrysteve 3y agoThe First Word War, was a British/European war though. You bet your bottom dollar, Australians are going to protest being sent to fight in Europe (unless they like the hunt, then it's a whole 'nother story). The Brits do internal confrontation, behind closed doors in private, and in negative inferences/sarcasm/irony in public. What Brits don't do, is go against the establishment, which is what most foreigners bump into on day one. And brits have the concept of something being 'not the done thing'. So you end up with a society that agrees on most things and has a fine line of disagreement that is invisibly negotiated... Good luck!
- tmjwid 3y agoMustn't grumble is in my opinion our national motto. We do have dissidence, but is met with contempt and apathy. Look at the national outrage over just stop oil stopping some cars on the a motorway. The rage was baffling, mass psychosis just took over the nation.
- bowsamic 3y agoLook at how Jeremy Clarkson reacted with anger that Megan had complaints about the royal family. He was absolutely feverish, animalistic
- gambiting 3y agoA lot of people did. The whole "how dare you" attitude was taken to an absolute extreme, it was as if she stabbed the queen personally for some people.
- barrysteve 3y agoCheeky as it may be to say... I always preffered Russel Crowe in Master and Commander as the ideal image of Brits, rather than a dressed up car salesman. Hammond and May are spiffing, but Clarkson too often, only shows up to the job and doesn't follow meaningfully through. What a world we live in where an Australian actor and director (Peter Weir) in Master and Commander put on a more realistic image for British values, than Clarkson's hundred-million-pound productions...
- bowsamic 3y agoI agree. Also read chapter 10 of Karl Marx Capital to see what British people were willing to put up with in Victorian times