Chin up, mates, it's just a recession
February 10, 2010 5:13 AM Subscribe
The Economist thinks that its fellow Brits should stop complaining so much.
I'm no cosmopolitan world traveler, but it does seem as if the British are much harder on themselves and their country than citizens of most other nations, at least in the West. It seems as if the social, political, and economic problems that most of us face at the moment are viewed by many in Britain to be harbingers of total doom.
It's hard to paint entire countries with one brush, and certainly we have our doomsayers in Canada (and plenty in the U.S., from what I can gather), and yet...
So what do people think? Is the Economist correct? Or are they missing a larger point here?
I'm no cosmopolitan world traveler, but it does seem as if the British are much harder on themselves and their country than citizens of most other nations, at least in the West. It seems as if the social, political, and economic problems that most of us face at the moment are viewed by many in Britain to be harbingers of total doom.
It's hard to paint entire countries with one brush, and certainly we have our doomsayers in Canada (and plenty in the U.S., from what I can gather), and yet...
So what do people think? Is the Economist correct? Or are they missing a larger point here?
This post was deleted for the following reason: Link to Op-Ed and editorializing does not a good post make. -- vacapinta
Maybe it's the lousy weather and they all have SAD.
posted by Daddy-O at 5:24 AM on February 10, 2010
posted by Daddy-O at 5:24 AM on February 10, 2010
Oy. Don't try to 'start conversations' in your FPP.
posted by dunkadunc at 5:24 AM on February 10, 2010
posted by dunkadunc at 5:24 AM on February 10, 2010
Is the Economist correct?
Yes. The statistics cited are pretty clear. Britain is in most ways much safer and better off than ever. However, peddling fear and ignorance sells newspapers and gets votes, as the attitudes displayed in many of the comments illustrate (although to be fair the readership of the Economist does skew heavily to the right).
This is hardly a UK-specific thing though. Most developed countries have their share of fear-mongers. Fox News seems to be way ahead of the Daily Mail on that game.
posted by Bodd at 5:25 AM on February 10, 2010
Yes. The statistics cited are pretty clear. Britain is in most ways much safer and better off than ever. However, peddling fear and ignorance sells newspapers and gets votes, as the attitudes displayed in many of the comments illustrate (although to be fair the readership of the Economist does skew heavily to the right).
This is hardly a UK-specific thing though. Most developed countries have their share of fear-mongers. Fox News seems to be way ahead of the Daily Mail on that game.
posted by Bodd at 5:25 AM on February 10, 2010
I think they're correct, and definitely have a solid point with their statistics:
> lowest number of murders for 19 years
> child homicides have fallen by more than two-thirds since the 1970s
> burglaries and car theft are about half as common now as they were 15 years ago
> Britons are drinking less alcohol
I don't buy that, however.
But everything comes with a price, and that price, as an outsider sees it, is absolutely everything you do and everywhere you go is observed and cataloged. No wonder crime and teenage pregnancy is down, everyone is afraid to go anywhere or do anything, lest you get arrested for taking a picture of a pretty bird, which just so happens to be sitting in front of a "important" building.
If I left the US to live somewhere else I definitely would not move to the UK.
posted by zombieApoc at 5:29 AM on February 10, 2010
> lowest number of murders for 19 years
> child homicides have fallen by more than two-thirds since the 1970s
> burglaries and car theft are about half as common now as they were 15 years ago
> Britons are drinking less alcohol
I don't buy that, however.
But everything comes with a price, and that price, as an outsider sees it, is absolutely everything you do and everywhere you go is observed and cataloged. No wonder crime and teenage pregnancy is down, everyone is afraid to go anywhere or do anything, lest you get arrested for taking a picture of a pretty bird, which just so happens to be sitting in front of a "important" building.
If I left the US to live somewhere else I definitely would not move to the UK.
posted by zombieApoc at 5:29 AM on February 10, 2010
...You were saying? and yet...it does seem as if the British are much harder on themselves and their country than citizens of most other nations, at least in the West. Remember what we were talking about? OK.
posted by Daddy-O at 5:29 AM on February 10, 2010
posted by Daddy-O at 5:29 AM on February 10, 2010
How very recursive of them--complaining about complaints.
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:34 AM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:34 AM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
This is hardly a UK-specific thing though. Most developed countries have their share of fear-mongers. Fox News seems to be way ahead of the Daily Mail on that game.
Yes, but the skew seems to be different (again, from an outsider perspective).
On Fox News, it's "This is the greatest country in the history of civilization, a beacon of freedom to the world...if only those dumb Democrats and socialists weren't ruining it."
In the U.K. tabloid press it's "This country is going to hell in a hand basket because of those video game-playing, knife-wielding young'uns, and we're never going to regain the glory of the past."
Or something like that,
posted by hiteleven at 5:35 AM on February 10, 2010
Yes, but the skew seems to be different (again, from an outsider perspective).
On Fox News, it's "This is the greatest country in the history of civilization, a beacon of freedom to the world...if only those dumb Democrats and socialists weren't ruining it."
In the U.K. tabloid press it's "This country is going to hell in a hand basket because of those video game-playing, knife-wielding young'uns, and we're never going to regain the glory of the past."
Or something like that,
posted by hiteleven at 5:35 AM on February 10, 2010
So what do people think? Is the Economist correct? Or are they missing a larger point here?
Chatfilter!
wait
posted by leotrotsky at 5:37 AM on February 10, 2010
Chatfilter!
wait
posted by leotrotsky at 5:37 AM on February 10, 2010
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...
...You were saying?
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 5:22 AM on February 10, 2010