Monday, April 23, 2012

On Being English

Today is the Feast of St. George, and Paul Weston has written an essay at the British Freedom website in honor of the occasion.

Knaresborough seen from the Castle

On Being English
by Paul Weston


Despite the fact that British Freedom believes in our 300 year-old union, I will make an exception allowed by St George’s day to write specifically about England — and I write as a proud Englishman.

I will not bore and depress you with details of the many anti-English forces acting against us. Rather, I will outline just why Cecil Rhodes so memorably stated that ”To be born an Englishman is to win first prize in the lottery of life.”

When the world twice descended into warfare and savagery over the last century, the English were on the right side. We were instrumental in defeating Kaiser Wilhelm’s imperialism and we stood alone when we declared war on Adolf Hitler’s Germany — whilst Adolf himself dreamed only of an Anglo-Germanic empire.

Even in war, we retained our decency. The Quisling left will mock this, of course, but by which side would a surrendering soldier prefer to be taken prisoner? The English, of course. Not for us the inhumanity of the SS, be they German or Lithuanian. Not for us the death camps of the Japanese and not for us the Russian rape of Berlin women. And why not? Because we are English, that’s why not.

After the War, when the left-wing Socialists took up where Hitler left off, so the English again came down on the right side of history. Admittedly we had our own Communists/Socialists (just as we have today, personified by the UAF, Hope Not Hate etc) but not for us the Gulags, the torture, the genocide, the shattered lives, the broken families, the destroyed infrastructure and environment — for us it was still Farmer Giles in the countryside, still the boisterous workingmen’s clubs and still the bowler hats and umbrellas in the city.

And what of Empire? Well, whether one agrees with Empire or not, there can be no argument that after Independence the countries which retained our democratic and judicial systems went on to forge their successful way in the world. Some chose to discard our values and became pestilent hell-holes such as Somalia, some never had the good fortune to be ruled by us and were consequently unable to prosper. What is the difference between hellish Haiti and bountiful Barbados? Simply put, English values.

Whilst on the subject of empire and colonialism, I have a quick question for the liberal/left: Why is it considered racist to colonise other people’s countries, but also racist to resist the colonisation of one’s own country? If this question can be answered without mentioning self-hatred, anti-white/English hatred or treason, I would love to hear your polite and well argued thoughts…

An Englishman was responsible for the abolition of slavery. The zeal of William Wilberforce drove this accomplishment, enforced by the Royal Navy, and although we are still blamed for the evil practice, not enough is said to our schoolchildren about our role in stopping it, nor about the role played by Arabs in their attempts to continue it. How many schoolchildren are aware that Saudi Arabia only signed up to the abolition of slavery in 1973?

The free world owes everything to England. The Anglosphere, the English-speaking nations — consisting of America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand — are all rooted in the values of England. They represent freedom, liberty and wealth — attributes not in plentiful supply in much of the world where English values have had little impact.

These English attributes are made manifest in the Third World. The schools, the charities, the infrastructure projects, the doctors and the volunteers — not all English of course, but from the Anglosphere in the main, all driven by a sense of fair play, decency and altruism, and again derived in the main from ancient England.

Football, cricket, tennis, rugby, snooker — invented by the English and taken around the globe. Again, there is no doubt the liberal/left will sneer at this, but with English sport came the underlying ethos of bravery, sacrifice, teamwork, honesty and fair play, all combined to foster the basic ideologies imperative in fully functioning, free and democratic nations.

And what of the modern world? The English built it. The industrial revolution began in England and enabled the Anglosphere to progress from subsistence for the masses to affluence and lifestyles the rest of the world could only dream of. The inventions and the inventors behind so much of what we take for granted today came from us, from the English, from England.

When Prime Minister John Major reflected on his country, he was subjected to ridicule, but what he said resonated with the majority of English people, the main exception being the liberal/leftists whose central role in life appears to be the destruction of all that we hold dear.

