Values and meaning

Every few years, the United Kingdom-well Britain anyway- has the same debate. Sometimes it’s tedious, and sometimes it is interesting, but either way it tends to capture the imagination of the public. The fact that it frequently crops up around election time can also provide some ammunition for the more cynical-minded, but lets not go there. The national obsession I’m referring to is the question of what defines ‘Britishness.’ What values are intrinsically British? What are the peculiarities of the British culture and way of life that are unique and worth celebrating? As a foreigner here, I find this debate quite fascinating. Merely deciding to repeatedly have this discussion says a lot about the country- certainly, few other nations on earth have this kind of debate, at least not on the scale that it occurs in Britain. The debate is complicated by wider issues like mass immigration and what effect this may have on the British psyche. Things are also further complicated when the Countries that constitute Britain prefer to assert their own values, and not those of Britain as a whole. It’s a very tricky affair, but that does not dampen people’s enthusiasm for discussing the topic. Most of the values that people coalesce around are fairly uncontroversial. Some of them are lofty aspirations (tolerance of difference and diversity, secularism, dignity, fairness). Others are more mundane or comical (a love of irony and dark humour, the odd culinary combination of fish and chips as the de-facto national dish, celebration of the underdog). In either case, it is clearly an important issue and the British have a long and colourful history to stake their debate on. Certainly the British have a very distinguished roll-call of historical giants to boost their quest in this regard: Newton, Tennyson, Shakespeare, Churchill, Milton are just a few of what is a very long list indeed. It’s also the kind of list that would normally give any nation the kind of self-confidence not to even bother themselves with the issue at all. The United States provides an interesting counterpoint. They never have this kind of debate because they have the kind of irrepressible arrogance and self-confidence that makes this kind of soul-searching redundant. For them what is essentially ‘American’ is so staggeringly obvious that there is no need to start a debate about it. Even in times of crisis, that self-confidence protects them from questioning what makes them what they really are. Things are a bit different for our British friends. They seem inclined to carry out this debate at times when the nation is in some kind of trouble or going through some mild existential crisis. This search for meaning is inevitably part of a wider aspect of soul-searching and a way to reassure themselves that everything is fine. That said, I find myself wary of this topic everytime this particular debate is back in fashion, I find myself wondering: is it worth it? Can any country really condense itself into a set of values and can the exercise actually bring any benefits? My mind inevitably wanders to Rwanda and I ask myself: what if we tried to define what makes us Rwandan? Could we come up with our own set of unique values and characteristics that define us as Rwandan? How would we reach a consensus on the issue? In any case, attempts to define the essence of a Country in this way inevitably brings predictable results. Most Countries would define themselves on the same values and conduct: decency, fairness, tolerance. This dilutes the point of having this kind of discussion in the first place. It might prove to be a useful reminder of what you share with other Nations, but it is difficult to see how it can serve to distinguish the uniqueness of any nation. A lot of British people get quite annoyed every time there is an attempt to define ‘Britishness’ and I can understand why. A nation founded on diversity cannot easily set out to isolate what is ‘Britishness’ and cast it in stone. It often appears a somewhat unnecessary-indeed, even divisive- exercise. Ultimately the essence of a Country is not the kind of thing that can be captured by media analyses and public debates. Instead, it is the kind of thing people live out everyday. minega_isibo@yahoo.co.uk