English love Brexiting, especially when it hurts

English love Brexiting, especially when it hurts

Brexiting. A series on being English. # 07

(See corroboration below.)
English favour heroes that suffer. In real life and on film.
Wasn't The Charge of the Light Brigade in the Krimean War in 1854 the pinnacle of heroism? Aren't the existential losers like Mr. Bean, Monthy Python, Basil, Tommy Cooper, The Absolutely Fabulous immortal heroes of the screen?
The most favoured heroes of the English culture have a plus and a minus. They are safe to love

Impeachment at the root of Brexit, and the Dutch are to blame

Impeachment is at the root of Brexit and the Dutch are to blame

Brexiting. A series on being English. #06

There are striking parallels between Trumpian events in the USA, Mayan events in Great Britain and what happened in the 17th century in England. Only, the English have remained consistent in their forward motion on the time stream, while the Americans seem to back up against the current. Freedom and justice for all are not a natural given but have to be fought for constantly. We see these fights now emerging in the USA as a kind of cold civil war and in Great Britain, especially England, as Brexit, which is in essence a fight for freedom from continental supervision. And all this flows from a series of events in 1588 and 1689 that firmly established what it meant to be English.

The deepest roots of what it means to be English may be found in

Find your station in life. A reality check on the toffs.

A funny reality check on life with toffs

Brexiting. A series on being English. #05

As we have seen from earlier blog messages of mine in this series, the essence of the English class system is two-fold. The people that are 'in' want to keep lower-graded people 'out' of their class. At the same time, the ones who are 'out', except the monarchs and landed gentry (dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts, barons and their ladies), are trying to get higher up by means of emulation of some class above them or, traditionally, by buying (men) or marrying (women) themselves into it. For foreigners, this is an odd game, and for English, it is a frustrating one.

Of course, one can never really emulate the next level without actually being there. The little secrets that distinguish one class from another, are

Dictators like uniformity, dominators like loyalty

Dictators like uniformity, dominators like loyalty

Understanding Donald Trump Series #05

Dictators and Dominators Series #01

You can always assess whether a government leader is a suppressive controller or simply someone who wants to dominate a variety of people. The latter trait is clearly visible today in the 2017 President Of The United States (of America), the POTUS, Donald Trump.
The dictator, by contrast, likes uniformity for he has given up on loyalty. Obedience to a dictator is not gotten from merit but from fear. Often, it starts with obedience from trust that they all work toward a shared vision of the future. Generally, this includes more freedom ("Free China", "Cuba libre", "Lebensraum", "Liberté, Fraternité, Égalité"), but when that vision has been realized, it continues by enforcing