Honestly, I expected to get riled up and angry reading through this thread but surprisingly I haven't.
As a man who was born in the UK, I can't say I feel any great sense of national pride. After all, it's not like I could bang on my mother's uterus and say "Mum, can you move to Slovakia in the next 9 months?" It's illogical to take pride in something I had no control over so when I see the deteriorating situation, I just shrug and think to myself 'Maybe they are changing the demographic of the UK. But it's not my country and it never was.'
Is this an apathetic view to take? Unquestionably. But what can I do? As an individual, what single action can I take that will help to reverse what's happening? Nothing. The narrative has been told, the tale spun and it's going to play out however it will now, regardless of my personal feelings. Que sera, sera.
The majority of the populace are the same. They simply read the headlines, mumble some discontented words and go to work. Rinse and repeat.
I think it was Henry Rollins who said that change, real change, mind you, comes from private citizens who stand up and say "Not on my watch, you don't." But that kind of spirit has been all but crushed here. Every year we endure rising transport costs, taxation, regulation, censorship and surveillance without anybody doing anything about it. Sure, we notice but we don't give a fuck. It's like the guy from Network said:
There are days I think to myself these words:
A skilled dictator is much more beneficial to humanity than a democracy of ignorant people –Gene Smilas
I even go so far as to envision what might happen if the Queen abolished Parliament and raised an army. But it's not going to happen.
There are only 2 things that I can control. Myself and my immediate environment. If things continue as they are, I'm out. I'll spin the globe, pick a country and upend (so long as it's not Canada or Sweden) What else can I do?
Perhaps it's a defeatist attitude, I concede. One man cannot summon the future but then I remember that one man can change the present. In the words of Captain Kirk: "In every revolution, there is 1 man with a vision." I'm not the man to usher in that day, I know that. If he were ever to reveal himself I'd follow him. But until then, I accept the reality of the situation with which I am presented. Nothing more and nothing less.
As a man who was born in the UK, I can't say I feel any great sense of national pride. After all, it's not like I could bang on my mother's uterus and say "Mum, can you move to Slovakia in the next 9 months?" It's illogical to take pride in something I had no control over so when I see the deteriorating situation, I just shrug and think to myself 'Maybe they are changing the demographic of the UK. But it's not my country and it never was.'
Is this an apathetic view to take? Unquestionably. But what can I do? As an individual, what single action can I take that will help to reverse what's happening? Nothing. The narrative has been told, the tale spun and it's going to play out however it will now, regardless of my personal feelings. Que sera, sera.
The majority of the populace are the same. They simply read the headlines, mumble some discontented words and go to work. Rinse and repeat.
I think it was Henry Rollins who said that change, real change, mind you, comes from private citizens who stand up and say "Not on my watch, you don't." But that kind of spirit has been all but crushed here. Every year we endure rising transport costs, taxation, regulation, censorship and surveillance without anybody doing anything about it. Sure, we notice but we don't give a fuck. It's like the guy from Network said:
There are days I think to myself these words:
A skilled dictator is much more beneficial to humanity than a democracy of ignorant people –Gene Smilas
I even go so far as to envision what might happen if the Queen abolished Parliament and raised an army. But it's not going to happen.
There are only 2 things that I can control. Myself and my immediate environment. If things continue as they are, I'm out. I'll spin the globe, pick a country and upend (so long as it's not Canada or Sweden) What else can I do?
Perhaps it's a defeatist attitude, I concede. One man cannot summon the future but then I remember that one man can change the present. In the words of Captain Kirk: "In every revolution, there is 1 man with a vision." I'm not the man to usher in that day, I know that. If he were ever to reveal himself I'd follow him. But until then, I accept the reality of the situation with which I am presented. Nothing more and nothing less.