blamebrampton | A case in point ...

So, there we were, having a chat on a friend's LJ about the differences between the US and the UK for purposes of a self-Britpicking list, with participants from both sides of the pond and beyond and frequent diversions into baiting and comedy from all sides, and apparently it has become a source of Flocked Drama.

Consider the argument very carefully: At least one American is very upset that British people prefer to be depicted in accurate ways.

And if you can't see why that's a bit dodgy, replace the word British with any other nationality.

I don't want to overstate the case, because really, it doesn't culturally oppress us the way that some other cultures have been oppressed by this sort of thing, since we don't deeply care and we had an Empire first. And while the original source of the complaint is a preference, it's certainly not a sine qua non, and we read heaps of stuff that gets us wrong, and some of it is good and some is crap, and really, at the end of the day we still pronounce and spell aluminium in ways that are scientifically logical, which in itself is enough. But, honestly ...

Interestingly, one of my points of difference was a tendency to soap-opera-like over-reactions in fiction. Clearly I drew the line too narrowly.

AND I left off the fact that it the entire United States has been the subject of mass-brainwashing to accept caffeinated flavoured beverages as coffee. Though I see Starbucks has dropped the word from their logo, truth in advertising at last!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

All my fault, really.

I’m sorry, I’ll read that again: the note handed in by a Dr Kiosk in fact reads, ‘We are all guilty!’ (bar, of course, the 25-stone, iron-watch-chained, crag-visaged, grim-booted Alderman Foodbotham).

I suppose that if one person in ten within fandom had the faintest glimmer who in buggery I am, I should be regarded as the Dire Exemplar of those who Insist Sternly Upon Brit-picking (there are advantages to being obscure, it appears). The characterisation, if made, were no less unfair for its being pardonable, but, there you are.

I don’t, actually, give a tuppenny dam about Britpicking as a matter of Respect for the Culture or as a Defence Against Yank Cultural Hegemony, and I have read with pleasure stories that were otherwise good enough to withstand a basic failure to Pick Brit. I do think, however, that it’s a matter of Respect for One’s Craft and for the Canon: if you, O Writer, cannot be arsed to make a decent effort towards getting your characters and their canon right, I cannot be arsed to read you.

Howsoddingever, I can to some extent see a justification for the raised hackles of American Writers – why is why I have done my bit towards making Britpicking a crowd-sourced effort (well, that and the Secret Orders I am charged with by Hannan, Carswell, Redwood, and the 1922 Committee). The problem of course is that so many of those who pronounce upon these matters – and no, I don’t mean anyone here present – are those who, wherever they live and move and have their being, mentally inhabit, and have their mental horizons firmly bounded by, Islington and Notting Hill. They are the sort who speak of Britain and the British in a way that clearly and reflexively excludes the Scots, the Welsh, the Norns, most Jews, most Asians of whatever background, non-Tablet RCs, serious Chapel-goers, Black Britons, anyone rural, any Tory who’s not so Wet you could shoot snipe over him, Orange Bookers, and Mrs Gillian Duffy of Rochdale. And they do tend rather to lecture foreigners in a discernibly de haute en bas manner. Worse still, their pronouncements, so far as I’ve seen, are greeted with cringing gratitude and ritual self-abasement by the sort of American who spends her life barracking (or Baracking) her own country and apologising for its existence (just as the upper-middles of Islington and Notting Hill go about atoning for Britain). I tend to despise any subject or citizen of a civilised nation – the Anglosphere, at bottom – who creeps and crawls in that fashion, and I’m not surprised that the coincidence of London chattering-class condescension and culturally-cringing fellow-countrymen exasperates any self-respecting American, although it’s a pity that this leads to their rejecting the concept of Britpicking because some of its advocates and practitioners are oiks, poons, and yoghurt-knitting Grauniad-istas.

But, then, one wants never to trust anyone who thinks Resisting Right-Deviationism more important than the Ashes.

You were agreeing with Obama just the other day! On Julian Assange -- I remember it all clearly. I was going to say something but was so startled I lost the ability to speak for a short while.

Ironically, no one was calling for a pogrom on all un-Britpicked fics. Though I did state my absolute displeasure of some of the worst tropes of current American writing -- thinking more of the RL variety than fanfic as it turns out. Clearly, it is all my fault for making the schoolboy error of assuming anyone who was outraged would seek to engage me in debate before making assumptions they knew what I meant. I've sent myself to detention and will be serving it answering many, many comments.

Actually, the shocking thing was that Mr Obama in part was agreeing with me - and Delingpole. Not the other way 'round at all.

And m'dear, I did see the underlying thread. Everyone involved who expected that anyone who was outraged would seek to engage one in debate before making assumptions they knew what one meant ... well, just you wait in that disused mineshaft with Amiel the pet toad whilst waiting for Mr Shuttleworth to shout the news down the shaft to you.

Edited 2011-01-09 14:45 (UTC)

I suppose I should lower my expectations, since apparently it's fashionable to believe that all men are Socrates these days ...

And do you know how much I would pay to discover a Bronte?

A case in point ...

All my fault, really.

Re: All my fault, really.

Rentamob is so dear in its charges these days.

Re: Rentamob is so dear in its charges these days.