‘too multicultural’ to celebrate St George’s Day

[nightflight]

Bristol City Council allowed the national day to pass without a single event for the patron saint, despite its history dating back to 1222.

Council chiefs said 91 different languages are spoken in the town and it would be "very difficult to commemorate them all".

Some in the area feel as though the English symbol has been hijacked by far right groups and are concerned about being branded “racist”.

According to the Daily Star Sunday, Kalphna Woolf, founder of 91 Ways to Build a Global City, which aims to unite Bristol's multicultural communities, said people can be frightened of the white and red St George's flag.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/66...oo-multicultural-to-celebrate-St-George-s-Day

 

[Oafman]

St George is England's patron saint, and his day (23rd April) is effectively England's national day. Kind of like St Patrick's Day, or Independence Day in the US, or Australia day, or Bastille Day etc etc

Except, almost nobody in England knows when it is, and even fewer care. Nobody ever celebrates St George's Day. We have been a country for way too long to need to have a day when we launch fireworks in celebration of the fact that we are still a country.

Only in the warped reality of the Daily Express could failure to celebrate St George's Day be an example of political correctness gone mad.

Also, one reason why nationalists don't make more of a big deal out of St George, is that he was a Syrian immigrant! Seriously.

 

[nightflight]

Western self-loathing is a bottomless pit.

 

[Oafman]

Western self-loathing is a bottomless pit.

Where is the self loathing in this story?

Seriously, this is the most clumsily cooked-up non-story I have seen in a long time.

How many councils around England did organise anything for St George's Day? My guess would be, close to zero. Not because of political correctness, but because we have NEVER widely celebrated St George's Day, and aren't about to start now.

The other point is that there is a relationship, in the minds of many Brits, between the St George's Cross and racism. When football hooliganism used to be a thing (mainly 70s and 80s), and was closely associated with racism and far right groups, the Cross did become their symbol, and to an extent has yet to shake off that mantle.

 

[That Guy 11200]

We don't have many dragons in this country, so celebrating him is pretty pointless. Now, Guy Fawkes night, (burning a terrorist in effigy) that's much more relevant to the modern world and people celebrate it every year.

 

[Oafman]

We don't have many dragons in this country, so celebrating him is pretty pointless. Now, Guy Fawkes night, (burning a terrorist in effigy) that's much more relevant to the modern world and people celebrate it every year.

Indeed. Especially a Catholic terrorist....

 

[seashale76]

I celebrate St. George's Day. It has nothing to do with England to me- as I'm not English, have never lived there, and few, if any, of my ancestors were ever English. He is one of many saints commemorated in the Orthodox Church throughout the year on the Church calendar. We celebrate by having liturgy in my parish (and even have a St. George chapel). To me this thread just demonstrates the foolishness that can occur when you separate a thing from the context where it makes sense.

 

[The Cadet]

Western self-loathing is a bottomless pit.

Ergo, you pull up weaksauce nonsense like this?

 

[nightflight]

Ergo, you pull up weaksauce nonsense like this?

You swim in it so much that it no longer seems obscene to you. Wow, they really have won!

 

[Armoured]

St George is England's patron saint, and his day (23rd April) is effectively England's national day. Kind of like St Patrick's Day, or Independence Day in the US, or Australia day, or Bastille Day etc etc

Except, almost nobody in England knows when it is, and even fewer care. Nobody ever celebrates St George's Day. We have been a country for way too long to need to have a day when we launch fireworks in celebration of the fact that we are still a country.

Only in the warped reality of the Daily Express could failure to celebrate St George's Day be an example of political correctness gone mad.

Also, one reason why nationalists don't make more of a big deal out of St George, is that he was a Syrian immigrant! Seriously.

Isn't your big splashy celebratory type thing Guy Fawkes night?

 

[Armoured]

You swim in it so much that it no longer seems obscene to you. Wow, they really have won!

"They" who? And who therefore "lost"? The people who weren't celebrating St. George day anyway?

 

[Oafman]

Isn't your big splashy celebratory type thing Guy Fawkes night?

That's not a patriotic thing though. It's just an excuse to burn an effigy of a Catholic, massively reduce air quality due to the number of bonfires, and for kids to burn their hands on the wrong end of sparklers.

 

[Armoured]

That's not a patriotic thing though. It's just an excuse to burn an effigy of a Catholic, massively reduce air quality due to the number of bonfires, and for kids to burn their hands on the wrong end of sparklers.

Queen's Birthday?

 

[Oafman]

Queen's Birthday?

That's only being made into a big deal this year because it's her 90th. Most years it barely gets a mention. I reckon the percentage of Brits who could name the date of either of her birthdays would be in single figures. And anyway, that's not a day to 'celebrate Britishness', like St Patrick's Day celebrates Ireland and Irishness, or Independence Day celebrates America. We really don't have any such day. I suspect we're in a small minority - most countries do.

 

[Armoured]

That's only being made into a big deal this year because it's her 90th. Most years it barely gets a mention. I reckon the percentage of Brits who could name the date of either of her birthdays would be in single figures. And anyway, that's not a day to 'celebrate Britishness', like St Patrick's Day celebrates Ireland and Irishness, or Independence Day celebrates America. We really don't have any such day. I suspect we're in a small minority - most countries do.

We have Australia Day, but despite several governments trying to heighten its profile, most people are happy just to have it as a low key day off. ANZAC Day and Melbourne Cup day, between them, probably are more our national days, as such. One for reverence, one for celebration.

 

[The Cadet]

You swim in it so much that it no longer seems obscene to you. Wow, they really have won!

Dude, c'mon. People from Britain have pointed out that St. George's day typically isn't celebrated anyways. As your own article points out:

Bristol City Council said in a statement: "We don't normally tend to do anything as Bristol is a city with 91 different languages and it would be very difficult to commemorate them all.

“We welcome the many community-led events which take place across the city each year to mark St George’s Day.

"As with many occasions we didn't arrange our own specific event, but at no point have we ‘refused’ to run one.”
​

So a "holiday" (which is not a bank holiday and which people don't actually typically get off work) which the town doesn't usually arrange anything for doesn't have anything arranged for it. This is, for some reason, an indication of PC culture gone wild, because one of the reasons they offer is "we're extremely multicultural". That's a stupid reason, sure, but that doesn't mean they're wrong, and the issue is so inconsequential as to be completely meaningless.

 

[Jimmy D]

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/66...oo-multicultural-to-celebrate-St-George-s-Day

I neither know nor care when St George's day is. Why would I celebrate the life of a semi-fictional foreign soldier? If it was to be made into a mandatory holiday with a day off work that might be different.... where's me flag?!?!

 

[Oafman]

I neither know nor care when St George's day is. Why would I celebrate the life of a semi-fictional foreign soldier? If it was to be made into a mandatory holiday with a day off work that might be different.... where's me flag?!?!

Bloody immigrants. Coming over 'ere, slaying our dragons....