What is England? It really is cricket matches on drowsy summer days; football and rugby matches in the pouring rain; drinks and jokes around a blazing fire in an ancient pub; the magnificent architecture in our cities; Richmal Crompton’s “William”; the rolling hills of Devon on misty mornings; the ancient churches in the smallest of picturesque villages; the orderly queues; the museums; the love of animals; P G Wodehouse; thatched cottages; the gentle calm of the people; the green fields of England viewed from the aeroplane after a holiday in sunnier climes; the cheerfulness and stiff upper lip; ancient hedgerows; stoicism; Remembrance Sunday; irony and gentle humour; aristocratic eccentricities; the seasons, torrential autumnal rain and the first real day of summer; ancient Regimental flags in cool and calm churches; the first sea of bluebells and daffodils; the fanfare of royal events; picture perfect fishing villages; our ancient and unbroken history; Magna Carta; Common Law; the Royal Tournament; the bravery and efficiency of our armed forces; the Lancaster, Hurricane, Spitfire flypast; the growl of the Merlin Engine; tea shops in the Cotswolds; dry stone walls; fields filled with cows and sheep; parks and village ponds with ducks and geese; Freedom, Liberty, Order, Manners, Civility, Efficiency, Decency and Morality.

All in all, not bad for a tiny little country which makes up less than 1% of the world’s habitable land mass and contains less than 1% of the world’s population. No other country in the world can claim to have so consistently been on the right side of good and evil. No other country in the world can claim to have built the modern world. No other country in the world has exerted so much influence over all other countries, as has England.

I appreciate that there are exceptions to some of the above, that aspects of which I speak have already passed away at the insistence of “progressive” policies, and that the English and England are not without guilt over some aspects of their history, but today is St George’s day, so please allow me a level of jingoism unfettered.

We, the English, built the modern world in all its inherent decency, freedom, tolerance, morality, fairness, forgiveness and altruism; its richness in art, music, literature, dance, finance, technology, science, philosophy and medicine. But most importantly, to a brutal world with an almost perpetual history of savagery, we brought liberty and freedom, paid for with the blood of our young men who made the ultimate sacrifice for its continuation.

When weighed on the scales of history, England can only be judged as a very special country. My immediate ancestors fought for England and we cannot allow our present day clutch of traitor class politicians to hand over our bloodily defended freedoms and sovereignty to unelected politicians in Europe, all seeped in the self-same Socialist ideology that has inflicted so much human misery and suffering over the last century.

How dare our liberal rulers disparage our English values and culture, values that allow them to live their lives in peace?

How dare they invite in and appease the political/religious ideology of Islam?

How dare the Muslims display their base ingratitude and pathological temerity when they call upon us, to bend to their barbaric ways?

How dare these followers of a 7th Century desert warrior look at our decency and our tolerance as symptoms of English weakness to be duly exploited at our children’s expense?

We cannot let them. England is too important to be erased from the pages of modern history. The English are too valuable a people to allow this to happen. When I write of England, it may well be through rose-coloured glasses, but to me all of the above is England, it is my England, it is your England, and once again, history beckons us to defend it.


Paul Weston is Chairman of the British Freedom Party.

Previous posts:

