# Diana being in the top 10 Greatest Britains of all time. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 1, 2002, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diana-being-in-the-top-10-greatest-britains-of-all-time/134803 "2002-11-01T06:34:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diana-being-in-the-top-10-greatest-britains-of-all-time/134803/41 "2002-11-01T16:33:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shodan \* > \*\*Someone is confusing “celebrity” with “significance”. \*\* _coughJFKjrcoughcough_ Sorry, got something stuck in my throat there. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diana-being-in-the-top-10-greatest-britains-of-all-time/134803/42 "2002-11-01T16:40:22Z")
> [@](#): > > “We few, we happy few, we band of shitheads, > For he today that sheds his blood with me > Shall be my shithead, be he ne’er so vile, > This day shall gentle his condition > And shitheads in England now a-bed > Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, > And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks, > That fought with us upon Saint Shithead’s Day.” Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diana-being-in-the-top-10-greatest-britains-of-all-time/134803/43 "2002-11-01T16:41:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cjhoworth \* > **Actually, in Libertarians defense, a lot (not all!) Americans do have quite a few misunderstandings about British culture** Sure…lots of really stupid, provincial, piss-ignorant Americans who get their information from prime-time television. They also think the French all wear berets and striped shirts and eat frogs, and every German sports a monocle and goose-steps around his apartment, and all the Irish are Leprechauns. I was really surprised to see a comment like that coming out of **Libertarian** , though. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diana-being-in-the-top-10-greatest-britains-of-all-time/134803/44 "2002-11-01T16:43:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Crusoe \* > \*\*What, all of us? \*\* Just the ones who took my testimony as an opportunity to live out the very stereotype that I thought I had learned was false. I was sharing what I thought was a positive experience — a change of heart and mind, and got submarined by people who prefered to smear me for what I _used_ to think. I’m still a bit stunned. Of course, you see the whole thing differently. Some bizarre thing about me being a racist or whatever. But even that absurd accusation wasn’t enough for you. Now, you have to taunt me like a bunch of drunks in a gang bang. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe Diana wasn’t British. Anyway, fuck it. As you were. Or are. ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diana-being-in-the-top-10-greatest-britains-of-all-time/134803/45 "2002-11-01T17:48:59Z")
Is there anyone here who could not have done a little bit of charity work if they’d married into a royal family? ---
**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diana-being-in-the-top-10-greatest-britains-of-all-time/134803/46 "2002-11-01T17:49:20Z")
Jesus H Christ **Lib** , what planet are you on? You said you used to think we were all unfeeling snobs. Then you said Diana, saint that she is, changed your perceptions of us and made you think we might be human after all. I replied that I disagree with you and that what you saw Diana as is simply not what she was. That the outpouring of grief and love for her was media manipulation. That we’re not some homogenous mass, to be thought of as “snobbish” or otherwise. None of us have behaved like “a bunch of drunks in a gang bang” and it feels an awful lot like you’re projecting what you feel onto our words. I do not behave a certain way just because your preconceived notions say I should. I behave like me, an English woman, not a snob, not a football hooligan, not any kind of stereotype. I am, unsurprisingly, insulted by you calling me a shithead. I have not been a shithead. I disagreed with you and called you on something I thought you had wrong. I did not insult you. You seem intent on insulting us, as English people, instead. ---
**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diana-being-in-the-top-10-greatest-britains-of-all-time/134803/47 "2002-11-01T17:53:38Z")
Jesus H Christ **Lib** , what planet are you on? You said you used to think we were all unfeeling snobs. Then you said Diana, saint that she is, changed your perceptions of us and made you think we might be human after all. I replied that I disagree with you and that what you saw Diana as is simply not what she was. That the outpouring of grief and love for her was media manipulation. That we’re not some homogenous mass, to be thought of as “snobbish” or otherwise. None of us have behaved like “a bunch of drunks in a gang bang” and it feels an awful lot like you’re projecting what you feel onto our words. I do not behave a certain way just because your preconceived notions say I should. I behave like me, an English woman, not a snob, not a football hooligan, not any kind of stereotype. I am, unsurprisingly, insulted by you calling me a shithead. I have not been a shithead. I disagreed with you and called you on something I thought you had wrong. I did not insult you. You seem intent on insulting us, as English people, instead. Are you really surprised that the fact that you replaced one media-conconcoted stereotype with another wasn’t received with joy? ---
