Is there a British equivalent to Confederates?

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pcor@reddit

Not really. I don’t think anyone with a significant public profile is delusional enough to think restoring the empire is even a remote possibility. Its legacy does fuel the kind of exceptionalism that made people think Brexit was a good idea: the fact that Britain ruled so much of the world in (barely) living memory that it can’t possibly be merely a large service based European economy with a declining industrial base, middling global influence, and chronic internal inequality fuelled by a ruling class which has spent the last 40 years asset stripping the country.

That legacy props up a fantasy of relevance in which half the world is salivating to sign trade deals with us, the Commonwealth is a meaningful alliance, and “Global Britain” is anything more than branding. The rubes who still fall for this shit are the closest we have to the people you describe.

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Livewire____@reddit

I think it's very naive to suggest that the UK has "middling" World influence.

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pcor@reddit

Well I don’t! We live in a world shaped by superpower geopolitics, and too many Britons cling to the illusion that being “near the top” still counts for anything.

A nuclear deterrent entirely reliant on US support for its continued operation but which still can’t even be successfully launched is the perfect metaphor these great power pretensions.

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Livewire____@reddit

It doesn't really matter what you "think".

The facts I've outlined are facts.

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pcor@reddit

I didn’t dispute them: it’s your misunderstanding of the relevance of those facts to Britain’s supposed great power status that’s the problem. You appear to suffer from a sufficiently sensitive form of wounded nationalism to care enough about what I think to bother replying in any case. That kind of insecurity amongst patriots is in itself symptom of decline.

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Livewire____@reddit

Your mistake in believing I'm nationalistic, insecure, or patriotic is clear.

I outlined some facts. They stand.

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pcor@reddit

That’s how you’re coming across. A lot of Brits romanticise the idea that both as a people and personally they are above patriotism, until they get the faintest whiff of sincere criticism (especially a reality check about declining relevance) then all of a sudden they get all John Bull and start spluttering about “punching above our weight”.

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Livewire____@reddit

And now you're falling back on generalisations, and shifting focus away from the facts at hand.

Nothing I've said should be thought of as falling into any of the realms you've mentioned.

I can't really see how I'm coming across in any way other than merely pointing out facts.

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pcor@reddit

Oh please. I’ve already told you, I’m not disputing you the content of your List of Facts Wot Means Britain is Great Still, it’s your interpretation that’s the problem. If you can’t sum up a better defense of the absurd notion that Britain retains a seat at the big boys’ table than a collection of semi-functional and rapidly deteriorating vestiges of its 20th century superpower status then you’re wasting your time.

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Livewire____@reddit

Right, but here’s the thing—you’re dismissing the factual basis of Britain’s global influence not because it’s wrong, but because it doesn’t feel compelling enough for you.

The facts aren’t there to make anyone feel nostalgic—they’re there because they demonstrate continued relevance. You say it's about interpretation, but your interpretation hinges entirely on tone and cynicism, not on substance.

Yes, Britain’s power doesn’t look like it did in the 20th century. No one’s denying that. But you're mistaking evolution for obsolescence. A permanent seat on the UN Security Council, nuclear capability, a leading role in NATO, and a globally integrated financial system—these aren’t crumbling relics, they’re ongoing levers of influence. Influence in international politics today doesn’t require an empire—it requires strategic positioning, institutional ties, and global credibility, all of which the UK still has in abundance.

If your only counter is that this reality feels a bit shabby compared to Britain’s imperial heyday, that’s not an argument—it’s a mood. Power isn’t just aircraft carriers and flag-waving; it’s the ability to shape agendas, influence norms, and build coalitions.

On that front, the UK is very much still in the room.

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pcor@reddit

You know you’re onto winner when you have to outsource your thinking to ChatGPT!

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Livewire____@reddit

Absolutely not.

I'm just explaining the facts I already outlined. I'd already typed that response put and saved it, as I knew you'd try doubling down.

Once again, you're deflecting the subject away from that and trying to shift focus.

