Why do British media seem so cynical and bitter?

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I’ve seen every episode, they repeat it over here on the More4 channel, I admit I do find it funny but that was before I became Catholic but I don’t find it offensive now I am Catholic.
 
Well, I mean media in general. My recollections of HGttG are admittedly a mishmash of the original radio drama, the subsequent book (I don’t recall reading the sequels), and the British-made (BBC?) movie. I’ve also seen the American movie adaptation which is much more optimistic.
 
Well, I just mentioned it because digging through the lore on various wikis is what prompted this post. (It’s all I can afford to do given the prices they charge for the rule books and miniatures.) If you want a plot that attempts to justify “an eternity of carnage and slaughter” than I admit they’ve come up with an interesting one.

It’s also pretty blatantly anti-catholic, but if I’m supposed to think a bunch of genetically enhanced warrior monks impaling demons with chainsaw-swords is anything but awesome than they’ve failed on that count.
 
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reflection of the culture perhaps -
The Irish are Peasants
The French are Frogs
The Germans are Krauts
The Americans are brash
etc.
 
I remember hearing an Irish comedian on the radio not long ago "Why are you still here?(in Oz,) you can all go home now,why would you want to stay in the blistering heat and dust! " (something to that effect ) :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:
 
As an American in the UK, I’ll chalk it down to cultural and historical differences. I also suspect there is a cynicism and hostility about mankind and religion because so much of the country’s history is filled with wars and bloodshed over it. I think Americans probably forget that the British had a pretty rough go of a lot of things on their own soil in ways we haven’t and probably don’t understand.

I do miss some of the open friendliness and kindness to strangers that you find in America, at least I don’t experience it much the part of the UK I’m in (England). People tend to be more reserved, though they will open up after a while. But the reserved nature does make for more reserved and respectful liturgies, which I enjoy very much.
 
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Father Ted is hilarious. I don’t find it offensive at all. It’s meant to be absolutely ridiculous e.g an episode starts with the priests gossiping from confession about who so and so got pregnant in the village (which is a joke later on). Father Ted is meant to be a terrible priest (he is on Craggy Island because he gambled away the collection money in Vegas) but he has his heart in the right place (occasionally).

Us Brits have a very very dry sense of humour. Cynicism and self-deprecation always feature heavily.
 
There is an atheist/agnostic area of Science Fiction worldwide. Not just a “British” thing.

There is also some excellent Science Fiction.
 
Well I am not British either (though I am living here at the moment) but I just wanted to say that gosh you are picking so really old fashioned stuff… and then judging the Whole media on it. Gosh where did you find that old stuff? That is rhetorical…I do not want to know 😉
 
Hmm. Well if they’re cynical and bitter, let me propose it could be due to one or more of the following

1 - the weather
2 - the food
3 - living on a small island with limited resources and a high cost of living
4 - having almost within living memory been the most powerful and influential country on the planet with vast far-flung colonies and a huge navy yet having been downgraded significantly after World War II
 
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  1. If we didn’t have rotten weather, what on Earth would we obsess about? What small talk could we make with strangers?
  2. Jellied Eel and mash not good enough for you?!
  3. We may have to pay a fortune to live here but what else would we moan about? We need things to whinge about - it’s in our psyche! We do get free healthcare as such/ education etc so much better than most other parts of the world.
  4. We may not be a big empire anymore but our influence has spread far and wide. We are secretly very very smug.
 
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Not all of us.

My son had a litmus test for his school friends. He would invite them over and put on “Holy Grail”. If they got it, they were friendship worthy.
 
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