Is Great Britain as enlightened as it seems from TV?

[Alka_Seltzer]

Thanks for digging up that info.

In 2007-08, 16% of students from the UK studying for degrees were from a black, Asian or ethnic minority background.

This compared to 14.2% of the 18-24-year-old age group as a whole

…

Across different ethnic groups the picture is mixed. British Bangladeshi and British Pakistani students continue to be the most underrepresented within UK universities. Those from Black African and Black Caribbean backgrounds typically go to university in large numbers. But while males and females of most ethnic minority groups go to university in very similar proportions, this is not the case for Black British Caribbeans where there are more than twice as many females in higher education. The number of Black British Caribbean males attending university has increased only fractionally since 1995.

[WOOKINPANUB]

I’m guessing what the OP means by “enlightened” is really “less uptight and puritanical”. Brits simply don’t get all hepped up about nudity and profanity like the moral majority of the US does.

[Shagnasty]

@WOOKINPANUB

I’m guessing what the OP means by “enlightened” is really “less uptight and puritanical”. Brits simply don’t get all hepped up about nudity and profanity like the moral majority of the US does.

In other words they have some cultural differences from the U.S. That isn’t surprising or deserving of the title “enlightened” whatever the hell that means. Pure pornography is sold in the newsstands and shops on the streets of much of western Europe. Cool. It am not adverse to pornography but I never thought anyone should win an award for showing more of it or get a sticker for swearing more. There are places in the U.S. where the usual American norms don’t have a stronghold either like New Orleans and Las Vegas. There is plenty of nudity and public drunkenness everywhere there but that is considered entertainment and a tourist draw and not some sweeping statement about the human condition. If you want enlightenment, go to Tibet and live in a monastery. I am pretty sure you won’t find it on TV in any form.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

The rosy picture of race relations presented by British television is a relatively new thing. I grew up in Britain, and left when I was 14, and I didn’t see an Asian (South Asian, in the US) on British TV until long after I’d left (not counting Cliff Richard and Freddie Mercury, both of whom all but hid their backgrounds), except for actual Indian people on the news.

I was fairly shocked to discover my brother’s (white) best friend got engaged to an Asian girl. Amusingly, my brother is married to a white woman; in the US, they’d have their own sitcom.

[WOOKINPANUB]

@Shagnasty

In other words they have some cultural differences from the U.S. That isn’t surprising or deserving of the title “enlightened” whatever the hell that means. Pure pornography is sold in the newsstands and shops on the streets of much of western Europe. Cool. It am not adverse to pornography but I never thought anyone should win an award for showing more of it or get a sticker for swearing more. There are places in the U.S. where the usual American norms don’t have a stronghold either like New Orleans and Las Vegas. There is plenty of nudity and public drunkenness everywhere there but that is considered entertainment and a tourist draw and not some sweeping statement about the human condition. If you want enlightenment, go to Tibet and live in a monastery. I am pretty sure you won’t find it on TV in any form.

So you’re agreeing with me, I think(?) I was just trying to clarify what *I *think the OP meant. By no means do I find the likes of Benny Hill “enlightened”, I just assumed he was referring to the lack of / more lax censorship.

His possibly poor choice of words aside, I am constantly engaged in conversations regarding how prudish this nation’s sensiblities are and I can only sit there in shame and agreement.

[Norse]

@Shagnasty

Pure pornography is sold in the newsstands and shops on the streets of much of western Europe.

You’re painting with a pretty broad brush here. Cite, please, 'cause what you’re describing isn’t what I’m used to seeing in the parts of “most of western Europe” I’ve been traveling.