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Kimanda — This is Power
Published: 2012-11-12 00:32:30 +0000 UTC; Views: 1574; Favourites: 23; Downloads: 3
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Description
Featuring little England and child Wessex.
Wessex is teaching England an "essential" lesson on coming out on top: Always strike before your enemy does. England here seems to show reservation at this tactic but in the later years, he will come to the conclusion that Wessex was right and that to stay on top, he had to be fiercer, more violent and more destructive than his opponents. And so he began walking in Wessex's footsteps.What is a huge pet peeve of mine is the constant demonisation of England. I love how so many people like implying that he was born evil. (no, not really) I am against Anglophobia. I've grown up with it being shoved down my throat and I am not ready to tolerate more of it. England, like all others, picked up those bad habits from watching others. Wessex no doubt picked it up from somone else and that someone picked it up from someone completely different. We can go on and on with this cycle. My point being: England became a jerk because that was the only way he was going to survive. What would you do if you were surrounded by extremely aggressive nations that were hungry for more territory? You'd have to become equally as fierce, if not more.
People also have to stop believing that the British Isles were perfect before England's arrival and it is all thanks to the English that everything went down the drain. England arrived in a very aggressive atmosphere. Ireland was an aggressive nation. Scotland was an aggressive nation. Pictland too. I'm not saying they're completely at fault, but they share as much blame as the English. Among others such as Normans and Vikings. None of the cultures of the British Isles are pure, they're all tainted with blood.
Am I implying that England was blameless? No. Am I saying that we should ignore all the horrible things England did? No, but neither should we forget that Ireland, Scotland and the others also did horrible things. My only wish is that people stop treating the English as if they were born evil because they really aren't. This is a message coming from an Irish person who is sick and tired of Anglophobia. I'll shut up now. (it is something that hits me hard because I grew up with an Anglophobic father who tried brainwashing me)
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Comments: 19
Ahh, thank you for these words, Kimanda!
It is quite popular here, in Argentina, to demonise England as well. I do get that nations that are born in a rather complicated situation have to turn aggressive as well: there's no other way to survive.
We shouldn't define a country by it's wars and tormentous past. It is important to remember the past, yes, but that's because we shouldn't make the same mistakes over and over again. What matters the most is the present and the future, (thinking about development here, I'm not saying that the past isn't important because it teaches lessons and can also be used to improve the present, but we shouldn't be that strict when it comes to resentment caused by wars and stuff).
I am opposite in this spectrum, as I thoroughly enjoy the UK's culture and history, (perhaps more specifically, England's, although I do like to see the rest of the UK's history). Your OCs are wonderful, since they're really well-thought, and it make it more enjoyable. I can't help but to be a little stalkerish and visit your gallery from time to time. Gomenasai.
I'm glad that you're against Anglophobia even if you enjoy the history of a country that is clearly not really in tune (with that I mean that they have a good impression) with England.
Most nations are like this, anyways. If we followed the rule of "hating everyone who was a jerk in history", we'd end up hating our very own countries. There's no sense in that logic.
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Thank you for writing this! I have been to Scotland three times and I have no clue if I've been lucky but I've only come across one anglophobic person there. I honestly don't know why we're blamed for something people in the past did our ancestors probably had no control over. It's just upsetting, especially as, like you've said, everyone assumes England's the jerk and all the others were angels. I mean, the Normans were horrible when they arrived (and part of the reason I do not support FrUK), so it's only natural England grew bitter. And I did point out to my sister that England did become so jerky because of how he grew up and his determination, but she wasn't so sure. I'm not proud of some bits of my country's history. And here's an odd fact - if the Normans hadn't won then England probably wouldn't have been such a world power. In fact Spain might have ruled about half the world. England might have had less influence on European events.
Love Wessex's face by the way!XD
By the way, because I overthink - I've worked out where Wessex got this bad habit from. He would have learnt it either from Kent or Germania or even Scotland or Wales. Anyway, Germania learnt it from Rome, who learnt it from Troy who learnt it from the other Greek states as they were all fighting each other.
Is it OK if I use this picture in an England tribute video I'm making? I'm trying to focus on his history and the relationships he had with other nations/kingdoms.