It's not going to work. Your whole argument comes from the fact that you think none of the facts I've outlined are relevant because you don't agree with them.

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pcor@reddit

Hahahaha that is absolutely 100% generated by LLM. It’s not the fact that it was posted so quickly that gives it away, it’s the shift in tone, the distinctive LLM voice, and of course the em dashes. I’m not interested in talking to someone who not only resorts to this to try to debate, let alone lies about it! Have a good one.

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Livewire____@reddit

See, you're doing it again. And on top of rhat, your ego won't allow you to accept thag you've nothing to offer except an emotional response.

You've won nothing.

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dowker1@reddit

In terms of people holding grudges over wars from centuries ago, let me tell you about a little place called Northern Ireland...

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CuriosityAndTheCat__@reddit

To say people are still mad because their slaves got taken away in 1865 is a far stretch from the truth being that northerners think southerners are uneducated dumbasses, while the southerners think the northerners are rude assholes.

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pcor@reddit

Curtis Yarvin/“Mencius Moldbug” is quite open in saying slavery has an undeserved bad reputation. He’s a little coy about bringing in back, but he has expressed that some races are better suited to slavery than others, “everything rots when it has no owner—human beings included”, and with regard to the confederacy in particular he opined in his NYT interview in January that “It is very difficult to argue that [the Civil War] made anyone’s life more pleasant, including that of freed slaves”.

He was interviewed in January precisely because of his associations with several Trump administration appointees, and has been favourably cited by JD Vance. He’s also close with tech oligarchs like Peter Thiel and Marc Andreesson.

To believe at this point that the idea of a powerful, deeply racist neoreactionary movement in the US is just some figment of the imagination of too online libs is honestly just sheer delusion or ignorance.

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CuriosityAndTheCat__@reddit

I’m not into the political bullshit. I don’t have a subscription for the NYT. I don’t watch the news. I take life by what’s in front of me. Not what the media says, not by who you vote for, not by who our president is… but by the quality of people, the quality of life, and the things in my control around me. And I promise there are still tons of Americans that feel this way and don’t buy into the nonsense. I’m from the Deep South, where slavery was at its very highest and not a single person I know would ever wish for slavery to still exist. It’s asinine. Our capitol is Atlanta, an extremely diverse community full of every race imaginable and I promise you would walk the streets and think, why is racism the only thing we see on our damn tv’s when everyone here is happily coexisting and thriving together?!?! It’s a media made shit show and it doesn’t reflect the life I live to be true. Posts like these are only adding unnecessary fuel to the fire.

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pcor@reddit

Your own personal experiences and social circle in a nation of several hundred million are not exactly representative. You are governed by a reactionary narcissistic dotard with contempt for democracy who has surrounded himself with a coterie of fascist ideologues, and many tens of millions voted for this and are cheering them on. Pull your head out of your ass.

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CuriosityAndTheCat__@reddit

Have you ever lived in America?

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pcor@reddit

Nope! I can assure you, my experiences of living in America are precisely as useful for drawing inferences about the overall political status and direction of a nation of several hundred million as yours are!

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oligarchyreps@reddit

Just here to say I love this question. I’m from the Northern USA and I met a Louisiana family for a family wedding. They called us “Yankees” (we are from Boston so that was annoying) and bitched about the war. The father of the bride was an ass about it the whole visit. Is Germany still whining about WW2?!

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CuriosityAndTheCat__@reddit

I live in the Southern USA, Georgia, to be exact, and no one talks about the war. It’s never brought up in any conversation amongst my family, friends, coworkers, random strangers, etc. So that’s weird that it was his topic of choice at a wedding… but the idea that everyone in the south walks around with a confederate flag screaming they want slavery is just not true. Stereotypical, but not true.

Also, the Brit’s refer to all Americans as “yanks”

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leobeer@reddit

The Welsh are still pissed off about 1536

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Livewire____@reddit

You ask an obviously provocative question, in hugely provocative language. You're clearly trying to stir something up.