those brilliant brits
I never believed in symbols very much. They're too easy to manipulate. Wear the right clothes, say the right things, keep your image intact, and no one can tell the difference between you and who you claim to be. No one reading the papers, at least.
Someone in the UK likes meaningless actions like these, however, enough to think they actually change who someone is. Some ministers and secretaries, I never really understood the Brit system, want to start "citizenship ceremonies" for 18yr olds to "celebrate their transition to adulthood as part of an official drive to improve community cohesion." Setting aside the problems of trying to legislate "community cohesion" and going on, the Guardian reports that Fiona Mactaggart thinks the measure will "increase voting among young people, for example. It might increase their interest in contributing to society." Brilliant, right? They're supposed to think voting is a good idea.. because you say so? The naive Mactaggart thinks these ceremonies will be helpful because "New entrants to citizenship who come from another citizenship have been given a rite of passage and it has worked, despite the cynics."
The Brits miss the point however. Those immigrants didn't love the country because of the symbol but because of what the symbol stood for. So they cried when they took their oath, so what? It mattered to them because they had a basis of comparison. If the throngs of apathetic teenagers don't care right now, imposing a symbol will not resonate with them and will last only until people figure out that nobody else cares either.
The idiots are trying to legislate culture, like what they see on the outside is all there is.
Someone in the UK likes meaningless actions like these, however, enough to think they actually change who someone is. Some ministers and secretaries, I never really understood the Brit system, want to start "citizenship ceremonies" for 18yr olds to "celebrate their transition to adulthood as part of an official drive to improve community cohesion." Setting aside the problems of trying to legislate "community cohesion" and going on, the Guardian reports that Fiona Mactaggart thinks the measure will "increase voting among young people, for example. It might increase their interest in contributing to society." Brilliant, right? They're supposed to think voting is a good idea.. because you say so? The naive Mactaggart thinks these ceremonies will be helpful because "New entrants to citizenship who come from another citizenship have been given a rite of passage and it has worked, despite the cynics."
The Brits miss the point however. Those immigrants didn't love the country because of the symbol but because of what the symbol stood for. So they cried when they took their oath, so what? It mattered to them because they had a basis of comparison. If the throngs of apathetic teenagers don't care right now, imposing a symbol will not resonate with them and will last only until people figure out that nobody else cares either.
The idiots are trying to legislate culture, like what they see on the outside is all there is.
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