24hrs later, It strikes me that ...

Heartfeltdawn

skankdelvar said: And not to draw any conclusions but as someone observed somewhere else: "Ever noticed with Remainers its 'My Country' but with Leavers it's 'Our Country' ".

When I lived in Canada for three years, that became my country as well. It became so because I obeyed their laws, paid income and property tax, paid GST and PST on specific items that I bought. I wasn't Canadian, I didn't have citizenship, but the fact that they allowed me in and accepted me was enough to make that feel like it was my country. 

"Our country" speaks for some unspecified collective. It's as indistinct and vague as that greatly overused phrase "Britishness". "Our country" could be claimed by everyone legally entitled to live and work within her confines. That would include every person born in or outside the EU who is eligible to work and here. Somehow I doubt all the Leavers referring to "Our country" would open arms to that demographic. 

skankdelvar

littlegreenman said:

Yes. It is "My Country". Each of us, as unique individuals. Not "Ours", as some kind of club that us individuals have to either be a part of, or apart from. "Ours" means there must also be "Theirs". Us and Them. Divisive. And as such, not really where any modern progressive society really wants to be heading I'd suggest.

Mischievous of me to bring it up, I know. But it speaks to a deeper truth. 

My and Our are both possessive cases of an attributive adjective and are grammatically indistinguishable. So what we're talking about is an interpretation of subtext.

How do I think 'My' and 'Our' differ? I'd suggest that 'my' may indicate a singular and somewhat possessive outlook whereas 'ours' suggests a collectivist approach wherein something is 'ours', belonging as it may to all the people and not to individuals. So I live in 'our' world not 'my' world.

I also believe that every human grouping whether private, public, local, national or international belongs to everyone within it irrespective of ethnicity, creed, gender, etc. Those who express - in my opinion - a proprietorial view e.g. 'Who stole my country?' seem to be mistaking joint participation with singular ownership. 

A wider 'ownership' of society is precisely where we should be heading in my view. Narrower ownership gives society over to elites including but not limited to Rupert Murdoch, Donald Trump, Janet Yellen and the rest of the New Aristocracy.

Call the word 'Ours' divisive if you will but I think you're misapprehending its meaning. To me, the word 'Ours' is the very foundation of pluralism, a concept which seems to be out of fashion these days. For me, the word 'Ours' implicitly underpins an acceptance and encouragement of a diversity of social composition and political opinion.

I think we're both aiming for the same happy end but advocating different means of achieving it  :-)