Jo Konta - the 'British' thing

Harry Wilson's tackle said:

I beg to differ. People form an affinity for the familiar surrounds as they grow up, and develop a sense of nationality (which has nowt to do with ethnicity) whether they like it or not (with a relatively small number of perverse exceptions, like the home grown jihadis). The only way this will end is if the majority of people actually move around from country to country with a regularity. Few people are peripatetic. Most of us like to be settled. Look how hard it is for adults who emigrate - many can't cope and 'go back home'. A bloke who worked for me went back to Hungary on one fifth the salary even though he could have stayed here for ever, because the lure of the familiar and family were too great.

I am rather fond of my nation state, crap though the present government may be.

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portlock seagull said:

It's a hard one to get your head round, especially anyone over age of 15 or 20. But just like the new food revolution that's happening right now - with chicken legs never coming from a live chicken but being genetically the same as if taken from the clucking fowl itself (!) - technology is driving all of this at ever accelerating rates. The world is shaping up to be very different at a frightening or some might say exciting pace and Nationality is meaningless. Increasingly people don't share even the same language let alone heritage, culture, religion that used to define us. So why should some outdated concept like Nationality in the age of globalisation define people. It's just too generic and already the fault lines and cracks are there to see. City states like Birmingham and Manchester are rising just as 'Italian' States did before unification.

Nope, nationalities are doomed. Just look at the 'united' states of America as another example. Anything but these days.

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portlock seagull said:

It's a hard one to get your head round, especially anyone over age of 15 or 20. But just like the new food revolution that's happening right now - with chicken legs never coming from a live chicken but being genetically the same as if taken from the clucking fowl itself (!) - technology is driving all of this at ever accelerating rates. The world is shaping up to be very different at a frightening or some might say exciting pace and Nationality is meaningless. Increasingly people don't share even the same language let alone heritage, culture, religion that used to define us. So why should some outdated concept like Nationality in the age of globalisation define people. It's just too generic and already the fault lines and cracks are there to see. City states like Birmingham and Manchester are rising just as 'Italian' States did before unification.

Nope, nationalities are doomed. Just look at the 'united' states of America as another example. Anything but these days.

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Brighton Lines said:

She's Australian where tennis talent is concerned. It can't be claimed as a victory for British tennis if she wins. I'm not bothered about which flag she plays under, or which nationality she considers herself to be. I'm just bothered if the LTA claim her progress as some sort of sign. It's not.

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Harry Wilson's tackle said:

Chicken legs never coming from a 'live' chicken? I think you may be attempting to pull my genetically engineered plonk. Next you'll be tlling me about the nw drugs craze sweeping the nation : 'cake'.

Truth be told, Nationality is far from meaningless. Americans are ultra patriotic (towards their nation more than their state, although for some it is towards only half the nation). That's (partly) why they elected Trump.

I admire your new age idealism (if you are for real), but just because you may happen start the day with an iced macrobiotic latte, and spend more time on the Finnish News Channel than BBC1 doesn't mean that everyone else is, or is just about to become a pan-national, pansexual spaceman/thing.

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Brighton Mod said:

You're so right, we're all Europeans in Europe, except the Germans, who are German. There is the odd exception.

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portlock seagull said:

Nationality and the Nation State is soooo 20th century. It's becoming more meaningless by the year. Anyone can say they're British. American etc but does that mean we have anything more in common other than the same queue at airports etc? Nah, whether you're a home grown jihadi, born here or have taken the citizen test, we're all British on paper but that's where the commonality ends. Christ, Brexit shows even if two people are white, middle class and middle aged indigenous chances are they can't agree on anything and share nothing in common so it's a redundant concept.

Nope, the age of Nationalities is over. More likely to be categorised as an Apple, Amazonian, Googlite or a Facer in years to come the corporates are already more powerful than most countries anyway.

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Brighton Mod said:

What is Roger Federers native tongue? This should add to this debate, because he doesn't speak Swiss.

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larus said:

Wow. What complete and utter shite. I know there's this thing about 'European", but the majority of Europeans view themselves as Polish, Italian, Greek, Spanish, etc. first and European is a secondary thing. It may seem trendy to talk about being a person of the world, but the reality is people are naturally tribal and want an identity. All you are suggesting is a rebranding as corporate identity which is complete bollocks.

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portlock seagull said:

Precisely. Swiss think of themselves as ItalianSwiss etc. Bit like Oz, nationality is almost for administrative purpose: everyone feels a NSW, Victorian etc to the point they play different sports and are regionally independent. People don't feel Country first i.e. nationality! It's part of a bygone era now - what it means to be British and English especially, varies enormously in the modern sense as to make our nationality redundant. Brexit anyone?!! More divides than unites us these days because we're so much more ethnically diverse as is the case in many other countries.

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larus said:

So much of the world is still nationalistic and not "One World" (or whatever trendy phrase people want to devise). Look at China, Japan, Russia, India, etc. They don't view themselves as being "one world". The problem with some western countries is we have had so much immigration we have lost our 'national identity', or should I say, the nationalistic side is associated with extremism. The Scots, Welsh, Irish are incredibly proud of their nationality and are not afraid to demonstrate it. In England we are, for fear of being thought of as racist, due to the adoption of the flag by the far right. The nation state is alive and well and although it may go through many changes as it has done throughout time, it is far from dead.

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portlock seagull said:

Far from it, Germany only invented in 1871. Bavarians as short time ago as 1920s were separatists and to this day think of themselves as a, well, a bit 'Cornish'. Many other Regions similarly hence the Federation (a Confederation before that etc)

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portlock seagull said:

Precisely. Swiss think of themselves as ItalianSwiss etc.

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hans kraay fan club said:

As someone who has worked for a Swiss company for over 20 years, alongside hundreds of Swiss colleagues, I can categorically declare that statement complete nonsense. Regardless of which of the nation's three official languages is their 'first' (they pretty much all speak all three - and English - anyway) I've never met ONE who would consider themselves anything but Swiss foremost.

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portlock seagull said:

Precisely. Swiss think of themselves as ItalianSwiss etc. Bit like Oz, nationality is almost for administrative purpose: everyone feels a NSW, Victorian etc to the point they play different sports and are regionally independent. People don't feel Country first i.e. nationality! It's part of a bygone era now - what it means to be British and English especially, varies enormously in the modern sense as to make our nationality redundant. Brexit anyone?!! More divides than unites us these days because we're so much more ethnically diverse as is the case in many other countries.

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