Lord Herbert wrote on Aug 15
th, 2013 at 8:49am:
Don't be so polite, you're making me feel guilty.
I don't know what people would say about my track record with politeness here. I don't normally think about being polite. I say my Thank-You's and Please's but that's just a habit. I just thought if I was going to ask if someone was British (or any other nationality), I better tread carefully.
Lord Herbert wrote on Aug 15
th, 2013 at 8:49am:
The Union Jack doesn't identify anyone these days. Through mass and indiscriminate immigration over the past 40 years into the UK, the Union Jack represents absolutely no one ~ and everyone.
It's been rendered meaningless. It's a relic from a time when the Brits were not black, or turbaned, or Muslim... and they weren't born in the UK to set off suicide bombs in the London Underground.
It may not identity your ethnicity, but surely it does identify your nationality, does it not?
Lord Herbert wrote on Aug 15
th, 2013 at 8:49am:
If you want to be British ~ just buy a little Union Jack flag on a popsicle stick from a Chinese 2 Dollar store ~ 'Made in China' ~ and wave it at certain events.
Made-in-China Australian flags are common too.
Lord Herbert wrote on Aug 15
th, 2013 at 8:49am:
I spent 7 years of my childhood in China. When I arrived in the UK it was foreign to me except for the language.
Seven years in China hey? You must have learn to speak Mandarin in that time.
Lord Herbert wrote on Aug 15
th, 2013 at 8:49am:
Are you Indian or Chinese by any chance? I'm channeling someone from an ethnic background where politeness and respect is ALWAYS at a premium.
I think a little bit of mystery is a good thing.
I could be the guy who runs the KwikiMart (Simpsons) or the City Wok (South Park) ........ or something else altogether. Every now and then, little bits of my life leak out. For now, I think I'll keep you guessing.
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As for "politeness" and "respect," I think it is more a result of an experience I had several years ago when I was studying, than to do with my "background." Let me just say, bullying doesn't just happen in high school. It happens in university as well. In fact, it happens everywhere: in the workplace, in relationships, in marriages, in the armed forces; it happens everywhere. I think the 98th percentile score should be a sign: I was very competitive in high school.
At university I used to spend time with a "friend" who like me, studied hard and thought of himself as "smart." We had a kind of "competition" and "rivalry" that got a little too "personal." I never wanted a competition. I was a victim of bullying in high school and tried hard to manage conflicts, to not hit back emotionally at an aggressor. But this guy was keen. He was obsessed. I was afraid that if I told him to stop, he'd say that I was weak or a coward, so I let this continue for four years. Eventually we stopped talking to each other and blamed each other for what happened.
That guy put me in very uncomfortable situations and I promised myself I wasn't going to do the same to anyone else. That experience taught me the true meaning of respect.
It's because of that experience that I don't like snobbery. I don't want to go back to that life. It brought the worst out of me. It destroyed a friendship. Snobbery and classism tear people apart. They stop trusting and talking to each other -- nothing to do with being a "left-wing whinger."
Snobs only have snobs as friends. That's fine until people start quitting the snob group and saying, "I'm out."
Lord Herbert wrote on Aug 15
th, 2013 at 8:49am:
My sincere congratulations. Your parents must be very proud of you. Are you going into medicine (if I may presume to ask
)
Oh that was a while ago. If I wanted to get into Medicine, I would have needed 99, but I wasn't interested in it anyway.
Back in my "yuppie" days, the score really mattered. Now it doesn't.
What people achieve in high school becomes insignificant as the years go by. When you get your university degree, it doesn't matter if you went to public or private school. When you go out looking for a job, employers are looking for experience. Even university qualifications aren't so important unless the job involves number crunching or really technical matters -- like jobs for engineers, accountants, lawyers, judges and scientists -- where you really have to know what you're doing.
If you're running a business, it's more about management, making decisions and dealing with people. They won't care so much that you have a Business, Commerce or Arts degree. I actually did choose a path where university qualifications did matter, but my high school results won't help my career prospects.
Lord Herbert wrote on Aug 15
th, 2013 at 8:49am:
Ah! This is a clear case of stereotyping, profiling, racial prejudice, xenophobia, bigotry ... and maybe even the dreaded 'homophobia'!
Andrei and I demand an apology!
I thought the British were a nationality, not a race -- a bit like being Roman.
Join the Empire.