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You're welcome! Ah you're quite lucky, I had to grow up with an anglophobic father. I struggle to understand the logic of hating someone for something their ancestors did a long time ago. The English aren't naturally evil, I hate when people imply that. It is just that rather than being simply proud of their culture, the English became convinced of the superiority of their culture and started forcing it on others. But the French culture and other cultures are guilty of that too. No one here is blameless. Even the Irish culture my father always tried to present as innocent is indirectly responsible for the death of the Pictish culture. The Gaels in Scotland did the equivalent to the Picts of what the English did to the Irish. The only difference is that the English oppression of the Irish failed while it was successful in the case of Gaelic oppression on the Picts. The Normans were very violent and I do think you have a point there that England would certainly not be the nation he is today if Normandy hadn't conquered him. I think we can agree that all cultures are guilty of doing bad things and while it is important to not forget these wrongdoings, it is also important not to obsess of them. Mistakes are natural to our kind, the sooner people understand that and let go, the better.
Thank you!!
But Wessex could have gotten it from anyone really. I don't tend to think Kent would be like that as he was originally a Celtic kingdom who according to one story was given to the Anglo-Saxons by a British king who wanted to marry a daughter/sister from one of the leaders of the Anglo-Saxons. The worst part is that this king was the king of another kingdom, Kent wasn't his to give. I doubt though that Wessex would have learnt that from Germania. You have an interesting chain of who would have been influenced by who but it is sadly more complex than that. 
Of course you can use this picture! As long as you credit me of course. It's great that you want to focus on England's relationship with other nations and kingdoms! ^^
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Thank you for this. Got a little sick of the constant demonisation of my country, too
You make a good point, and present it... well, intelligently.
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I understand, it gets tedious very quickly and it angers me at how people selectively choose to remember the bad things one country has done and then forget what the others have done.
Well thank you!
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Thanks for this. You've no idea how much stick ya sometimes get for being born the wrong side of the border. :/ Just thank you.
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You're welcome.
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It's irritating, but what can you do? 👍: 0 ⏩: 1
That is sadly true, I just get frustrated by the hypocrisy of it. Don't worry, I don't really plan on doing it. (I avoid those people usually, I wouldn't be able to change their minds anyway) A hairbrush doesn't really faze me though, I've had a history book thrown at my head already.
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Indeed. Some people just seem to go out of their way to find something to be angry at and whitewash whatever else. Haha, fair enough. (True, true. But then you've got idiots who think that the IRA aren't terrorists [Kentucky, if you're wondering] who you can't help but argue with). Ouch, nasty.
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We do have an interesting divide between people who put all their energy into hating something and others put all their energy into liking something. Personally I'd go with the latter. (oh yeah, I got one of those people here who honestly tried convincing me that the citizens killed was just collateral damage and it was done for the good of Northern Ireland) That's what you get for telling on your whole class.
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Yeah, it's kinda interesting how that works. Then again, you've got the people in the middle. The one's who are nice enough with most things, but hate certain things with a fiery burning passion. (...I don't even know how to answer that...) Haha, aye, that'll do it!
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Glad to see someone says that England is not the only jerk in history. In truth, if anyone bother to check, he really is NOT the only one. And it would be a lie to say, back then, most countries are NOT trying to be a strong country(which, in the past, requires to be able to dominate other countries).
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Yeah, I think people lay way too much emphasis on the things England has done and then simply choose to forget what other nations have done. England is not the only one who has attacked other cultures and he certainly isn't the only one who made life hell for the natives of other countries. It is useless to pretend that England was the black sheep and everyone else was just being angelic.
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True, true, and it never ceases to amaze me how selective and hypocritical we become.
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Sometimes I prefer our ancestors rather than modern humans. Ancient people were bluntly cruel. Modern people develop several kinds of values but never succeed at changing their nature. In a way the ancient humans were much more interesting.
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Hmm, I actually think we haven't changed that much from our ancestors. The moment a community grows large enough, we become less direct, less truthful and smaller groups form to create the "us and them" mentality. Though I have to agree, ancient humans are much more fascinating to me. Mainly because their story has become enshrouded by the mist and I hunger to know the truth about them. (like the Picts... though the more I learn, the more I am ashamed by my culture)
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