"You do not earn respect by constantly denigrating and repudiating your own culture."
Cameron said that History should be taught properly in schools as a way of teaching immigrants what it means to be British.
June 21, 2007
Several years ago, I wrote an article in which I urged our school systems to teach Americanism so that we could reestablish our American culture. I remember several letters scolding me for this notion, but I got far more agreeing with my main point; without our shared American culture we cannot stand as a nation.
I got one letter from a Brit extolling the virtues of his country saying that they didn't "need to be British." He said that it was fully accepted that being British was a meaningless construct and they didn't need to be "British" there like we need to be "American" here. He was proud that they were somehow past all that "stuff and nonsense."
Then came the bombings of 7/7.
Now comes the young leader of the British Conservatives, David Cameron, making the self-same argument I made back in 2002, but for his own countrymen. He feels they must be taught "Britishness" once again...
Several years ago, I wrote an article in which I urged our school systems to teach Americanism so that we could reestablish our American culture. I remember several letters scolding me for this notion, but I got far more agreeing with my main point; without our shared American culture we cannot stand as a nation.
I got one letter from a Brit extolling the virtues of his country saying that they didn't "need to be British." He said that it was fully accepted that being British was a meaningless construct and they didn't need to be "British" there like we need to be "American" here. He was proud that they were somehow past all that "stuff and nonsense."
Then came the bombings of 7/7.
Now comes the young leader of the British Conservatives, David Cameron, making the self-same argument I made back in 2002, but for his own countrymen. He feels they must be taught "Britishness" once again...
posted by jillosophy at 6/21/2007 09:08:00 AM
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