My place in the world

The other day I became very aware of a type of privilege that up to now had been rather unknown to me. That is the privilege of being British.

The reason I became aware of it is because I was talking to a British man, and this person was making fun of US people who didn't know the name of the current British PM. So I promptly asked him, what is the name of the Spanish president? He looked at me puzzled.

-"I have no idea, but that's not the point!"-he replied with a huge grin.

-"Erm, you're making fun of people for not knowing the name of the PM in your country, but you don't know the name of the president in mine. Why should I not laugh at you?"

He looked at me for a couple of seconds, and then, without smiling but also without any contrition, he answered.

-"Well, let's be honest, it's not like Spain is as important in world politics as the UK".

And as much as his answered pissed me off, and I wanted to say, that's exactly the same reason many people in the US don't know the name of your prime minister, I didn't say anything. And the reason is that I know he was right.

The reason many people in the UK don't know the name of the Spanish president (but they do know the names of the French President or the German Chancellor) is that Spain is considered a lesser political power. And the reason for this is that it is. Spain has, undoubtedly, less political weight both in Europe and the world than many other countries. And somehow, I still don't think this justifies my friend in making fun of Americans for not knowing Cameron's name. Because that's privilege.

There's this idea that everyone must know British PM's names, and British history, etc., but almost no one recognises that underlying this there's an idea that the UK is better. And worse, there seems to be no consciousness that this type of thinking and expressing oneself is another form of colonisation, similar to the one that has been done in the past 100 years by Hollywood movies.


Anyway, it's no big deal. I mean, after all, British colonisation isn't that bad: I'm not all that aware of British culture or British politics (or at least I wasn't until I lived here). What shocks me is the entitlement of people who are surprised or offended because I'm not. A final example: I was watching University Challenge the other day. I knew the answers to most of the art questions (in this case, naming the authors of a series of paintings, all Italian), but very few of the answers to many of the other questions. When I pointed out that the rest of the questions were clearly geared towards British educated and British raised people I was met with surprise. I wasn't complaining: after all, it's a British show so it's understandable that it should be about British things. But I do not like the assumption that I'm stupid or less knowledgeable because I don't know that much British history (and believe me, for someone who didn't suffer the British education system, I know quite a bit about it). Just because I don't know much about your country it doesn't mean I don't know much about anything at all. (Plus, you probably know less about mine.)