2007 Jan 22 The Week Britain Died
    26 Britain’s Dystopian School Children
  Feb 2 Questioning the Sanity of Liberals
  Mar 1 Multiculturalism — Merits and Debits
    31 Is European Civil War Inevitable by 2025?
  Jun 26 The Big Story That Isn’t
  Aug 10 An Open Letter to Fellow Europeans
    24 A Brussels Perspective
  Sep 12 Democratic Europe R.I.P.
  Nov 2 The Coming Third World War
    21 Cool War — Warm War — Hot War: Part 1
    29 Cool War — Warm War — Hot War: Part 2
2008 Mar 27 The Face of Moderate Islam in Britain
2009 Feb 9 Wilders in Wonderland
    13 Who is Lord Ahmed?
    25 Temporary Peace Trumps Freedom of Speech
  Jul 1 Muslims, Mosques and Mosquitoes
    2 Islam, the BBC, and Young Children
    8 Review of “A Bridge Too Far”
    17 Socialist Propaganda in British Education
  Oct 15 Multiculturalism Has Destroyed the British Police
2010 Mar 16 Ethnically Cleansing the English
  Oct 7 Banana Republic Britain
    30 “We Will Hold You to Account”
  Dec 5 The Metaphorical Front Line of Islam
    5 The West Needs to Wake Up
    7 Land for Peace — Or Land for a Terror State?
2011 May 20 Why Is This Not Treason?
  Jun 1 One Week in the Death of Britain
  Jul 11 The Multi-Layered Betrayal of Britain
    29 The BBC, Breivik, the EDL and Islam
  Aug 7 Down’s Syndrome Babies, Sarah Palin and the BBC
  Sep 5 Clone These Men!
  Nov 27 The Totalitarian EU Tightens Its Grip
  Dec 6 One Rule for Them, One Rule for Us
    7 Muslim Misogyny, Feminist Indifference
    13 Interview with Paul Weston
2012 Jan 10 Racism and Media Double Standards in Britain
    13 How To Destroy A Country — Part 1
    14 How To Destroy A Country — Part 2
    15 How To Destroy A Country — Part 3
  Feb 20 “We Ran Out of Other People’s Money”
  Mar 1 NER Interview with Paul Weston
    1 Unite Against Freedom!
    2 Form Letter to MPs Who Endorse Unite Against Fascism
    2 Transforming Britain Into Lebanon
    12 Paul Weston: The CAN Interview
    13 Representing the Ideology and Law of Sharia
    15 Does Moderate Islam Really Exist?
    28 Muslim Paedophiles, Feminists and Future Civil War
    30 George Galloway, Islam and Britain’s Future
  Apr 12 Paul Weston at the British Freedom Party Meeting

48 comments:

Lawrence said...

The free world owes everything to England. The Anglosphere, the English-speaking nations — consisting of America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand — are all rooted in the values of England.

… primarily rooted in the values of the Protestant Reformation, elevating the average person equal in political vote to the clergy and to the government. Wherein the root-values of modern Democracy.

These English attributes are made manifest in the Third World. The schools, the charities, the infrastructure projects, the doctors and the volunteers —

… again, the impact of the average person's equality with respect to the clergy and the government.

Not all English of course, but from the Anglosphere in the main, all driven by a sense of fair play, decency and altruism, and again derived in the main from ancient England.

… not so much ancient England, but rather post Reformation England.

but with English sport came the underlying ethos of bravery, sacrifice, teamwork, honesty and fair play, all combined to foster the basic ideologies imperative in fully functioning, free and democratic nations.

… the games of skill and fair-play derived from Greek/Roman precedents and Reformation Theology regarding equality and fairness.

And what of the modern world? The English built it. The inventions and the inventors behind so much of what we take for granted today came from us, from the English, from England.

… in parallel with German industrial technologies and a common industrial revolution in The States. We must acknowledge credit to the English industrial mind-set which set the precedent in context of industrial initiative and cultural maturity. German's focus on industrial technology couldn't over-come England's greater cultural maturity, initiative and creativity.

>>>

Point being it wasn't the English government which did this. It was the English people, and like mined industrialists and culturalists in other nations.

Mary Jackson said...

And -- lest we forget -- self-deprecation. The English can self-deprecate the rest of the world into a cocked hat.

Qualis Rex said...

No disrespect to the them of this article, but to comment on the previous poster, the Reformation ideologies (plural, since there are many...not one) brought anything BUT equality. All one needs to do is compare the indegenous populations of the countries settled by Protestants with those settled by Catholics and you will see there was no equality. Racial superiority was the rule of law in Anglophone (see: Protestant) countries up til the very recent past. And you can ask any Irishman on how they fared under Cromwell or subsequent Protestant regimes to gauge your hypothesis of equality (hint: it was nonexistant).

Rose colored glasses don't fare well in the light.

doxRaven said...

I am reminded of the famous quote from a poem
"Am Englishen Wesen soll die Welt genesen"

Shakespeare wasn't it?

I think the same impassioned rallying cry that Paul gives of England, an Ancient Roman or Egyptian would have given at the decline of their empire.

No country whatever its history can withstand the destructive force of hyper-migration sold under the genocidal lie of cultural enrichment. Thus could it not be argued that England, with all its cultural achievements, is ironically also the agent of its own demise.

Anonymous said...

Spot on Paul Weston.

Bob Smith
Chicago

Anonymous said...

I think you'll find there were quite a few Scots involved in the many achievements listed by the chairman of the British Freedom Party.

Time to rename your party, Paul?

