Cultural erosion is often cited as an argument against European Integration. A fortnight ago I was in a Belgian roadside café. They had three different types of mayonnaise in pump dispensers and a man sat eating moules marinière with a tiny bottle of rosé.
Britain has always been a bit special – and that’s not just British exceptionalism speaking. We have always been sailors, explorers; we are a diverse nation that includes cultural elements from all over the globe. It’s one of the things that make us strong. The question we have to ask however is whether these cultures complement British culture or erode it.
The culture of Britain is under no substantive threat from other Europeans.
Every British town has a McDonalds, Pizza Hut, KFC, Subway and Starbucks. We watch Amazon Prime and Netflix, Nickelodeon, Warner Brothers, Disney, Discovery. We don’t eat moules marinière in roadside cafés, we eat Burger King. We don’t watch François Truffaut films, we watch 20th Century Fox Movies. The biggest threat of cultural erosion that Britiain faces is from the USA.
Remember:
- Burgers are foreign food
- Coke is a foreign drink
- Hollywood is foreign cinema
Other European cultures aren’t immune either, they are more protected because of language but you still find American chains, American food, American films and TV wherever you are in Europe.
We can be much more effective in resisting cultural erosion, from wherever it comes, if Europe works together. The preservation and enhancement of European cultures is a specific objective of the European Union. Far from trying to homogenise European culture there are programmes in place trying to designate, protect and promote individual European cultures (and that includes British culture).
Yes, we are a bit special because we are an island. We mustn’t get carried away with that and think that our past, our present and our future is not inherently tied up with that of the rest of Europe, because it is. Europe is stronger if it acts together, Britain is stronger if it acts with Europe.
