Guardian article

I've been reading British news sources online lately. It's kind of interesting to compare how the Brits write news - their emphasis and their outlook on things. A peculiar breed, I must say. That's the enlightened conclusion I've come to.

No, seriously, the British media seem to be almost equally obsessed with tabloid / celebrity stories as the U.S. media - if that is possible - and with the trashy pop journalism that you find on cable news and on Access Hollywood type shows in the States.

But there's another strain in British media that is incredibly learned and intelligent; clever in its approach, and with a sharp, clear writing style. That's the stuff I like. There is a strain of liberalism, too, that in some ways goes beyond that in America. I have provided one link as an example: http://education.guardian.co.uk/universityaccess/story/0,,2035511,00.html

There seems to be a class-consciousness that permeates social commentary in Britain. But it's oddly equivocal; a dualism exists with that. You sense some subtle classism - like in this article, in the first paragraph - until you get to the next paragraph where your assumptions are flipped upside down! That's where the "liberalism", if you will, comes in with this piece. They are talking not about checking university applicants' parents' education as a means of employing subtle class discrimination, as one might expect in the England of old, perhaps, rather, it "is part of an effort to drive up the number of students from poor backgrounds getting into university", as the article has it. It's meant as redress.

The article just doesn't make sense in American terms. It strikes one as overblown and verging on the absurd. But then again, they say that trends - everything from fashion, to politics and ideology - start in Europe and only make their way west to reach the states later on.

So perhaps we can learn from British media what might be headed our way?

But much of the time I dare say that Briton's live in a peculiar sort of vacuum. Maybe their many years as an insular little island; a European backwater, have warped the British mindset to bizarre ends...