Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[MaximumZero]

Come to Michigan. It never gets cold or dry here!

* MaximumZero whistles innocently.

I am wise to your frigid ways. I used to work with a guy from the UP.

Fuck that noise. I'm from the mitten.

[RedKing]

Come to Michigan. It never gets cold or dry here!

* MaximumZero whistles innocently.

I am wise to your frigid ways. I used to work with a guy from the UP.

Fuck that noise. I'm from the mitten.

Also, as a small child I lived briefly in Chicago and in Waukeegan, WI. Those were both fucking cold. They're south of Michigan. (well, most of Michigan)
So logically....Michigan weighs the same as a piece of wood, and therefore...A WITCH!

[Owlbread]

The realisation that the vast majority of the Scottish population have no balls and are essentially lapdogs who will never again take control over their own country and become independent; for despite what Mel Gibson has portrayed, Scotland was always a nation in which loyalty was prized over personal freedom and independence. The realisation that the SNP just don't have the power to drive this shit forward and get us a majority vote in 2014. The realisation that the nation itself is doomed to provincial status in the far future from a population that doesn't care enough, and will probably homogenise with the English (along with the Welsh, who are well on that path already) by the end of the century/beginning of the next in an all enclusive yet sadly grey British identity and nationality, the Scots language and culture of 20 years ago that we still cling onto today as distant as Pictish. The realisation that when we fail in 2014, I will have no idea about what I should do with myself, or where I should go.

They're certainly political, but my own future and how I plan on living my life is inextricably tied to these realisations. This may or may not start political debate, but it's certainly what's made me sad today, so I suppose it is on topic.

[Descan]

My favourite realization is that because of globalization and the internet, we can take what we want from every culture that we like. I don't truck with "cultural appropriation" being a bad thing. If I like something, just because I wasn't born in an area, doesn't mean I'm not allowed to use it and like it.

I basically dislike basing what someone can and can't do, what you feel about someone, off of where they were born and grew up in.

So if Scottish Identity in Scotland becomes a bit more British, just because it shares a border with the English population, is that really a bad thing? The bad parts of cultural identity will go, and the good parts will stay.

I have no idea what I'm talking about here. Something something something cultural homogeny is bad no matter how you slice is, whether globally or on the village scale.

[Pnx]

... The realisation that the nation itself is doomed to provincial status in the far future from a population that doesn't care enough, ...

I'm just sad because not giving a fuck is basically the British national pastime.

[ISP]

Michigan is cold... its cold right now and its not even winter yet, it gets to "several pairs of socks to keep from getting frostbite walking to your car" cold, and it snows and gets icy to where you probably know how to properly drive on ice from living here for more then a year.

Its been pretty dry this year as well, only can remember like 5 rains all this year.

[Owlbread]

My favourite realization is that because of globalization and the internet, we can take what we want from every culture that we like. I don't truck with "cultural appropriation" being a bad thing. If I like something, just because I wasn't born in an area, doesn't mean I'm not allowed to use it and like it.

I basically dislike basing what someone can and can't do, what you feel about someone, off of where they were born and grew up in.

So if Scottish Identity in Scotland becomes a bit more British, just because it shares a border with the English population, is that really a bad thing? The bad parts of cultural identity will go, and the good parts will stay.

I have no idea what I'm talking about here. Something something something cultural homogeny is bad no matter how you slice is, whether globally or on the village scale.

The reason why I see it as a bad thing is that as we become more and more "British" we will lose (and are losing currently, I know this) things like the Scots leid, our folk songs, everything from the old days that made us who we were. We'll become something quite different, and we won't just lose the bad stuff.

I'm just sad because not giving a fuck is basically the British national pastime.

Aren't we all. People in 70 years are going to ask us why people just stood back and watched us go through utter shite for years; not getting rid of dreadful, antiquated levels of government such as the House of Lords or not allowing Catholics to be king or all the other little shitty archaic things that pervade the British establishment, electing the same people every few years except they wear different coloured ties (they even make the same mistakes), allowing the biased media to irrepairably alter our perceptions of anything radical or new. At least, I hope they'll ask us then (those that are still alive); I would have thought they'd have woken up by then. Possibly not, in which case I just despair. Britain's age and our odd obsession with things that have been around for a long time being "venerable" (in our country, if a politician is around for a particularly long amount of time chances are he'll be made a lord for the sake of it, so we'll never get rid of the fucker) has resulted in us collecting shite on a grand scale like a snowball rolling down a big shitty mountain. There's so much shit in the snowball that you basically can't take it out without breaking up or destroying the whole thing. I feel sometimes you need something like Scotland's secession to break up the snowball and allow us to just start again. People could become more aware of themselves and maybe start caring when they're reminded of the possibility for tangible, radical change.

Scotland is the only country I would live in for the rest of my life, and it's the only country I would ever represent on an international level. I think this is going to hit me hard.

[Levi]

I have no idea what I'm talking about here. Something something something cultural homogeny is bad no matter how you slice is, whether globally or on the village scale.

Totally agree.  The more cultures the better(food for me to eat).

