tourists shamed by racial hate

It’s only when you travel outside your home country or try to befriend people who have emigrated from other lands and feel shamed by racial hate that you get a true perspective of the magnitude of how many people hate whole nations, even though it’s the governments that represent these nations that’s the real problem; and Seraphine is sorry, in many ways, that she ever embarked on world travel because the experience caused her to see her country through foreign eyes and the picture is shameful, truly unworthy of flag flying patriotism.

“When I was growing up I was fed a whole lot of sugary things about my country – as all kids are, whichever country they were born in,” says Seraphine, “but as soon as I stepped outside my little part of England I was shocked by the negativity I encountered.”

“Centuries of hatred, carried by generation after generation, was focused on me – a simple English country girl – as if I embodied and was responsible for whatever caused this hatred in the first place,” sighs Seraphine. “How can you befriend people who hate you because of the country you were born in?”

“This is not just an English thing,” explains Seraphine. “I’ve heard young people from many nationalities say the same thing – from all continents – and none of us was prepared for the hateful reception we received, or was cognizant of the reasons for it.”

“I feel particularly sorry for the Japanese kids because they, unlike the Germans, were brought up totally oblivious of their nation’s imperial past,” says Seraphine. “While I appreciate that their present government wishes to spare them the gory details, it must hit them harder than it does us when they discover the truth and have to face a world within living memory of the war crimes their past imperial government was responsible for.”

“The point I am making is that what our governments do today reverberate down the centuries,” explains Seraphine, “and whole populations of innocent people, generation after generation, bear the burden of bad decisions made long ago by an elite few in government.”

“I am not altogether sure that the people who rule us today – elected or not – are aware of the responsibility entrusted to them, or care about how their decisions will affect future generations.”

“Did George W Bush think about how young Americans, today and in the future, will be treated by other nationalities when he embarked on his illegal war?” asks Seraphine. “I don’t think he did, and I don’t think he cares. He has no sons to carry on his name and bear the brunt of hatred. That hatred will be aimed, instead, at every American venturing outside the States and it will last for millennia.”

“I have met more young Americans saying ‘sorry’ for what their government has done to the world than I’ve met saying they are proud of their country,” sighs Seraphine, “and this is such an awful admission for them to make, isn’t it? Why should they have to bear the burden of guilt?”

“And yet they do. We all do. Whatever our governments do, is sheeted home to us, the people, and the guilt is more poignant, more shameful, when the government is an elected one.”

“At least the Russians and Chinese can claim that they are not responsible for the atrocities committed by past and present governments – they are victims of these regimes, too,” explains Seraphine. “Those of us in democracies do not have this luxury, making us more vulnerable than we should be because, after all, once we elect our governments we have no say in what they do.”

“I thought that being British was a good thing,” laughs Seraphine. “We brought democracy, freedom, ships, railways and all sorts of good things to the world, didn’t we? And yet my history teacher didn’t tell us about all the bad things our past governments had done.”

“Bearing in mind that it’s the bad things that other nations remember far more than they do the good things,” sighs Seraphine, “it’s little wonder that the Brits are hated all over the world. The empire that past British governments created encompassed most of the world!”

“Yes, I am ashamed of my country because every Scot, Irish and Welsh national has told me I should be – and every American, Canadian and Australian has told me I should be – and every Spanish, French, Italian, German and Argentine national has told me I should be – and every Indian, Pakistani, Asian, Middle Eastern, Caribbean and African has told me I should be.”

“If I’ve forgotten anyone, for anything my country once did to them, no matter how long ago, please forgive me,” says Seraphine. “And now, having got that off my chest let me tell you that I am not taking responsibility for any of it, and neither am I taking responsibility on behalf of my ancestors.”

“I was born long after the last remains of empire had disintegrated – and I was too young to remember the Thatcher years -- and if any of my ancestors were involved in creating the empire it was only as a pawn to be used and abused by the ruling class, as all little people are, everywhere.”

“Yes, I am ashamed of the Blair government’s involvement in the current illegal war and what it’s done to bring us down in other ways,” says Seraphine, “but I didn’t vote for Blair, I demonstrated against the war and I did all that one person can do to prevent the government of my country from making a bad decision that will reverberate down the years to cause more and more people to hate British people who have yet to be born.”

“In fact, if I am truthful, there is nothing about my country that I cherish any more – not the people (who, among a nation of mongrels, is a true pre-Roman Briton?); not the Church of England (even the archbishop is ashamed of it); not the legal and parliamentary system (do I have to give reasons?); and, since the green fields I grew up in are now being concreted to provide homes for migrants who hate us, there is no land left that I can call home.”

“Had I stayed in my village and allowed myself to be boiled like a frog, I would probably still be flying the flag, totally oblivious of the hatred out there until it moved in next door,” sighs Seraphine. “It reminds me of a play by George Bernard Shaw, ‘Man and Superman’, where the Irish-American, full of hate for the Brits after being starved into emigration, vowed to get rich, buy up England and bring the nation to its knees.”

“Well, I think that’s been achieved, if not by Irish-Americans then by everyone else who hates us,” laughs Seraphine, “and bearing in mind the millions of dispossessed people who have reason to hate America I wonder how long it will be before the vast majority of insular American frogs look next door, feel the pain of being boiled, unfurl their flags in shame and start hating their own country, too.”

“As there are not many countries with blemish-free pasts, there are not many places one can emigrate to and, hopefully, start a new life with pride in one’s new country,” says Seraphine. “Canada and New Zealand look promising, though, because their governments at least had the good sense to keep out of George Bush’s illegal war.”