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Working in the UK 3
- Thread starter mag007
- Start date
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- #41
You mean vice-versa...with the recent Big Brother incident, I wonder if they, British people, will have a culture shock seeing a minority...
I hope its just a glitch, I know people like that exist everywhere, but not sure on a mainstream level.
mag007,
touche, sort of...
I distinguish between insularity and racism.
What I had in mind was an incident related by a friend of mine who lived in Boston for a few years.
He went out in the sticks, and filled up with petrol. The girl on the till noticed his "not from round here" accent and asked where he was from. He said "England" to which the girl replied, "Gee, is that in London?"
I shudder at the degree of insularity which that sort of response implies, or maybe the girl was merely ignorant - who knows for sure?
By comparison, whilst travelling and living in Europe, I never encountered such situations. To my frequent frustration, many folk wanted to use me as an opportunity to brush up their English, which made it hard for me to learn the local language. Admittedly I only have experience of Austria, Switzerland, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium and Holland, so I can only make observations about those countries. However, there did seem to be a much higher level of awareness. After living in Germany for a year, I got home and was apalled at how insular us Brits are.
I'd just come from a place where one could go to Switzerland for the afternoon, France for the day, or Czechoslovakia and Poland for the weekend. It definitely broadens ones outlook on life - sigh.
As for racism, it's everywhere, and all one can do is stamp it out of existence wherever it's uncovered, especially if that's within one's self.
Does my observation about insularity strike a chord with you, or is that uncommon in your experience?
Regards
Tharg
Grinding away at things Oracular
touche, sort of...
I distinguish between insularity and racism.
What I had in mind was an incident related by a friend of mine who lived in Boston for a few years.
He went out in the sticks, and filled up with petrol. The girl on the till noticed his "not from round here" accent and asked where he was from. He said "England" to which the girl replied, "Gee, is that in London?"
I shudder at the degree of insularity which that sort of response implies, or maybe the girl was merely ignorant - who knows for sure?
By comparison, whilst travelling and living in Europe, I never encountered such situations. To my frequent frustration, many folk wanted to use me as an opportunity to brush up their English, which made it hard for me to learn the local language. Admittedly I only have experience of Austria, Switzerland, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium and Holland, so I can only make observations about those countries. However, there did seem to be a much higher level of awareness. After living in Germany for a year, I got home and was apalled at how insular us Brits are.
I'd just come from a place where one could go to Switzerland for the afternoon, France for the day, or Czechoslovakia and Poland for the weekend. It definitely broadens ones outlook on life - sigh.
As for racism, it's everywhere, and all one can do is stamp it out of existence wherever it's uncovered, especially if that's within one's self.
Does my observation about insularity strike a chord with you, or is that uncommon in your experience?
Regards
Tharg
Grinding away at things Oracular
Code:
the recent Big Brother incidentWhere in reality do you get a large number of egos together and lock them in a house for weeks on end?
I don't watch this drivel as I have a life of my own and don't need to watch a bunch of washed up celebrities trying to make a come back. The sensible ones, walked out of the show early on.
This show in no way reflects the attitude of the whole UK (some maybe but not many) and I for one would prefer the broadcast time be given over to entertainment.
Keith
porkchopexpress
IS-IT--Management
Also as a psychologist pointed out when you lock people up like that and treat them like children you should expect them to act irrationally and out of character. Which is exactly why they do it.
Makes good TV apparently (i'm not convinced that it's better than Ray Mears myself).
Makes good TV apparently (i'm not convinced that it's better than Ray Mears myself).
CajunCenturion
Programmer
==> This show in no way reflects the attitude of the whole UK
That statement is so true on so many levels.
No, one person does not define the attitudes of the UK, nor does one gas station attendant accurately represent the the people in the USA. It doesn't matter whether you're in the USA, the UK, Germany, Bahrain, South Africa, or anywhere in between. The entire scale is covered. Every country has its share of people on both ends of the spectrum.
To believe otherwise is the epitomy of insularity, although understandable, since people base their opinions on what they've experienced and seen first hand, but even moreso on what they've heard second hand. It's perfectly natural for one to do that, but the reason why that's the epitomy of insularity because it's based on the underlying assumption that your experiences are a representative sample, which is rarely the case. It's what you know, that's true, and it's what you believe and want to believe, but it's only of drop in the bucket compared to what you don't know.
