I come across this ever so irking line numerous times a week. Why is it used, though? Pride? Arrogance? Denial? There must be a reason. I was informed about some of these reasons thanks to [url=http://uk.gamespot.com/pages/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=27024393&page=0]this thread[/url] which induced in me many lulz but then shocked me when I realised that the people reciting these lines were actually being serious.

The first justification for saying something so silly was protestation. When somebody commented on this, suggesting that they should freshen up their geography, one of the wrongdoers responded.

[QUOTE="delta3074"]you might want to read your history, britain is a SOVERIEGN nation, always has been, always will be, we are not europeans in this neck of the woods,lol, we still have our own currency for starters, no euro's here mate.[/QUOTE]

What a strange thing to say. Did he just imply that countries like Germany, France, Spain and Italy are not sovereign nations? Does being sovereign exempt you from the continent that your country is part of? The euro argument was even more amusing. There are 50 countries in Europe. 16 of them use the euro. There are 27 member states in the EU. 16 of them use the euro. I am sure you catch my drift.

[QUOTE="NinjaMunkey01"]What we are talking about is a culture thing. Were pretty detached. We refuesed to change to Euros, we generally dont include europe in our news channels and obviously as a separate continent we feel separate.

We like being called British. Not European. We dont want to be labelled as part of a group. Were a diverse country and we have our own identity.[/QUOTE]

Again, the euro argument. Here's a new argument, however, and that is that the UK is a separate continent. I feel the need to facepalm. He goes even further, however, saying something that I believe to be very ironic, that being that he likes to be called British, not European, and that he doesn't want to be labelled as part of a group. Funny thing, though, because Great Britain consists of a group of three countries, namely England, Scotland and Wales. Notice the irony?

What really bugs me about this, though, is the fact that his last sentence, as well as the "UK and Europe" line, imply that the UK has a right to be named separately from the rest of Europe because they are a diverse country with their own identity. This, in return, infers that all the other countries in Europe, those 670 million people (this number excluding the population of the United Kingdom, of course) are homogeneous. Beyond insulting and complete and utter bullcrap to boot if one cares to utilise the common sense that they hopefully possess.

I am English myself, although I am embarrassed about it now. The amount of ignorance and arrogance shown towards our neighbours is appalling. Every nation has its reasons to be proud, but we're coming off as a bloody loner nation the way we're portraying it.

So, GameSpot UK, what is your opinion on this? How many of you think like the people I quoted? How many of you say "the UK and Europe?" Is the UK part of Europe? Can we English, Scottish, Welsh, Northern Irish, Brits, and United Kingdomers not be what we are and admit that what we are makes us something else too?

[QUOTE="-INKling-"]Don't you know that the UK is a separate continent, and so is the Isle of White, Anglesea, Guernsey and that bit of sand that pokes out at high tide on Crosby beach..... :P

Of course I'm joking. I think that the people that annoyed you are just confusing their non-eurocentric political perspective with simple geography. For whatever reason these people don't want to be a part of the EU. I don't think that it's uniquely British to think like this but I think that the fact that we are an island gives us a parochial "us and them" mentality and after all we're only ordinary men.[/QUOTE]

It's not just them but magazines and the like that should know better. [url=http://www.mcvuk.com/news/35840/Yakuza-3-coming-to-UK-and-Europe]For instance...[/url]

And what about Iceland? Greenland? Ireland? Cyprus? I haven't noticed them adopting this mentality of "us and them" like many here in the UK seem to have.

[QUOTE="cjek"]The media certainly don't help. A slight misinterpretation of something said regarding Europe, and the next day the press would have you believe we're being merged into some kind of superstate with Tony Blair as its president. Let's put it this way, the changes that would have 'destroyed' our Britishness that people were scared of say 20 years ago, have all happened, and we've lost nothing of our own national identity. The same goes for every other EU country; France is still as French as it was, Germany as German, and so on.

We're European, we're British, some of us are Scottish, English, Welsh or Northern Irish (my sig seems appropriate right now :P), and we should all just accept that, and ignore the anti-Euro press attitude which spreads lies and has created a hatred of the EU among our public.[/QUOTE]

Beautifully said. :)

[QUOTE="teddyrob"]You have made a thread to single out certain individuals, why couldn't you bring it up in the threads they were in. No instead you make a new thread to go name call. I believe this is also against the policies and rules of GameSpot.[/QUOTE]

Everybody in this thread managed to comprehend its premise, except you. What's more, you made a false accusation and dared to depict a fallacy in your logic.

Either contribute in a meaningful way or cease your heinous actions. I suggest both.

This [url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8326249.stm]link[/url] is very relevant to the subject matter in my opinion. Check it out.