It just doesn't phase us. >>reggybalboa @ flickr
Reading this post's title, you may gasp and whinge at the colonial undertones, and bemoan, "Oh no you didn't!" But, contrary to a glancing moment's thought, a little bit of appreciation - and maybe, adoption - of the English mindset may do a bit of good in a world increasingly full of radicalisation, the so-called 'clash of civilizations', and fear.
I was brought to the attention of a particular article in the Guardian this morning. My flatmate (or, roommate, in North America) forwarded me the article, written by one of my favourite comedians, Dara O Briain. Dara, if you've never seen him in action on Mock the Week or Live at the Apollo, is a broad-chested, tall (at least from what I can tell on BBC iPlayer) Irishman who, despite casual allegations that he looks like a member of the Russian mafia, to me looks like a very huggable bear. An innocent one at that.
In this particular article, he's collected his conclusions about the English, their country, their behaviour, their habits. Like Dara, England and its largest city, London, were both foreign to me before 2007. My image of England pre-2007, which consisted of Princess Diana, the Beatles, Blair, David/Victoria Beckham, Hugh Grant and Bridget Jones' Diary, was as warped and bizarre as Dara's image of England derived from That's Life! So, when I did arrive that nippy September morning at London Heathrow, dragging my way to the Picaddilly line with all my luggage, one can only imagine - and I'll be honest here - the reality check, the disappointment, and the wonder as to why I chose England, over all the other countries in the world, to spend the next half a decade in. In the weeks that followed, I became more than just privy to the drinking, the smoking, the dirty streets, the packed buses and unventilated (and un-air conditioned!!!), tardy or broken down tube trains, and of course, the shock that not all English men had posh accents and looked/acted like Hugh Grant. And it was all too different from the England I had imagined.
Yet, the price I paid for the damn-expensive piece of paper from one university did have some effect on my merciless, and probably naive, judgment on England. I became acutely aware that the world is a complicated place that is becoming unimaginably convoluted with the process called globalisation. The knooks and crannies of what such a process entails, I won't get into here. But I will say that, with that complication comes a lot of fear and uncertainty. We fear resorting to relativism, because that could undermine the 'core' values we stand for. But at the same time, we fear the radicalisation and the fundamentalism that stands at the other end of the spectrum, because that, too, would only serve to undermine, rather than support, the long-standing values of the Western world.
So what can one do? How do we deal with it all? Take Dara's joke about how Londoners reacted in the wake of the July 2005 bombings:
The media reacted as if the attacks would, or should, be greeted like 9/11 had been in New York. Of course, the attack was nothing like 9/11 and besides... this is London.It's this comparatively non-chalant attitude about the things that happen in the world around us that I think is increasingly important to foster. While Dara's joke and the reality it points to may be an exaggeration, it's the sense of being reasonable, and realistic about events and people that perhaps, we should all learn to adopt.
They've had the Blitz and then there was the IRA...
In fact, the response in London to the attacks was much more: "There's been a bomb on the Piccadilly line!" (Long, thoughtful pause and then, like a problem being solved...) "Well, I can get the Victoria line..."
The 'realism' I note here can also be seen in English soap operas. As one flatmate recently pointed out to me, whereas North American soaps are full of slim, relatively good-looking people with perfect white teeth and glowing skin who've all had the lucky genes of also-relatively good-looking parentals and thus - here's the key - only represent a very small portion of the North American population, the cast of English soaps are all ordinary people. Sure, there may be a few over-the-top glamourites in there, but on the whole, they look like normal people. And there's something comforting in that.
In writing about the appreciation of the English, one cannot purposely overlook the undersides: the binge-drinking culture. This is where my North American health-conscious mentality kicks in. Binge-drinking can't be good for you. It just can't. Consuming that much alcohol in that short period of time, regardless of how many alcohol-processing enzymes you've cultivated over generations, simply cannot be conducive for the health of your liver. And cholestrol levels.
Or the subtle ignorance that comes with the blurbs that come when an English team is beaten in football: "This, in a sport we invented." As Dara rightly points out, the English never invented football (and the Americans never invented basketball or baseball) - "They codified it, which is a different thing altogether":
You didn't invent football because you didn't invent the ball, or kicking, or fields. We should only be grateful that the Victorians didn't gather together in a room and write the first rules for the use of the wheel, or fire, so that you can claim credit for them as well...Villages have been dragging, pulling, kicking and running against each other for millennia; you just happened to be the ones with an empire when the upper class took an interest.Well put, Dara, well put.
England once had an empire, a vast one at that, and that historical fact cannot be erased. But as Dara says, the superiority-complex that arises from a historical - not present - fact can't do much good in the complex world that is the present-now, and the English should "snap out of this" (as should other countries, too). But there is something to be said for the humility and realistic spirit that lies on the flip side of that coin. The ability to carry on without being enraptured by the effects of a bombing (although this begs the question as to what would happen if Big Ben suffers an attack not from an alien invasion but from another country), or to be truthful to reality in representing human drama (although perhaps 'truth' is not exactly the objective of American shows, and is questionable as to 'truth' can be used in the same sentence as 'soap opera' to being with) can be indicative of other elements of society and human behaviour. It really comes down to keeping things in context and perspective. And despite all bemoanings, it's a mentality modern societies need, and there's no harm in turning to the English for that.
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