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That statement is so true on so many levels.
No, one person does not define the attitudes of the UK, nor does one gas station attendant accurately represent the the people in the USA. It doesn't matter whether you're in the USA, the UK, Germany, Bahrain, South Africa, or anywhere in between. The entire scale is covered. Every country has its share of people on both ends of the spectrum.
To believe otherwise is the epitomy of insularity, although understandable, since people base their opinions on what they've experienced and seen first hand, but even moreso on what they've heard second hand. It's perfectly natural for one to do that, but the reason why that's the epitomy of insularity because it's based on the underlying assumption that your experiences are a representative sample, which is rarely the case. It's what you know, that's true, and it's what you believe and want to believe, but it's only of drop in the bucket compared to what you don't know.
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Unfortunately I believe that the US has more than its fair share on the ignorant side of the spectrum. But it's not just their ignorance of foreign entities and outlooks, but national ignorance as well. Americans have difficulties locating all 50 states correctly.
As a military brat I was constantly exposed to people who had no knowledge or experience outside of their home town and maybe the 50 miles surrounding it. They had never been outside this "zone" and had no desire to leave it and weren't interested in learning about anything outside of it. They were always amazed that I had lived so many places and seen so many things. I was 12!
While I never lived in Europe, my parents took us on an extended vacation (about a month) when I was 10 and we went to Germany, Holland and France. It was (and still is) amazing to me that it's so easy to travel in Europe and see many different cultures and cities so easily. The US is SO big, traveling can be difficult and expensive. For instance, most of my "development" years (10 - 15) were spent in New Jersey and we traveled to New York, Pennsylvania, Washington DC and my parents subjected us to multiple museums and I have been to many locations related to the Revolutionary War in those cities. My children have never had the opportunity to be exposed to that culture and history because we're in New Mexico. It would cost a lot of money for me to take my children and expose them to the things that I took for granted. Would I like to take them? Of course! Our country's history is unique. But I can't afford it. We travel a day's direction from home and study nature and wild life and Native American cultures and history because that's what's available in this part of our country.
I think that the large size of the US really enhances the natural insularity that is found everywhere in the world. And unfortunately a lot of those US citizens who do travel for pleasure are rich, rude, obnoxious boors who give the rest of us a bad rep!
Leslie
CajunCenturion
Programmer
==> Unfortunately I believe that the US has more than its fair share on the ignorant side of the spectrum.
Perhaps, but as you say, the US is SO big, that it's very difficult to know. While I am not military brat, I did serve, and I will agree, that while in that circle, the overall education level was somewhat, and in some cases, severely lacking. On the other hand, I've also spend a great deal of time in the academic environment, both as student and teacher (I was never a full professor so I won't use that term), and as you would expect, it's the exact opposite. So where is the average? What is the norm? Good question, I don't really know.
I also wonder if you anyone while traveling sees enough of both sides to make a comparison. When I was in Jo'burg, my impressions of the city would have been very different had I not gone out of my way to cross the railroad tracks. That was a culture shock.
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Perhaps, but as you say, the US is SO big, that it's very difficult to know. While I am not military brat, I did serve, and I will agree, that while in that circle, the overall education level was somewhat, and in some cases, severely lacking. On the other hand, I've also spend a great deal of time in the academic environment, both as student and teacher (I was never a full professor so I won't use that term), and as you would expect, it's the exact opposite. So where is the average? What is the norm? Good question, I don't really know.
I also wonder if you anyone while traveling sees enough of both sides to make a comparison. When I was in Jo'burg, my impressions of the city would have been very different had I not gone out of my way to cross the railroad tracks. That was a culture shock.
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The law is or just has changed in terms of immigration in the UK - I can't find a good link at the moment this is the best I could see this evening.
The changes are obviously important to bear in mind I guess!
Fee
The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]
The changes are obviously important to bear in mind I guess!
Fee
The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]
Pish. Wrong link entirely.
is where I meant.
(I blame the Sicilian Red....}
Fee
The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]
is where I meant.
(I blame the Sicilian Red....}
Fee
The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]
![[tiger]](/data/assets/smilies/tiger.gif "[tiger] [tiger]")
who lives in the UK- Status
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