Btw you forgot to mention 1966.

Anonymous said...

Paul, you need to do a little more research, you sound about as credible as Obama did in Cairo.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Scots-Invented-Modern-World/dp/0609606352/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1335213545&sr=8-2

Anonymous said...

And given British treatment of Rhodesia, well, now you know exactly what it feels like to build a country up from scratch, and then have it torn down by political correctness and liberal Anglo guilt.

Sorry, Brits, you get no sympathy from me.

Paul Weston said...

Of course Scotland was instrumental in all that Britain achieved, but today is St Georges day, so as I said in the article, please allow me a little jingoistic patriotism!

Paul Weston said...

There were a great many supporters of Rhodesia's Ian Smith in Britain, but 1980 was not Margaret Thatcher's finest year, it is true.

However, don't confuse the Brits with their Quisling politicians. I remain ashamed about selling out Rhodesia, but am saddened that my sympathy is not reciprocated by the commenter above.

Anonymous said...

okay Paul So long as youndon't go all Jimmy Hill on us ...

btw St. George is an interestibg character. Did you know he's associated with Gozo & Malta too?

Anonymous said...

Paul Weston,


I agree with your comments about the importance of English and British institutions, particularly to Britain's former settler colonies. 100 years ago, Argentina was predicted to leave Australia far behind in economic development. However the country was crippled by Spanish political and social institutions and and has remained in the Third World despite its natural and demographic advantages.

I can't help expressing some irritation at the 'Britain stood alone' mantra---where was the Empire? Canadians, Australians, NewZealanders, Indians and others from the Empire fought in the British armed forces and as allies in WW2. They seem to have been forgotten and become 'British' in victory unless of course, when there's a debacle such as Singapore and it's all the 'colonials' fault.

Britain was supplied with war an enormous amount of war materiel by the US, the country was never, at any stage, during the war, 'alone.'

As to the EU, if that institution is as nasty as it's depicted by some commentators, it was, after all, your compatriots' choice to give the Commonwealth the finger and join, so 'bad luck'.

Russell JW

Qualis Rex said...

Paul, I commend your article and spirit in which it was written. Britain does retain some positive qualities and it is one of the countries that has made a positive impact to the world. But I think it is a bit disingenuous to blame all bad decisions and social issues on immigrants or "quisling politicians". At some point, shouldn't the population itself be held accountable for voting in and keeping such politicians in office? And when the most basic of Christian RIGHTS such as the freedom to wear a cross around their neck or hang a sign that says "Merry Christmas" in the office is taken away by the government with no massive outrage (see: Italy when the EU said no to crosses in class) who then should be blamed?

As much as British like to rally against the EU and Europe in general, the harsh truth is through all the years I lived in London, the population has more similarity with Northern Europe at this point than anyone is comfortable admitting; atheist, amoral, infertile, docile, left-leaning, uncreative and increasingly reliant on subsidies. I know this sounds harsh, but it's not an admonision on Britain alone; as I said, it is pervasive across the West.

Until the realities of the present are dealt with HONESTLY, reliance on pride due to past accomplishments rings hollow (Greeks are notorious for this...is that who you really want to emulate here?).

St George pray for us.

Anonymous said...

As for the EU: Ted Heath didn't hail from north of Hadrian's wall, that's for sure.

Nemesis said...

Bravo Mr. Weston! You have highlighted those special ingredients which propelled England forward that most of the preceding commentors have missed in recognizing as instrumental to English dominance. Those special ingredients could only come from a people who truly appreciated individual freedom and went into making a small Island into what was once a world empire on which the Sun never set. An empire which gave birth to a number of nations that are now beginning to be recognized for the importance that they truly represent and the opportunities they present as a bulwark against the United Nations agenda of creeping socialism being aided and abetted by third world immigration, the Anglosphere.

Your outpouring of jingoism has been welcomed by me.

Anonymous said...

There were Rhodesians (by the way, the larget PER CAPITA manpower commitment to the Armed Forces in the Empire, I believe) as well as South Africans of all races, and let's not forget the fine black soldiers of the Rhodesian African Rifles, let's remember the brave black soldiers of the King's African Rifles. And the Gurkhas, and many, many non-whites who fought and died protecting the British Empire in both World Wars. And the British sold so many of them out to commie bastards at the end of the war. Oh, and remember the Russians and Ukrainians that were handed over to Stalin in 1945.

