As much as critics blasted it -- while others condemned it for incitement of anti-Semitism -- "The Passion" turned into the surprise blockbuster of the year.
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The only surprise in Britain was that Gibson did not blame us for killing Jesus. He seemingly blames us and distorts history in all his other films.
Another victim of Mel Gibson...pretty soon, we'll have enough for a parade. [Rolls eyes.]
Your statement illustrates one of the most fascinating and galling phenomena among ethnocultures: the erasure of the English as a distinct nation and their replacement by the abstract "British" monicker.
Granted, the villains in The Patriot were British, but in Braveheart everyone involved was British. The villains of that film were the English, not the British (which includes the Highland Scots).
While the Irish, Scots, and Welsh are enjoying an upsurge of nationalism, the English are being absorbed more and more into the "British" nationality. This is a pity, as England is a most distinctive nation and gave us our language (which is after all called "English" and not "British").
I urge all English people to hold fast to their ethnic identity, which is just as valid (and in terms of historic contributions much more important) than those of the Irish, Welsh, and Scots.
May I suggest an English legislature of some kind to correspond to similar bodies in Cardiff, Belfast, and Edinburgh? Or perhaps even an independent England (independent not only of Europe but of the UK as well)?
Forgive my selfishness. As an "English-American" I am singled out among all the peoples of the world as the only one without an ethnic identity or historic homeland.