Why is this needed in its old form? Why can this not evolve?

Even in general, without the bad actors, the internet has exposed anybody born after about 1995 to have a much wider understanding of the rest of the world. When I grew up we relied on what we were told by adults living in the UK, in newspapers, books, by teachers and by watching TV. We all had the same or similar exposure, or lack thereof, to other countries and cultures.

Anybody approaching 30 these days has been able to chat to people, and see how people live all over the world their entire lives. Many would naturally feel more of a citizen of the world than of their small island, and so the culture they associate to tends to be tribal in terms of different grouping than on a national level - whether it be political, sports, hobbies, interests, philosophy, activism, etc.

I think ironically this is also why we see a lot more isolation and alienation in our younger generations. They are also exposed constantly to increasingly sophisticated disinformation. They see both utopian and demonic portrayals of other countries, and can struggle to understand what is truth and what is not, and how to relate that to what they are seeing and experiencing in their life in the UK.

Imagine how religiosity in the UK has changed over the last 200 years. That's also a massive change. Our great grandparents would likely be appalled at the lack of Christianity.

The younger generations look at the world differently than the grey population and I think any sense of national identity has to be different as well. And one has to ask, is it even necessary? Strangely enough you touched on probably the one use case for it - fighting for your country.

Anyway, my question is more if you are saying this sense of identity needs to be restored somehow because it's what you identify with from your upbringing, or because it serves some sort of purpose that cannot be achieved another way?

If England won the World Cup there might be a brief period common national pride, but not a lasting one.

Posted By: Legacy Fan, Apr 1, 18:14:31