**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diana-being-in-the-top-10-greatest-britains-of-all-time/134803/48 "2002-11-01T18:00:35Z")
Jesus H Christ **Lib** , what planet are you on? You said you used to think we were all unfeeling snobs. Then you said Diana, saint that she is, changed your perceptions of us and made you think we might be human after all. I replied that I disagree with you and that what you saw Diana as is simply not what she was. That the outpouring of grief and love for her was media manipulation. That we’re not some homogenous mass, to be thought of as “snobbish” or otherwise. None of us have behaved like “a bunch of drunks in a gang bang” and it feels an awful lot like you’re projecting what you feel onto our words. I do not behave a certain way just because your preconceived notions say I should. I behave like me, an English woman, not a snob, not a football hooligan, not any kind of stereotype. I am, unsurprisingly, insulted by you calling me a shithead. I have not been a shithead. I disagreed with you and called you on something I thought you had wrong. I did not insult you. You seem intent on insulting us, as English people, instead. Are you really surprised that the fact that you replaced one media-conconcoted stereotype with another wasn’t received with joy? Surely you’ve seen me or **Crusoe** or **casdave** or **jjimm** around on this message board long enough to know we’re not the same people? ---
**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diana-being-in-the-top-10-greatest-britains-of-all-time/134803/49 "2002-11-01T18:02:44Z")
Well. Triple post. I believe I’ll have a cup of tea. ---
**Author:** ![Profane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47774/32.png) [@Profane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Profane)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diana-being-in-the-top-10-greatest-britains-of-all-time/134803/50 "2002-11-01T18:22:17Z")
::puts the kettle on:: ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diana-being-in-the-top-10-greatest-britains-of-all-time/134803/51 "2002-11-01T19:07:16Z")
Come on, folks, give **Libertarian** a break. Surely you’ve held some views about Americans, or even people from some part of America, which weren’t necessarily true? I’ve met a few Americans who thought a lot higher of Diana than I ever did, including some who couldn’t understand why I wasn’t broken up over her death. On this board, have you seen **Libertarian** show predjudiced behaviour? If so, it’ll be a surprise to me. CJ ---
**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diana-being-in-the-top-10-greatest-britains-of-all-time/134803/52 "2002-11-01T19:16:07Z")
Believe it or not, I actually like **Lib** a lot and admire his passion. But that doesn’t stop me from disagreeing with him. I’ve hardly set the wolves on him or anything. It’s not his former attitude of English people being “unfeeling snobs” that I have a problem with at all - plenty of people have misconceptions and we can change that. It’s that he’s surprised that I’m not overjoyed he’s rejected one media stereotype for another and called me a shithead because I took issue with it. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diana-being-in-the-top-10-greatest-britains-of-all-time/134803/53 "2002-11-01T21:02:39Z")
Mmm, what **Francesca** said. I’ve always had a lot of respect for **Lib** (almost as far back as I’ve been posting here, thanks to a comment he made in a thread I posted when I was having a rough spell), but I too was a little surprised and annoyed to be reduced to what I felt was a one-dimensional stereotype. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diana-being-in-the-top-10-greatest-britains-of-all-time/134803/54 "2002-11-01T21:15:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Libertarian \* > \*\*Quite honestly, it would be just as well if I forget about the ones I “got to know” in this thread. My advice to Britons is to let the media do more concocting for them. \*\* Oh, dear, I’d better never disagree with Libertarian then. He might turn into a Canadian-hating homophobe. Well, I’ll consider myself warned. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diana-being-in-the-top-10-greatest-britains-of-all-time/134803/55 "2002-11-02T13:14:27Z")
