Why Is 'Un-British' Bad?

Jacob Sullum | September 3, 2010

I was struck by British Defense Minister Liam Fox's description of the new Medal of Honor video game set in Afghanistan. He called it "thoroughly un-British," a phrase that presumably refers to something more than the game's country of origin. (Electronic Arts, which produces the Medal of Honor series, is based in Redwood City, California.) I surmise that un-British, like un-American, implies a contradiction of values that are part of the national identity. But what exactly are those values? I would have guessed that they include decency, fair play, tolerance (except of indecency and unfairness), and maybe a stiff upper lip. But after doing a little research, I'm not so sure. Here is a list of things that recently have been deemed un-British:

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's manner

British director Ridley Scott's boasting

Burka bans

Burkas

Retroactive legislation

Rude talent show hosts

Coalition governments

"Living life at a high level of intensity"

Haggling

Choosing health coverage

Diana-mania

The Jeremy Kyle Show (which I gather is a British version of The Jerry Springer Show)

Political correctness

The "compensation culture"

"Public paranoia about everything from smoking to sunshine"

Punishment without charge

Invasions of privacy

If the standard is what British people actually do, several of these are more wishful (or wistful) than realistic. Unfortunately, the more appealing the implied value, the less likely it is to be upheld in practice.

Reason needs your support. Please donate today!

Try Reason's award-winning print edition today! Your first issue is FREE if you are not completely satisfied.

|9.4.10 @ 10:56AM|#

The Welsh are descended from the Britons who once lived in what is now England.

They were first invaded by the Romans and then by the Angles, Saxons and Jutes who drove them to the west into what is now Wales.

I think ChrisO is being a little over-literal.

The Britons left behind the name of the island, ie Britain. Everyone since has called it by some form of that.

I think it's accurate to call all of the modern-day inhabitants of the island of Britain, ie the English, Scots and Welsh, "British".

Britons also lived across the Channel in Brittany. Their descendants are now Frenchmen.

jtuf|9.5.10 @ 10:33PM|#

Speaking of burka bans, Miss Australia's answer in the Miss Universe contest warmed my heart. Her question was about governments banning religious articles of clothing. She responded that the bans are unjust, because people have a right to wear what they want.

You asked for it...|9.3.10 @ 2:17PM|#

Here's to honor. Gettin honor and stayin honor. And if you can't come inner, come honor.

Chimp|9.3.10 @ 2:39PM|#

And if you can't get nearer, find a frog.

Woodrow|9.3.10 @ 3:55PM|#

You mean a froggie?

|9.3.10 @ 2:21PM|#

"un-British" means "American". Which is fine by me.

He's Spartacus|9.5.10 @ 8:51AM|#

Good to see that our mutual respect for what we have in common is still alive and well.

|9.3.10 @ 2:24PM|#

I am, by definition, un-British. I have ancestors from the northern part of the island, but they left hundreds of years ago. With their now-illegal swords.

Warty|9.3.10 @ 2:29PM|#

So I'm unclear what to think about English Defence League. The liberal press hates them, which is good, but they appear to hate Muslims, which is bad.

Also, UP THE IRONS

|9.3.10 @ 2:33PM|#

Fucking limeys can't even spell defense correctly...HATE'EMMORETHANANCHORBABIES!

Abdul|9.3.10 @ 2:33PM|#

The list left out:

edibile cooking

dentistry

holding on to your empire

Corduroy|9.3.10 @ 2:57PM|#

mechanical engineering

Corduroy|9.3.10 @ 2:58PM|#

working thru tea time (as opposed to tee time in the US)

Charlotte Sometimes|9.3.10 @ 3:16PM|#

Circumcision. . . (NTTAWWT)

|9.3.10 @ 3:36PM|#

Circumcision is body modification without permission. We would not allow this in any other form, but somehow it's cool to lop off the foreskin. What about baby tattoos? Infant foot binding? No, EXACTLY!

|9.3.10 @ 3:52PM|#

You do know the umbilical cord and placenta are part of the baby's body too, right?

|9.3.10 @ 4:42PM|#

No tulpa, no they are not. That was the one of the dumbest things I've ever read in my life.

Bee Tagger|9.3.10 @ 3:55PM|#

we really should be in favor of anything that makes a baby smaller and therefore less parasitic.

|9.3.10 @ 4:43PM|#

I'm sorry Tulpa. Here's something worse. I see what the idiot's trying to do, but- of course- he has failed.

Abdul|9.3.10 @ 3:34PM|#

peacefully watching soccer games

Barely Suppressed Rage|9.3.10 @ 2:41PM|#

The British are, well, rahther...well... you know ....erm ... BRITISH, of course.

Hey at least they're not the French.

DADIODADDY|9.3.10 @ 2:42PM|#

Doucheier?...The British or The French...compare and contras.

Spoonman.|9.3.10 @ 2:50PM|#

Orthodontics?

|9.3.10 @ 3:50PM|#

Edible food?

Apologetic California|9.3.10 @ 2:59PM|#

I hate the British, specifically the Scots.

|9.3.10 @ 3:16PM|#

If it's not Scottish, it's CRAP!

Brett L|9.3.10 @ 3:01PM|#

As Trevanian said towards the end of The Loo Sanction: "the most beautiful women in the world are the ones a man sees immediately after he leaves Britain."

creech|9.3.10 @ 3:43PM|#

Wot's that? Even the butterfaces tend to be well endowed. Certainly better looking women than on our SCOTUS.

Brett L|9.3.10 @ 8:43PM|#

Your criteria put something like 98% of humanity in the range. Are you really Bill Clinton?

MNG|9.3.10 @ 3:17PM|#

How about conquering half the world? Is that un-British now too?

Apologetic California|9.3.10 @ 3:45PM|#

They went from the "sun never sets on the British Empire" to being stuck in a cold faggy little island that you can drive across in one morning.

Mr. Chartreuse|9.5.10 @ 12:35AM|#

Hey, they still have the Falklands and Montserrat.

He's Spartacus|9.5.10 @ 8:52AM|#

Not if Hillary has anything to do with it.

T|9.3.10 @ 3:45PM|#

Didn't the Brits invent the game of going to Afghanistan to shoot the natives? Rudyard Kipling would weep.

|9.4.10 @ 1:13AM|#

Captain Blackadder: When I joined up we were still fighting colonial wars. If you saw someone in a skirt you shot him and nicked his country.

|9.3.10 @ 3:49PM|#

I have an Anglophile friend who considers Monty Python to be un-British for Zod's sake.

|9.4.10 @ 4:25AM|#

Terry Gilliam was born in the US.

ChrisO|9.3.10 @ 5:44PM|#

The British have largely been extinct since the Anglo-Saxon invasions of the 4th-6th Centuries CE.

The Welsh could arguably be considered the only modern-day British, since they are the only remaining speakers of a Brythonic Celtic language.

|9.4.10 @ 4:36AM|#

The Welsh could arguably be considered the only modern-day British,

WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!

|9.5.10 @ 4:44AM|#

that's referred to as "de-evolution"

hth

He's Spartacus|9.5.10 @ 8:59AM|#

Worth mentioning, perhaps, that without Magna Carta, our former colonial friends wouldn't have had the Revolution, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights of which they are so justifiably proud.

Reason.com