These men all fought and died for the Empire because they believed in what it stood for - that overall, among so much evil and rot throughout the world before and since, that by an accident of their birth, they got to share in the glory that was Britain. .And in the end, where was the Empire they had fought so hard to save, when they needed her most?

Perhaps, Mr Weston, you were wrong in your assessment.

Anonymous said...

@Nemesis,

Another Jimmy Hill, eh ...

Here's something else.

And another.

And another.

How about this chap?

Anonymous said...

And don't get me started on Scottish engineers ...

Andrew Meikle, Thomas Telford, James Watt, William Douglas Weir, James Young, etc ...

Anonymous said...

Typing code on an iPad ... David Hume? John Muir?

Anonymous said...

David Livingstone

Anonymous said...

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, J.M. Barrie, Robert Louis Stevenson.

Profitsbeard said...

And Shakespeare's sonnets, Swift's "Gulliver", David Hume's critique of philosophy, Blake's "Tyger, Tyger", Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein", Charlie Chaplin's "Tramp", H.G. Wells' "Time Traveler", Wilfred Owen's "Strange Meeting", A. Conan Doyle's "Sherlock Holmes", George Orwell's "Winston Smith", Alan Turing's "Test", The Beatles entire, Lucien Freud's "Popes", and a thousand equal influences that enriched the world from this green and pleasant land.

ZZMike said...

England certainly had a long history of making the world.

Today, it stands a faint shadow of its former self. Today, it is Formerly Great Britain.

It's been ruined by legions of umbrella-men, determined to turn it into Orwell's grim vision.

Today, you can be arrested for defending yourself against yobs. You can be arrested for displaying your Christianity; for suggesting that Islam is not the most perfect form of society; for a host of other things that free men in free countries take for granted.

Lord Nelson would weep if he saw England today. Wellington would be dismayed. Churchill might wonder if things would be any worse had the Germans conquered.

Anonymous said...

@ Anonymous (4/23/2012 9:01 PM)

Yes, and the Polish airmen who were a significant percentage of the RAF 'Few' who saved Britain in 1940. They weren't allowed to march in the VE parade---apparently it would have offended Stalin.

They also became 'British' in victory.

Germany is winning the current battle for Europe.

Tim said...

My My. What a lot of bitter commentators we have here then. You just cannot let the English claim credit for one single thing can you?
There was an English Empire before there was a British one.
Let us not forget the Act of Union which rescued an impoverished Scotland. I am sure that someone is now going to try and put the blame on the English for that as well, however much they might have to twist things to do so.
The sense of fair play derives from the Old English (Anglo Saxon) ideals (Battle of Maldon anyone?), and then spread around and is now known as the 'British' sense of fair play.
It wasn't just the Irish that re-Christianized Europe, the English had a fair part to play in it too. In fact, when Charlemagne wanted to forcibly convert people it was his chief advisor the Englishman St Alcuin who put a stop to that.
Beowulf, a classic and widely acknowledged as unsurpassed by any nation of the time.
The Vikings themselves said that in battle one Englishman was worth two Vikings.
Why was James I of England (James VI of Scotland) chosen? Because he was descended from the Anglo Saxon kings and queens of England. What did James I go on to do? Ordered the Authorized Version (written in English) of the bible which went on to do more good than any other translation.
There are occasions in our history when we have nothing to be proud of, but show me one nation on Earth that cannot say the same thing.
However, the occasions when we accomplished far more than we should have done, far more than anyone else, are occasions we have more than every right to be proud, and St George's Day is the one day in the year we should be allowed to celebrate that fact. But apparently some people have such big chips on their shoulders that we aren't even to be allowed that one day.
One thing is certain. We are not, nor ever have been, European. We have always been different to them, and hopefully always will be.

Papa Whiskey said...

Regarding the presentation of Rhodesia to that purple-faced baboon Mugabe, the shameful role of the United States and its then-president Jimmy Carter should be neither minimized nor forgotten.

Anonymous said...

Adam Smith. Author of The Wealth of Nations. Father of modern economics and capitalism.

