I’ve had the following conversation on three separate occasions with three different Irish co-workers:
Man: Hiya, Anita. What did you do on your holiday?
Me: We spent the weekend in Dublin, and spent some time at museums and especially at Kilmainham jail. We heard a lot about the Easter Rising in 1916. During the week, we traveled to the West, around Galway and Connemara.
Man: And you liked it?
Me: We did, it was beautiful. But we joke that it could have been depressing because it was like a “Famine Tour.” We saw famine monuments, and we even finished the trip with a visit to the Famine Museum in Strokestown.
Man: So now you hate the British too!
25 Comments to “Do You Hate the British Too?”
27 August 2007
I don’t hate the British… Mostly because they make me laugh. That Austin Powers is hilarious.
27 August 2007
um - i don’t hate the british, they like tea. and scones. And i like the way they say ’schedule’
okay - so the whole oppression-of-many-through-their-empire-thing, is certainly a big strike against them. But tea and scones! tea and scones! and clotted cream!!
27 August 2007
I agree with Theodora about the scones. But here’s why even that is a reason to hate the British: They withold decent scones from this island! It’s just like everything else: the Irish send their best stuff to England, and get nothing in return.
I like Irish scones okay, but I have yet to find anything that approaches the delight of the perfectly ordinary scones that Anita and I had in Windsor.
28 August 2007
A trade deficit in tasty scones - a tragedy to be sure.
Umm…Willem…shouldn’t you be careful about even saying that, never mind committing it to writing?? Might you not be tossed into the Irish Sea and be told to make a swim for your precious Windsor scones? I fear for your safety in the coming weeks. Watch your back man.
28 August 2007
As far as I can tell, it’s okay to enjoy British things. After all, most of the Irish heroes, particularly writers, spent lots of time in England.
One condition: you must temper your admiration as follows: “I like the scones I had in Windsor, and I can’t find an Irish producer. Feckin’ bastards, those Englishmen.”
One exception to the one condition: English Premier League soccer. Nobody (in Dublin at least) feels any need to temper their preference for the Premiership over the FAI League of Ireland. (If you’d like, I can write a post about this oddity.)
28 August 2007
I would love to see a post on this. Given that the home base of this blog being in Europe, I think it’s lacking in good soccer analysis… But doesn’t the UEFA League Co-Efficient cover it: England 63.5 (Rank #3), Republic of Ireland 4.3 (Rank #40). Note that Ireland is rank behind such heavyweight leagues such as Moldova (6.8), Macedonia (5.3), and Liechenstein (4.5).
15 April 2008
why do you hate the british-they are great-just like the majority of the world-it is a strong and diverse nation of many cultures and communities.
i dont see the problem-please do not be ignorant towards those of whom you do not truly understand.
15 April 2008
so is everybody here irish? i am part irish.
18 April 2008
Ach, no, I don’t think anyone intended to mean “everyone living in the UK or descended from such” when they said “the British”. On the contrary, most people in Ireland (and in the rest of the English-speaking world) respect and even emulate their favorite part of British society. You’re right, it’d be foolish to hate everyone in a nation!
Now, what if “the British” means the power structures (or willful individuals or cultural norms) that oppressed peoples in Ireland and elsewhere? Then, it might be appropriate to hate the British. It might even be a moral obligation.
But even then, I don’t hate the British. I have a great distaste for the arrogance of the British Empire in the 19th Century and a great sorrow for the lives and opportunities wasted at that time. But I don’t feel hate for it in the way that I do for other things. Still, I can respect Irish people who do feel that intense emotion due to their particular connections.
I hope that clarifies things, Ryan.
One more thing: Most people “here” are from the US. I’m an expat living in Dublin, and most of the people who read this blog (at least in 2007) did so from computers in the US. You’re welcome to check in anytime you like, and post more thoughtful comments!
25 April 2008
British are great- I’ve been to England and it’s amazing. And loads of great people have come from there like sports people and comedians etc. :D
29 April 2008
I live in the uk, im english, whats so bad bwt us, scones and tea? Thats new lol i havnt had tea or scones in months, u could atleast use something that us british eat more often lol lyk urm maybe chips, mcdonalds lol, britains been taken over by the youth, we own the streets, were more about violent behaviour, football hooligans and al that, as for someone mentioning austin powers lol far out of reality by the way thats not what we are like, i laugh at all you foreigners u gt no fukin clue wtsoeva haha ur a bunch of pricks fair play scummy lil gypsy rag head cunts. This is the real english language lol u always seem to percieve the british as we were 100 years ago, wel fukin dun lol, we do modernise through the years yano, this countrys sound, dnt like it dnt talk bwt it or fuck off init. Sound.
