Why are the British so anti Europe?

Paranoid1 wrote: »

Well done the Brits, leaving Europe is the way to go, hopefully we follow them

SiegfriedsMum wrote: »

I never claimed it was.

SiegfriedsMum wrote: »

For some reason, those who dislike others who question the EU hurl the term "sceptic" at others as if its a badge of shame.

gallag wrote: »

Thanks, so would turkey have been able to join without submiting to the ECHR? Or as the "best customer" of the ECHR would they be allowed to violate ECHR rulings and stay in the EU? Thanks for taking the time, I do have an open mind so dont feel like your time is wasted:-)

Solair wrote: »

The problem is quite simple really. The Tories are terrified of UKIP as it's eating into a large chunk of their right-leaning vote which also tends to be rather anti-EU and a tiny bit xenophobic.

Cameron's pushed this out to 2017 and, unless he does something absolutely amazing or Miliband manages to score a lot of own goals, the Tories will not be in power by then.

They've managed to totally alienate a large chunk of the British public by coming up with a front bench that's so posh that it makes the Queen look a bit working class.

Meanwhile, the Lib Dems managed to do what the Greens did over here and naively go into coalition with right/centre right populist party which has used them as a mud flap / whipping boy. So, they're unlikely to get very much support next time around.

I don't think there's been a rational debate about this in the UK for a very long time either. It's all soundbytes and lack of facts.

The other issue is that the British business community is mostly quite pro-EU in a pragmatic. When push comes to shove, they will probably lobby very hard against any exit. It could potentially be hugely damaging for businesses and could cause a lot of instability by introducing all sorts of unknowns to an already really unstable economic situation.

As for why the British are so Eurosceptic. That's quite complex sociological question.

There's no question but that there's still a significant overhang from the old imperial days. They tend to overestimate their own significance on the world stage. Outside of the EU, the UK is just one of a lot of middle-sized countries and it's certainly not a large trade bloc.

I also think they overestimate how fondly their former colonies look upon them. Other than Australia, NZ and Canada, most of the former colonies have a rather tarnished relationship with the UK due to that history. So, I think perhaps they overestimate the relevance of the Common Wealth in terms of real trade possibilities.

Then there's the whole recent WWII history where the UK didn't get invaded (other than the Channel Islands which they overlook). That sets them (and us) apart from most of the rest of the EU. Britain very much sees itself as having won the war and that the EU was some kind of club for "those other countries" which had to make up and be friends again. I think there's a sense in popular culture anyway that they just can't see what it has to do with them or why they should be involved at all.

Then you've just got plain old xenophobia. They have never liked *any* of their neighbours and British popular culture / TV / media tends to talk about Europe as some foreign place full of people who are just walking stereotypes. I also find the British media tends to almost personify other EU nations.

Finally, because the tabloids tend to dominate the loudest part of the media debate and they are without exception very anti-EU / anti-foreigner in general, you never really get to hear a proper debate about the EU or what it is. It's always just been laughed at / pointed at / jeered / mocked and ridiculed by the majority of the mainstream media.


That tends to drive public debate / opinion.

Finally, you've also got the problem that the UK is English-speaking and totally focused on its own media / US media. I find sometimes in the UK there's just a complete lack of awareness of the rest of Europe, especially in England. People seem to just not have the language skills / interest.

Those are my 2 cents on it anyway

Solair wrote: »

True, but the British were the only ones who really managed to 'fizzle out' of the empire. The rest pretty much had spectacular crashes and France pretty much disappeared during WWII and ended up getting a dose of what it was like to be colonized itself which completely changed it's world outlook.

The Corinthian wrote: »

Actually the Spanish were just as successful as the British - they were the original empire where "the sun never set".

And in the 16th and 17th centuries Spain, rather than Germany, would have been seen as one of the 'biggest problems' in Europe for the British - prior to the late nineteenth century, Germany didn't even exist - the Germanic Holy Roman Empire existed, but as Voltaire once said of it, it "was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire".

Overall, Spain's imperial power very much went into decline from the 18th century on, as it became evident that events had moved on, the World had changed and she was no longer a superpower.

Of course it took Spain a while before she was able to admit this herself. Sound familiar?

Priceless. At this stage, I'd have to suspect you're actually a Europhile pretending to be a Europsceptic for the purposes of discrediting them, if you're coming out with xenophobic rants like this.