Anonymous said...

So Paul, now that your day of jingoism has passed, are you as leader of the British Freedom Party going to write a non-jingoistic article which acknowledges the many Scottish inventors, philosophers, explorers, soldiers & writers who have played a role in making Britain and her culture great?

Or was that really an 'Obama in Cairo' moment?

Anonymous said...

yes, 303 squadron. those were some boys.

Anonymous said...

Talking of pilots, and talking of St. George, many of the outstanding pilots stationed on Malta during the war came from countries that were not England.

George Buerling for example.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Beurling

I can recommend 'Fortress Malta' by James Holland as a reminder of what is possible if men and women from many different countries come together and make a stand. And that must be the name of the game here.

'Multiculturalism' can work.

http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=143308

Anonymous said...

@Tim,

Don't forget Bobby Moore and 1966!

TATTIE BOGO said...

Lots of in fighting it seems here coming from a rightly proud Scot, pride comes before a fall you English & Scots, Scotland has more Islamic people residing there than England has per capita, and would be especially within its big city of Glasgow and its environs. So please enough of the waxing lyrical about suer days and the smack of leather on willow, tea and scones and Tam O Shanter and the likes, lets concentrate on the oppressive, barbaric, intolerant that is as we speak making machinations towards our cultural demise right under our noses.

Anonymous said...

@Tim, You're fantasising. One could just as easily assert that you are 'bitter' because some inconvenient truths have bee drawn to your attention. But that has nothing to do with anything - in either direction.

The fact is that the head of the BRITISH Freedom Party has made several statements about England standing alone, inventing the modern world, creating the notions of freedom and democracy, and shedding the blood of Englishmen to fight the forces of darkness during WWII. The sound of Merlin engines flying past, etc.

The thing is the English were not alone in any of that. Inventors & engineers - Andrew Meikle, Thomas Telford, James Watt, William Douglas Weir, James Young. Values/morals/philosophy - David Hume, Adam Smith. Exporting same to the rest of the world - David Livingstone, John Muir, etc. As for fighting & dying in WWII, & the sound of Merlin engines - there were some terrific English pilots (Laddie Lucas, Adrian Warburton) but many young men who flew Spitfires came from elsewhere (Buck McNair, George Beurling, 303 Squadron to name but a few.)

Even St. George isn't uniquely 'English'.

These are just facts. Deal with them any way you like.

Nick said...

this story was on GoV a few days ago.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-17761573

one of many

If you ever visit the IWM in London you will find a sign on the first floor saying that the merchant navy was actually the most dangerous service to be in during the war. An awful lot of Scots joined the merchant navy during WWII, as well as fishermen doing minesweeping duties aboard fishing boats and so on..

But hey, lets forget about all that & dream about Merlin engines & what it means to be English eh ... we stood alone ... aye, right!

Nick said...

As for greeting about Europe, I've just got two word for you -Ted Heath.

Nick said...

Read this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Scottish_Victoria_Cross_recipients

Anonymous said...

interestingly, if yousail around the coast of Britain, you will see evidence of the work of the Stevenson family.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Stevenson_(civil_engineer)

http://www.robert-louis-stevenson.org/lighthouses

The grandson became a writer. You might have heard of him...

stella barbut said...

And of course the victorious British who won freedom for the free world did not know what to do with the "excess Jews " as they blithely called them, left over from the Holocaust

Anonymous said...

For sure the Scottish and English peoples are superior to the tawdry British state that demands their submission.

21st Century English nationalism generated in the Scottish political powerhouse.

While the Chief, puts Sunshine On Leith, I'll thank him for his work and your birth and my birth.

Jolie Rouge

Lawrence said...

Qualis Rex said...

No disrespect to the them of this article, but to comment on the previous poster, the Reformation ideologies (plural, since there are many...not one) brought anything BUT equality.


Partly True. It didn't bring equality, but it did foster the concept.

Prior to the Reformation, the Clergy sat above the people and above the government (except for the Emperor) but even then the Emperor was considered the political head of the church if not the theological head.

Post Reformation was forged the current cultural precedents that the average person is viewed equally in God's eyes with respect to church and government leadership.