Just goes to show. In the Elian Gonzalez incident, Castro probably never thought of mobilizing his dim puking clothes-horse parasitic bint divisions. Could have been persuasive. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diana-being-in-the-top-10-greatest-britains-of-all-time/134803/56 "2002-11-02T14:53:45Z")
If Princess Di had resembled, say, Fergie, physically, is there even a chance that we would be discussing her greatness? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diana-being-in-the-top-10-greatest-britains-of-all-time/134803/57 "2002-11-02T15:04:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Libertarian \* > \*\*Britons are a “race”? I don’t think you’re bad examples of Britons. I just think you’re plain old shitheads. \*\* You’re taking the piss, right? In case you really are that thick, let me help you. Yes, Britons are a race. [http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=race](http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=race) > [@](#): > > race1 Pronunciation Key (rs) > n. > A local geographic or global human population distinguished as a more or less distinct group by genetically transmitted physical characteristics. > A group of people united or classified together on the basis of common history, nationality, or geographic distribution: the German race. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diana-being-in-the-top-10-greatest-britains-of-all-time/134803/58 "2002-11-02T15:48:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Libertarian \* > **She insisted that her sons show deference to their teachers rather than the other way around.** Okay, **Lib** , I’ll be the first to admit that you’re simply the best target in range here, but I’m gonna rant anyway. This is a major part of what bugs me about British-Royalty fandom in general and Diana fandom specifically among My Fellow Americans. In context, the fact that this is regarded as remarkable doesn’t show that Diana was ground-breaking - it shows that the British monarchy was (and for that matter is) behind the freakin’ times! But the US media don’t care to write much about the other royal families of Yurrup except for Britain and, once in a while, Monaco, so few Americans realize that monarchy can be any other way. Phew. I feel better now. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diana-being-in-the-top-10-greatest-britains-of-all-time/134803/59 "2002-11-02T16:11:50Z")
**Gary Kumquat** , one may have been able to speak of “the British race” in Edward VII’s time, but the UK is a multiracial society nowadays, and I doubt very much that UK citizens of Jamaican descent in Brixton or of Indian descent in Bermondsey would appreciate talk of the “British race”. It’s a bit too close to skinhead rhetoric. In any event, **Lib** is being exceptionally foolish here. It is ridiculous to think that media stereotypes of other nationalities are at all accurate, especially the P.G. Wodehouse/Agatha Christie bowler hat, “Pip, cheeerio” crapola. Brits wear saris and jumpers, they speak in different accents, from Glaswegian to Scouse to the lilt of Caribbean patois. Nowadays, your average Brit is far more likely to have a pint of lager and a takeaway curry than to guzzle tea and crumpets. Hanif Kureishi is as British as Mike Leigh or Rowan Atkinson. (I’d mention footballers, but I’m hopeless when it comes to knowng sports figures). GB is a multiracial, muticultural nation, just like the US, so you’re going to have to schedule a visit and check out the UK, and see it as it is, not as you imagine it to be. How would \*\*Lib/b] like it if foreigners got their impressions of Indians from John Wayne movies? I’ve been to Britain and I’ve lived, worked, and slept with plenty of Brits in my peregrinations around the world. Britons are unfeeling and sentimental, clever and stupid, charming and annoying–in fact, they’re _people_, with the same spectrum of attributes that you find in any other nationality. Thinking that Brtis are all wonderful, touch-feely people because you saw the media orgy after Di’s death is just as foolish as thinking that Brits are all impassive twits because you saw one too many Merchant/Ivory dramas. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diana-being-in-the-top-10-greatest-britains-of-all-time/134803/60 "2002-11-02T16:16:47Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by **casdave** _ > > Diana was sent to a fee paying school of a standard that befitted the standing of her family, in other words it was exclusive, expensive and the student/teacher ratios are around 9 to 1, unlike the state schools where ratios are usually around 25-30 to one…So what qualifications did she leave with ? None, not a sausage, not a bean, bugger all! Steady on! She won a prize for dancing and several cups for swimming. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diana-being-in-the-top-10-greatest-britains-of-all-time/134803.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diana-being-in-the-top-10-greatest-britains-of-all-time/134803.md?page=4)