17 September 2008
you guys such shit seriously
17 September 2008
i live in the uk & the dont drink tea as much as u guys say lol
2 October 2008
Hey Bakkers! Congrats on getting actual Brits to ridicule you on your blog! I haven’t checked out the Bugle in a long time - I’m glad to read that you’re doing so well. Kate
17 October 2008
I live in the west country of England and am a quarter Irish. I’m very proud and am a huge fan of Irish and English folk music (yeah I said it). England used to be good but now is crap thanks to the Labour party and Normans (it all stems back to the damn French). Anyway I think the British empire was great as it spread civilizatioon to a lot of the world but it’s a shame that it’s not all the British isles anymore. It should be either all together or separate but friendly, no nasty tension or anything. And all the Irish people calling people “the British”, you’re British too. You live in the British isles. I saw a poll that said most Irish people consider themselves “British” overall. Having been to Ireland, I know how much friendlier people are there, but people over in great britain are really quite fond of Ireland as it’s like it was here before it got spoiled but industrialism. Anyway I want to move to Ireland because as I see it in the next 50 odd years the UK is going to collapse and get all shitted up. Yeah.
17 October 2008
oh also, Fuck you Alex you chav scum. piss of back to Essex or wherever.
8 November 2008
Alex do you have any idea how fucked up your race is….oh yes you have..you must be looking at mirror once in a day mate….
9 December 2008
Im English and i have to say, yeah, England is pretty wank. I moved to spain for 2 years when i was 19. As i moved alone i quickly got used to another culture and boy is it better than ours. As for watching my nation on holiday,well, embarassing doesn’t really say it all. If all people were a little more like austin powers then that’d be fuckin great. Obviously i’m not saying that every one here is a shithead. far from it. Our government on the other hand, well thats a differnet question and our ’stiff upper-lip’ mentality means that they can use walk all over us and do what they want and we won’t stand up for what we really believe in. The only real community spirt comes form poorer communities because they have nothing else.
thats my rant for today over.
P.S - I do very much like a cup of tea haha
9 December 2008
oh yeah, fuck you alex. baaaaaa
20 December 2008
Easy answer yes, I hate the fucking British, because I’m German! It’s very simple, they hate us Germans, so I hate the British!
20 December 2008
Easy answer yes, I hate the fucking British, because I’m German! It’s very simple, they hate us Germans, so I hate the damn Brits!
27 December 2008
selia, you can go fuck yourself too! I love germans they crack me right up!
28 December 2008
What a load of cobblers. There’s so much pent up anger! Why hate the British? We don’t really hate anyone, let’s be honest. An Irish friend of mine said that what annoys his countrymen the most when they are in the UK is that the Brits care so little about the things that wind up his countrymen.
Britain has historically been an overwhelming force for good in the world, despite some horrifying mistakes. It makes me sad for my Grandad’s generation, who sacrificed everything for a free world, that there are some small minded bigots out there whose only reference points are events even further back in history, that hate my country.
Ultimately the reason that the UK is full of friends from overseas is that Britain is an open, tolerant and friendly place.
1 January 2009
Mr Pickling: There’s pent up something, that much is clear. This comment thread just gets stranger over time.
5 January 2009
Thank you Will.
It’s clear to me that the very few people that read this blog are of the mindset that would have suited the rancid, sick, exploding hellhole that was Europe in 1944.
That was the place that my grandfather and his mates parachuted into. Many of those mates did not come back. Many were maimed, both physically and mentaly when they got back. I suppose they would be proud that their terrifying, filthy, fetid experience in part allowed these silly little people to say what they wanted, however nasty, in freedom and without fear.
But I don’t want people to think that those dark days, or any other dark days should be the standard by which we judge the present. That way would lie disaster, as we would all hate each other for ever more. That’s why I talked about the positive aspects of my country in my last post, just as your readers should of Ireland.
But that is partly the fault of this article’s original question.
So, one final thought: however light hearted your blog was meant to be, what if the question had been altered to say, “do you hate the Jews too?”, or “do you hate the Irish too?”. They’re not questions you hear asked, but it’s the same, and just as pernicious in the final analysis.
So why not just pack it all in?