>>>

A deep study of the Reformation is necessary to cut through all the modern mis-representations of the greater event as it shaped (and shapes) modern Western/Christian Culture.

Lawrence said...

U.S. may have fought a war against England, but we have a lot to credit England for in our growth and development since then.

We must recognize the contributions of the English - Methodist circuit riders who helped establish the Christian identity of the Pioneers who conquered North America for the U.S.

Not everyone is Methodist, but it was those circuit riders who brought the Bible along with the immigrants expanding across the Great Plains.

It is this central cultural identity which opened the door for other denominations to flourish and grow along-side those circuit riders.

It is this same free-cultural identity that is in irect conflict with the burgeoning atheist-socializations spreading across Europe and infecting North America.

Conflicts drawing clear battle lines between liberals and conservatives, believers and non-believers, democracies and autocracies.

Tim said...

Thanks for endorsing my comment 'Anonymous'. Why hide? The people you mentioned, do you honestly think they would have been able to achieve what they did had the Union not taken place?

You mentioned 1966. I'm not even going to go there. It's one of the most boring pathetic games I've ever seen in my life and if I wanted to watch paint dry I'd have become a painter and decorator.

"Even St. George isn't uniquely 'English'."

So what? Neither was St Andrew a Scot. Nor was St Patrick even Irish. So what's your point?

Chaucer, Wycliffe, Tyndale, Shakespeare, Milton, Tennyson, Babbage, Joseph Locke, George Stephenson, Nelson... Brunanburgh, Stamford Bridge, Crecy, Agincourt, Flodden Field (Ouch!), The Armada, Lowestoft...The flushing toilet, smallpox vaccination, electric motor, railway locomotive, World Wide Web…

The lists are actually seriously long. Shall I continue?

In WW2 it was the English people, and only the English people, that bore the brunt of German aggression due to our proximity to the continent. One of my Great-grandfathers served in WW1. Both my grandfathers served in both World Wars (1 and 2). My father worked alongside Barnes-Wallis.

Ideas of individual liberty and freedom began with the English. Have you not heard of Magna Carta, English Common Law, the English Bill of Rights 1689? The entire Anglosphere, our unique bond, should celebrate St George's Day.

I'm not too impressed with your grasp of history (I mean Wikipedia! Honestly? lol), nor your understanding of the point I was trying to make, which I thought was perfectly clear.

"Essentially English history did not start with the Romans or the Normans. It was the Anglo-Saxons who created the monarchy and culture we still have today…. Everything that is wonderful and useful in England, from the language to the constitution, is traceable to them” (David Starkey - Historian)

I was reading Vlad Tepes blog whilst writing this and came across a newspaper article he linked to. I won't reproduce the link here but it is available - "With apologies to St George" - on his site. Here however is a quote from said article:

"After all, what did the English ever do for the world? Apart from give it the planet’s most popular language, obviously … and the greatest playwright who ever lived (it’s Will’s day too, by the way) … and parliamentary democracy, common law, the abolition of slavery, the steam and jet engines, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, James Bond and Harry Potter. Yes, but apart from that … and Winston Churchill, Winnie-the-Pooh, Charles Dickens, police officers, postage stamps, the mini-skirt, the Mini car, the Rolls Royce, football, rugby, cricket, tennis, the Spitfire, four of the world’s Top 10 universities and the World Service … Apart from all that – oh, and about 100 Nobel laureates – it’s quite clear that this is an absolutely rubbish country that should spend most of its time apologising to everyone for absolutely everything it’s ever done"

Stella Barbut mentioned the Jewish people. The entire world should hold their heads in collective shame over the treatment meted out to them. However, to yet again target the English as if we were the only people responsible for the appalling way they have been treated does nobody any favours and is extremely dishonest. Has no one heard of Frank Foley? How about Kinder-transport? No one would help us out, not even the USA. Sir Nicholas Winton? These are just a few examples. Then there were people such as Rabbi Weissmendl and his ten questions. And if you know your history then you should also know that the period between the First World War and 1945 was not the USA's finest moment where Antisemitism is concerned either.

No country can claim sainthood, but we are occasionally allowed to celebrate some of our achievements..

Anonymous said...

"In WW2 it was the English people, and only the English people, that bore the brunt of German aggression due to our proximity to the continent."