[RedKing]

My favourite realization is that because of globalization and the internet, we can take what we want from every culture that we like. I don't truck with "cultural appropriation" being a bad thing. If I like something, just because I wasn't born in an area, doesn't mean I'm not allowed to use it and like it.

I basically dislike basing what someone can and can't do, what you feel about someone, off of where they were born and grew up in.

So if Scottish Identity in Scotland becomes a bit more British, just because it shares a border with the English population, is that really a bad thing? The bad parts of cultural identity will go, and the good parts will stay.

I have no idea what I'm talking about here. Something something something cultural homogeny is bad no matter how you slice is, whether globally or on the village scale.

The reason why I see it as a bad thing is that as we become more and more "British" we will lose (and are losing currently, I know this) things like the Scots leid, our folk songs, everything from the old days that made us who we were. We'll become something quite different, and we won't just lose the bad stuff.

I'm just sad because not giving a fuck is basically the British national pastime.

Aren't we all. People in 70 years are going to ask us why people just stood back and watched us go through utter shite for years; not getting rid of dreadful, antiquated levels of government such as the House of Lords or allowing Catholics to be king or all the other little shitty archaic things that pervade the British establishment, electing the same people every few years except they wear different coloured ties, allowing the biased media to irrepairably alter our perceptions of anything radical or new. At least, I hope they'll ask us then (those that are still alive); I would have thought they'd have woken up by then. Possibly not, in which case I just despair.

I know what you mean, I miss those grand old traditions like playing "Hit The Wooly Mammoth On The Head" or "Who Died From Cholera Last Night?"

Not trying to pick a fight, just sayin...culture has *always* been fluid. The Scots didn't just spring out of the ground, pristine and fully formed like Athena from Zeus's head. They lost some of their "mainland" Celt ways and diverged from their Hibernian Celt kin, developed their own ways, own dialects, etc. And besides, a fair chunk of the Lowland Scots were resettled Normans, who were themselves Vikings who spent a couple of generations in France.

[Owlbread]

I know what you mean, I miss those grand old traditions like playing "Hit The Wooly Mammoth On The Head" or "Who Died From Cholera Last Night?"

Not trying to pick a fight, just sayin...culture has *always* been fluid. The Scots didn't just spring out of the ground, pristine and fully formed like Athena from Zeus's head. They lost some of their "mainland" Celt ways and diverged from their Hibernian Celt kin, developed their own ways, own dialects, etc. And besides, a fair chunk of the Lowland Scots were resettled Normans, who were themselves Vikings who spent a couple of generations in France.

The traditions and language and perspectives I'm thinking of aren't like that. Culture has always been fluid indeed, but right now Scotland is on the cusp of a similar kind of change to the ones that led to the divergences that you've spoken of. Now we have the chance to control it if we keep aware of it, but I don't see that happening. The change is inevitable, but the way that it will change can be controlled to an extent.

I'm well aware that we didn't spring out of the ground, but if I had the power I'd try to prevent, slow or control the changes you've described, I would. Obviously people at the time weren't aware of it enough (people are rarely aware that they are experiencing history in the making) and probably didn't care. However, there are parts - for want of a better word - of those people that you have described that make up Scotland that can still be found today. We carry those parts within us: within our customs, our languages, our traditions, our songs - everything. I fear that we are going to lose all that, or at least too much of it.

[RedKing]

I guess it's just hard to hold with that kind of mentality in the US. I mean, we're ALL immigrants here (well, all but the ones we fucked over and stuck on reservations) and we keep alive certain portions of our "old" culture (to varying extents) but still embrace the new as well. If we didn't, the US would have dissolved into Ethniklashistan long ago.

[Lagslayer]

*brohugs Owlbread*

I feel for you man. I am from the US and, in contrast to what RedKing said, I wouldn't expect you to be happy or proud facing what you are facing. To see one's culture ripped to shreds is a tragic thing, like a part of yourself is being removed.

It's like losing an arm or a leg. Sure, you can use a prosthetic, but it's just not the same.


That being said, I'm not condemning all past imperialization or conquering. The economic and political factors are too complex for me to judge in such a simple manner, especially since it all happened before I was even born.

[kaijyuu]

Cultural homogenization isn't really a bad thing, IMO. It's not like the old traditions are disappearing; they've been written down, recorded, all that. If you wish to participate in them, you can.


"Culture" is something of inherently neutral value to me, at least objectively. You can like what you like, dislike what you like, all that. Just don't impose your cultural views on others; let them decide for themselves.

[RedKing]

Lagslayer: So how do you feel about people flying Confederate flags?
NOTE: I am not in any way, shape or form equating 'Scottish-ness' with slavery, the Confederacy or anything similar.

I'm guess I'm just saying, who decides what cultural bits are worthy of preservation? My experience has always been that it's the people themselves that preserve it, if it's important to them. I'm a member of two Scottish Clan Associations (Gunn and Davidson), a member of the American Historical Society of Germans From Russia, etc. etc.

If it's important to you, by all means chronicle it, pass it on, preserve it. But don't think that the only way to do it is to break off and remain an independent country.

[Darvi]

I'm a member of two Scottish Clan Associations (Gunn and Davidson),

Then we are bros!