8 ms·

In general there seems to be a weird zeitgeist of negative exceptionalism in the UK at the moment. Not sure why but generally journos seem to write about issue

In general there seems to be a weird zeitgeist of negative exceptionalism in the UK at the moment. Not sure why but generally journos seem to write about issues like they are only hitting the UK when a simple google search shows they aren’t. It does come across like a weird concerted effort to paint the UK as collapsing since leaving the EU. The majority of journos seem to be able to write only negatively about UK current affairs unless you read something like The Express who are delusional in their own right. Most recent ones I can think of are the failed space launch and British volt going under. These were both highly ambitious projects that had a high chance of failure, especially the space launch. It’s unlikely you’re going to get your first launch right, famously it takes many attempts. When both of these happened journalists seemed to revel in the failure. It was very odd to see. I understand with these two examples a lot of it has to do with government/brexiteer chest thumping which shon a spotlight on them. However it was still odd to see. I think this then trickles down to places like HN (who’s membership generally has a bias towards remain) who also see an opportunity to revel in it. This is odd as well because I can see why Britons or Europeans would be passionate about membership in a regional trade bloc, Americans who get really passionate about it confuse me. As a Briton I didn’t really care when America left NAFTA. This is assuming the majority of people on HN are American but based on time zones and when articles are posted I’m probably wrong. Edit: This is a UK based publication writing about Groceries in the UK which is why it’s so specific. Your comment just spurred something I’ve been thinking recently.

ghusto 3y ago
> Not sure why ... Are you being facetious ;) It's because there are narratives to follow, sides to pick. There's no room for facts by themselves, they have to fit some story your pack has bought into. Right, left, middle, or anarchy, it's all the same; you're part of a herd.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
Veen 3y ago
> In general there seems to be a weird zeitgeist of negative exceptionalism in the UK at the moment. Especially on Hacker News. I tend to avoid UK-based posts on here because the content is fairly predictable: the UK is going to shit and Brexit is to blame, repeated ad nauseam in the absence of any evidence that it's true. If I wanted thoughtless UK doom mongering, I'd read the Guardian or the NYT.
- kaanski 3y ago
  Yeah I do the same. It seems to permeate into everything, even positives. UK announcing research into x: comments will probably be negative and about how it’s a boondoggle. UK company doing exciting stuff like fusion or quantum: comments will probably be negative and about how it’s a boondoggle. It’s tiring. Edit: That being said it does lead to hilarious moments where I’ll read the Guardian and see a headline like “The NHS won’t make it to Christmas (for real this time) but it doesn’t matter because we’ll all be dead by then because of Brexit” and then I’ll see the Express in my corner shop with a headline like “Brexit HERO Boris makes Ursula von der Leyen CRY when he announced new BRITISH MOON BASE”
- mike-cardwell 3y ago
  If you think HN is bad, you should spend 5 minutes looking at the state of the UnitedKingdom subreddit.
  - swarnie 3y ago
    It has its moments. Just don't engaged in politics, social issues, economics or international relations. Actually what I'm describing is casualuk which is even wore for its banality some how.
    - rdlw 3y ago
      So that leaves... film reviews?
      - Iwan-Zotow 3y ago
cameronh90 3y ago
I see a huge difference between people online and normal people. Obviously we are going through a tough time at the moment. While there are some things unique to the UK (such as the nurses and junior doctors strike), for the most part what we are experiencing is common to most of Europe and often even the USA. I mean look at France - Paris is drowning in rubbish due to bin strikes and protesters are setting things on fire - yet if anything that seems to be being covered as something positive for them. People taking back power and exerting their rights. Last time that happened here, though, it was treated as an almost apocalyptic event and emblemic of Broken Britain. Sure the Paris strikes are ostensibly about pensions, but really they're about more than that. By default, Brits tend to lean toward the negative side. I think even before Brexit/Tories/etc. most British people would broadly have considered the UK to be a bit shit, and generally complain more than they say anything positive. However, when measured, the UK is in the top 10 countries on a huge number of metrics and isn't particulary awful at anything. I do find the general negativity a bit tiresome, but it's not entirely a bad thing. That negativity is probably partly behind why we have managed to become and remain such a successful and stable country for so long. Online, though, British people seem to be incredibly negative in a way that I've rarely experienced in person. I figure one reason why people online are so unflinchingly negative about the UK is that online Brits seem to lean very hard left and we're now on our 13th year of Tory leadership. I'm pretty lefty myself, but an awful lot of the chronically online UK types are literally Trots and Tankies (who are, nevertheless, pro-remain #FBPE, despite the contradiction between those views). Look at, e.g. Corbyn's online popularity versus his real (un)popularity with the electoral base. Or how the Tories actually generally get a similar popular vote to Labour, but online it's hard to find a single person who expresses any support for them. I also think the UK generally gets its news about Europe from US news sources, especially when it comes to economic policy and comparisons. The US news (especially NYT and such) love to paint the US as a capitalist hellscape compared to the utopia of Continental Europe and the Nordics in particular. In reality, of course, the EU and Nordics are a lot more complicated than that, and in socioeconomic terms we're a lot closer to Europe in most ways than we are to the US, but that doesn't seem to feed through so people draw the same comparisons that are popular in US papers. You also get that with the NHS vs USA's system, as though those are the only two options.
moffkalast 3y ago
It's not weird at all, negative news makes people angry and anger gets you the most clicks by a wide margin. Most news sites have become rather terrible since they started optimizing solely for ad revenue.
quitit 3y ago
The secret is the same reason why you always hear bad news about companies which seemingly are always doing really well. It's for clicks. It's completely disingenuous and one should be wise to take a mental note of the author and publisher.
powderpig 3y ago
The "space" launch was using American technology, nothing about the failure was "British", in my mind. Volt on the other hand...
pharmakom 3y ago
On the flip side, recent strikes in France received more coverage in mainstream UK press than the recent strikes in the UK!