Not the Polish people, right? Nothing they went through was nearly as bad as what poor old Eng-er-land had to go through, eh?

Btw the English language starting with, & English history starting from the arrival of the Angles, Saxons & Jutes ... I always laugh when the English start crying about losing to Germany on penalties again. Because the English are half-German themselves, as you yourself have just pointed out.

To use your own logic: do you really think any English individual would have achieved what they did if they didn't have Germanic blood running through their veins?

Anonymous said...

Btw as a technical point: Wikipedia allows one to use nice short links (see advice immediately above comment form.)

And to ignore the facts of history, & the many individuals mentioned earlier, only reveals your own prejudices. That is all.

To do so and say you're doing so because someone has used Wikipedia to provide nice accessible links on a comments thread on a blog, is quite pathetic.

You haven't used any links, of any kind whatsoever, to support anything you've said. Using your own logic, what does that say about your own comments? That no one should take them seriously, no?

Btw if the head of the English Freedom Party - sorry that should be the British Freedom Party - says that it's St. George's day and therefore he is going to engage in a jingoistic flag-waving speech about how great Eng-er-land used to be, and it's pointed out that there are problems with a lot of what he's said, and that St. George isn't actually "English" anyway - and you really can't understand that - then that speaks volumes. About you, no one else.

Now if either you or the head of the British Freedom Party would care to provide a comment which addresses the legitimate points brought up earlier, I'll happily read it & respond accordingly.

Otherwise ... I'll let the facts speak for themselves.

stella barbut said...

All 'civilized' nations attending a conference held just before the start of the war to discuss the fate of the Jews, yawned their indifference in unison, proving their collective and uniform opinion of the Jews.
All nations should hang their heads in shame for ever, despite a few good deeds here and there.
Britian should hang its head lower than the others because it was on the spot blocking off the seas round Israel and physically preventing desperate men, women and children from reaching safety in their own 3000 year old country.
Not to mention Glubb Pashas and Lawrences of Arabia.
I was in no way lessening the culpability of the USA and other nations, but it was only the British who with cynical brutality, could refer to the few Jews who survived the Holocaust, in an official document, as "Surplus Jews "
This puts the seal of shame indelibly for all time on Britian foremost, and all the other civilized nations of the world.
Stella Barbut.

Anonymous said...

As far as England bearing the brunt of the Nazi war effort: In fact, Malta was the most bombed place on Earth during WWII. As already noted, there were some outstanding English pilots stationed on Malta, but there were a lot of pilots from other countries too.

http://www.maltaheroes.com/

There's nothing wrong with a bit of flag-waving now and again, but one needs to make accurate statements, and to remember the contributions made by everyone who fought against the Nazis during WWII.

TATTIE BOGO said...

Paul Weston always stimulates great debate with his writings, to that there is no doubt.

Anonymous said...

Stella: "This puts the seal of shame indelibly for all time on Britian foremost, and all the other civilized nations of the world."

Again, some Jews like some blacks concentrate on the WRONG items - such groups eternally blame and castigate white Christians who ultimately saved and secured the freedom of both Jews and blacks.

The lack of gratitude of some Jews and blacks towards all Christians and whites is wearing very thin.

Many white Christian Europeans and Americans (including some of my own relatives) suffered and died to secure freedom and prosperity for past and present Jews and blacks.

Just to make the point, how many Jews and blacks have suffered, died, and saved white Christian Europeans and Americans through the ages?

Do we see Israeli Jews invading Rhodesia or South Africa to save white Christian people from being oppressed and murdered by black African animists, atheists, and Muslims?

Do we see black Americans lobbying for or fielding a military to save black Africans from modern slavery?

A few years ago, my Congressman stated that the United States has more gang members than military soldiers! Imagine if black gang members fought for black Africans instead of against black and white Americans!

The point is that both Jews and blacks need to lose the eternal victim meme. It is up to blacks and Jews to save yourselves from evil! And, when white Christians help save Jews and blacks, those Jews and blacks should thank white Christians often and profusely.

On what basis do you feel that white Christians owe their lives and health to fight for Jews and blacks for the rest of time - with little to no thanks - but rather infinite criticism and carping?!

Egghead