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Comment at the Guardian |
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In response to a Guardian leader, "When British isn't always best" on the diminishing importance of British identity
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The Guardian. National identity is a myth, all be it a very powerful one, that serves to justify and help maintain the power structures of the nation state. Thus, it is no wonder that Gordon Brown and other national politicians (and institutions!) are so keen and determined to maintain it. Emotionally it is rooted (through millions of years of behavioural evolution) in a sense of family, clan and tribal identity, which is why, when Gordon Brown claims that it has nothing to do with ethnicity, I, at least, cannot help feeling a strong sense of the ridiculous. Notwithstanding that circumstances, in multi-racial/multicultural Britain, now demand that national identity has nothing to do with such trivial things as shared ancestors, history, culture, or even native tongue. A British passport and a declaration that you subscribe to some vague British values is what really counts. But, of course, I'm just being "racist", aren't I? My homepage at: http://www.spaceship-earth.org
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