Alfonso Bedoya said:
You know... I hear that a lot... England has a lot to be ashamed of... like empire, and slavery and blah, blah...
Those are traits of man kind... not just England...
The fact is... it was the way of the times... advances in sailing technology and naval tactics, opened up the whole world to exploration and colonial expansion... if England had done nothing at all... it still would have happened... by the Dutch, Spanish, French, etc... if Europe hadn't been first it would have been the Japanese... if it hadn't been the North, it would have been the South...
However, it was the North, it was Europe, and... at that particular time in history... England was the best... ashamed my arse... I'm fuckin proud of Empire... I'm not so proud of partition, and the like... but again... it was a neccessary evil of the social evolution of the whole world... that's the way things HAD to happen... it's only in hindsight that we can criticise history.
The Yanks can't be proud of Hiroshima either... but the sad, brutal truth is, the bomb was built to blow up... eventually, someone was going to get it... and only then would we see what a horrifying thing we'd done.
That's man for you.
But I love this country...
Thing is Alf, like you said, Empires don't come about by being nice to people. For many the legacy of the empire is fresh... and of course the empire still exists in some form. We're still being oppressed by our rulers, we're still fighting military campaign and have done consistently since WW2, we're chummed up nicely alongside the only superpower, America, and we're currently courting the next superpower, China
It's a complex issue, Englishness. We need to be able to accept the atrocities and appreciate the positive outcomes.
Obviously I'm biased, but I honestly believe that we would benefit greatly from having a strong, successful UK film industry as they are crucial in helping create a strong national identity. Look at Hollywood for example.
But there's s shitloads to be proud of other than the empire such as FREE healthcare for all (what's left of it), free legal representation for all (what's left of it), our committment to objective media via the BBC (what's left of it), free social housing for the vulnerable (what's left of it), education for all (so long as you're rich), freedom of expression (hah) etc.
Don't worry though, during Cameron's reign we will be at war with the Argies, again, and smash fuck out of Iran. Then national pride will be stonger than ever