ghusto 3y ago

> Not sure why ... Are you being facetious ;) It's because there are narratives to follow, sides to pick. There's no room for facts by themselves, they have to fit some story your pack has bought into. Right, left, middle, or anarchy, it's all the same; you're part of a herd.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

Veen 3y ago

> In general there seems to be a weird zeitgeist of negative exceptionalism in the UK at the moment. Especially on Hacker News. I tend to avoid UK-based posts on here because the content is fairly predictable: the UK is going to shit and Brexit is to blame, repeated ad nauseam in the absence of any evidence that it's true. If I wanted thoughtless UK doom mongering, I'd read the Guardian or the NYT.

kaanski 3y ago
Yeah I do the same. It seems to permeate into everything, even positives. UK announcing research into x: comments will probably be negative and about how it’s a boondoggle. UK company doing exciting stuff like fusion or quantum: comments will probably be negative and about how it’s a boondoggle. It’s tiring. Edit: That being said it does lead to hilarious moments where I’ll read the Guardian and see a headline like “The NHS won’t make it to Christmas (for real this time) but it doesn’t matter because we’ll all be dead by then because of Brexit” and then I’ll see the Express in my corner shop with a headline like “Brexit HERO Boris makes Ursula von der Leyen CRY when he announced new BRITISH MOON BASE”
mike-cardwell 3y ago
If you think HN is bad, you should spend 5 minutes looking at the state of the UnitedKingdom subreddit.
- swarnie 3y ago
  It has its moments. Just don't engaged in politics, social issues, economics or international relations. Actually what I'm describing is casualuk which is even wore for its banality some how.
  - rdlw 3y ago
    So that leaves... film reviews?
    - Iwan-Zotow 3y ago

cameronh90 3y ago

I see a huge difference between people online and normal people. Obviously we are going through a tough time at the moment. While there are some things unique to the UK (such as the nurses and junior doctors strike), for the most part what we are experiencing is common to most of Europe and often even the USA. I mean look at France - Paris is drowning in rubbish due to bin strikes and protesters are setting things on fire - yet if anything that seems to be being covered as something positive for them. People taking back power and exerting their rights. Last time that happened here, though, it was treated as an almost apocalyptic event and emblemic of Broken Britain. Sure the Paris strikes are ostensibly about pensions, but really they're about more than that. By default, Brits tend to lean toward the negative side. I think even before Brexit/Tories/etc. most British people would broadly have considered the UK to be a bit shit, and generally complain more than they say anything positive. However, when measured, the UK is in the top 10 countries on a huge number of metrics and isn't particulary awful at anything. I do find the general negativity a bit tiresome, but it's not entirely a bad thing. That negativity is probably partly behind why we have managed to become and remain such a successful and stable country for so long. Online, though, British people seem to be incredibly negative in a way that I've rarely experienced in person. I figure one reason why people online are so unflinchingly negative about the UK is that online Brits seem to lean very hard left and we're now on our 13th year of Tory leadership. I'm pretty lefty myself, but an awful lot of the chronically online UK types are literally Trots and Tankies (who are, nevertheless, pro-remain #FBPE, despite the contradiction between those views). Look at, e.g. Corbyn's online popularity versus his real (un)popularity with the electoral base. Or how the Tories actually generally get a similar popular vote to Labour, but online it's hard to find a single person who expresses any support for them. I also think the UK generally gets its news about Europe from US news sources, especially when it comes to economic policy and comparisons. The US news (especially NYT and such) love to paint the US as a capitalist hellscape compared to the utopia of Continental Europe and the Nordics in particular. In reality, of course, the EU and Nordics are a lot more complicated than that, and in socioeconomic terms we're a lot closer to Europe in most ways than we are to the US, but that doesn't seem to feed through so people draw the same comparisons that are popular in US papers. You also get that with the NHS vs USA's system, as though those are the only two options.

moffkalast 3y ago

It's not weird at all, negative news makes people angry and anger gets you the most clicks by a wide margin. Most news sites have become rather terrible since they started optimizing solely for ad revenue.

quitit 3y ago

The secret is the same reason why you always hear bad news about companies which seemingly are always doing really well. It's for clicks. It's completely disingenuous and one should be wise to take a mental note of the author and publisher.

powderpig 3y ago

The "space" launch was using American technology, nothing about the failure was "British", in my mind. Volt on the other hand...

pharmakom 3y ago

On the flip side, recent strikes in France received more coverage in mainstream UK press than the recent strikes in the UK!