British Culture

I met this Brit abroad the other day who quite happily updated me on the apparent decay of British Society over a seemingly lengthy hour or two! As I cowered in the corner hoping that his spittle would not drown me I listened attentively whilst making appropriate noises of encouragement.

As I live for the most part in Taiwan I have not followed closely the events of life back home. I have subconsciously noted that the Dutch consider Britain as the best comedy show in town, that the French have giggling parties in our honour and that basically the rest of world just find us a big joke! I have though never realised that the British do not actually have a definable culture anymore, or so it is being rumoured on British Television, radio and in media circles!

This gentleman with a tree trunk on his shoulders sprouted at me; "Religious studies at school no longer resemble an explanation of world cultures, they have become propaganda material for alternative religions and supposed multi-cultural societies. Children are being forced to believe that the only culture they will have is anything but British" . He based this last utterance on a teacher in Devon who publicly said, "and if I could I would move to Leicester as they have a better multi-cultural society than down here"!

I admit that in recent years we have played lapdog to America whilst being knocked about by a bullying Europe, but I never for one minute presumed that British Culture was being dented or as the angry Brit suggested no longer existent! He used a recent radio talk show as an example of this recent disappearance of culture; a lady of recent arrival in Britain was talking to the host of the show about her culture and how she maintains it whilst living in the UK. An angry Brit who decided to call-in and voice his opinion was quickly shot down in flames by the host who himself sounded like he had just stepped off an airplane from Somalia! The upset Brit suggested to the foreign-cultured lady that since she is now living in Britain she should try and accept the British Culture as hers! The host of the show was not having any of this and responded quickly by stating that Britain does not have its own defined culture. The angry Brit, being totally unprepared for this line of attack, dug an immediate grave for himself as he tried to respond by listing some points that might constitute a culture. Unfortuantely, he only confirmed to all listeners that Britain does not after all have a culture, unless one of 'erms, ahs and you know' was the basis of therein.

What on earth is wrong with the British Culture that I thought existed? It stood us well for hundreds of years before today and it has been passed down through generations, fortified over time with spilt blood and booze as armies ravaged the world under banners of glory, to return home to god, the children and Haggis, Cornish pasties or Cheshire cheese and a pint of the good old stuff! Certainly, not all was well in the past, but generally the local Bobby (pig, flal-foot, policeman, nicker, copper) kept communities in check, a good whack on the rump kept the children on the right side of the line and life seemed to have order and pattern! British Culture was to me little things like calling the strip of water dividing France and England as the English Channel whilst the French call the French Channel, like having democracy and the ability to feel strong on the world stage. My memories of a culture during childhood were the fights after school was out, playing truant and earning money on my morning paper round. Nicknames, swear words and making joke phone calls to numbers picked from the phone book! Holidays in Anglesey milking cows and suffering the cold of the North Sea in some weird attempt to pretend that it was warm!

I had a culture and until I last looked it was still there.

I would not go as far as suggesting that Britain no longer has a culture. In fact it might be safer to suggest that it now has two cultures! The first and most is the supposed multi-cultural one, the one not based on centuries of tradition and fortification. It seems that this new culture is now presiding over the other! This newer culture has roots that only travel back a few years and whose ingredients are a mixture of those brought in from abroad by immigrants and foreigners who are unwilling to let go of that which they escaped from for better things. It is a diluted culture, weak, insufficient and without direction, a culture that allows human failings to propagate, a social decline that is aided freely and willingly by those who receive and those who control. Yet it is still a culture! Maybe it has no direction, it is sick to the heart and it gets worse daily, yet it is a culture and somewhere amongst that dilution might be found something that might possibly be put forward as being British!

Then there is the other culture, the one co-existing silently beneath the other. One that is not acknowledged by the masses (if they even know it exists) and one that was given to me by my parents who suffered a World War under the name of Britain, who struggled through recession and hard times to clothe and feed me as best they were able and who have seen their pension funds reduced to pennies before they retired. I will not allow the culture that I was formed by to be trampled underfoot and forgotten about despite radio talk show hosts who see otherwise and I will pass onto my children the culture that I believe is still called the 'True British Culture'. It may not be dominant, it may be hard to find but hey, its mine and I won't give it up!

Least of all I will give to my children morals, values and respect - just a few of the ingredients that are seemingly remiss in the other culture that presides!

Mr Brit abroad, maybe you have a point, what was it again?