We are a strange people...
Mar. 13th, 2007 09:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shinytoasterYou can learn a lot about the British from the Beeb...
The most popular news stories on the BBC website at this minute are:
Israel recalls 'naked ambassador'
US couples seek separate bedrooms
Teenage mood swing hormone found
Incest: an age-old taboo
Malaysian monks face ant dilemma
Three of the top five feature sex in some form. One of them features something that might pertain to sexual development, and the other is clearly something people were hoping might have something to do with sex. Monks are celibate, right?
The most popular celebrities are David Gest, Charlotte Church and Lily Allen. I don't know on what the fuck criteria this is being judged. The most disliked are Marc Bannerman, Monica Bellucci and Jenny Powell. I have not heard of two of those, so we'll ignore that. The most popular list is a little more revealing - the presence of two gay icons surely indicates a refreshing attitude to diversity. I'm not sure if Lily Allen is a gay icon, although I'm pretty sure she could be if she wanted, but I do know that last night she started three fights with the paparazzi, so we see a healthy interest in privacy and the rights of the individual, here.
The most popular radio show is The Archers. Good to see some things are constant. Clearly a very rurally-minded type of person, at least in the minds of the middle classes. Clearly we are class conscious.
The most popular topics of discussion are:
Will the Climate Change Bill work?
Should Trident be replaced?
Are gambling adverts a good idea?
Primary schools teach languages?
Has climate change affected you?
Only one of the above pertains to vice in some way. This is a little more heartening, but the trouble is that if you go to the message boards you'll see a bunch of chavs going 'It was a bit cold yesterday so I'm going to keep driving my Humvee hurr hurr'. Clearly we're concerned about our environment and nuclear weapons, and won't somebody please think of the children? If you ignore the actual content of these debates this is clearly a heartwarming reminder that actually, people do care deeply about the world around them.
The top 10 searches are:
dynamo
making tracks
adolf hitler
acid rain
holocaust
coldplay
robbie williams
moving and growing
healthy eating
algeria
The interest in history, or, more specifically, the national obsession with the Second World War, is obvious. We've got that interest in the environment again, though, which is encouraging. Healthy eating puts in an appearance at nine, but that only features because we're constantly being told how disgustingly obese we all are by fuckwits like Gillian McKeith. An interesting musical juxtaposition also comes out here. I suspect the interest in Robbie Williams may be more prurient, considering he's just out of rehab and his last album was shit. Coldplay are just irritating, but they are also popular. The presence of dynamo and making tracks are puzzlers, as I don't know if these are TV shows or maybe someone trying to do some homework. Algeria may reflect the global obsession with terror.
So from this I conclude we're middle class and deeply conservative yet libertarians at heart. We're coming to terms with gays and we're also tree huggers too, but tree huggers with a Nazi complex and an unnatural interest in sex. We keep ourselves to ourselves and we're scared of Muslims. Above all, we like to feel miserable about something.
And sadly, I think this is a pretty fair reflection.
The most popular news stories on the BBC website at this minute are:
Israel recalls 'naked ambassador'
US couples seek separate bedrooms
Teenage mood swing hormone found
Incest: an age-old taboo
Malaysian monks face ant dilemma
Three of the top five feature sex in some form. One of them features something that might pertain to sexual development, and the other is clearly something people were hoping might have something to do with sex. Monks are celibate, right?
The most popular celebrities are David Gest, Charlotte Church and Lily Allen. I don't know on what the fuck criteria this is being judged. The most disliked are Marc Bannerman, Monica Bellucci and Jenny Powell. I have not heard of two of those, so we'll ignore that. The most popular list is a little more revealing - the presence of two gay icons surely indicates a refreshing attitude to diversity. I'm not sure if Lily Allen is a gay icon, although I'm pretty sure she could be if she wanted, but I do know that last night she started three fights with the paparazzi, so we see a healthy interest in privacy and the rights of the individual, here.
The most popular radio show is The Archers. Good to see some things are constant. Clearly a very rurally-minded type of person, at least in the minds of the middle classes. Clearly we are class conscious.
The most popular topics of discussion are:
Will the Climate Change Bill work?
Should Trident be replaced?
Are gambling adverts a good idea?
Primary schools teach languages?
Has climate change affected you?
Only one of the above pertains to vice in some way. This is a little more heartening, but the trouble is that if you go to the message boards you'll see a bunch of chavs going 'It was a bit cold yesterday so I'm going to keep driving my Humvee hurr hurr'. Clearly we're concerned about our environment and nuclear weapons, and won't somebody please think of the children? If you ignore the actual content of these debates this is clearly a heartwarming reminder that actually, people do care deeply about the world around them.
The top 10 searches are:
dynamo
making tracks
adolf hitler
acid rain
holocaust
coldplay
robbie williams
moving and growing
healthy eating
algeria
The interest in history, or, more specifically, the national obsession with the Second World War, is obvious. We've got that interest in the environment again, though, which is encouraging. Healthy eating puts in an appearance at nine, but that only features because we're constantly being told how disgustingly obese we all are by fuckwits like Gillian McKeith. An interesting musical juxtaposition also comes out here. I suspect the interest in Robbie Williams may be more prurient, considering he's just out of rehab and his last album was shit. Coldplay are just irritating, but they are also popular. The presence of dynamo and making tracks are puzzlers, as I don't know if these are TV shows or maybe someone trying to do some homework. Algeria may reflect the global obsession with terror.
So from this I conclude we're middle class and deeply conservative yet libertarians at heart. We're coming to terms with gays and we're also tree huggers too, but tree huggers with a Nazi complex and an unnatural interest in sex. We keep ourselves to ourselves and we're scared of Muslims. Above all, we like to feel miserable about something.
And sadly, I think this is a pretty fair reflection.
