You can't keep a good Brit down.
The attack on Manchester Arena on Monday night was felt across Britain and around the world. Though the threat level has been raised from "severe" to "critical", Brits are simply getting on with it.
We have been hurt, but we're not a nation for self-pity. Steely resolve and stiff upper lips; never yielding, never turning. Our national default is something far more potent, something terrorists can't understand: taking the piss out of ourselves.
Self-deprecation runs through the core of British society. While we will never hide from terror, we will hide in the aisles of the supermarket if we see someone that we vaguely know, but more importantly, we will own up to our own patheticness. In fact, we revel in it.
The hashtag #BritishThreatLevels wonderfully demonstrates this. Just days after a national tragedy, when times are fraught and tensions are high, we're doing what we do best: ribbing ourselves for being ourselves. Our brand of Great British panic is something that's unique to us, and it's exactly this kind of mentality that will get us through our darkest days.
Here's a few of the choicest examples.
https://twitter.com/JamesManning/status/867324601654792193
https://twitter.com/davidmbarnett/status/867325300736049152
https://twitter.com/stuartmillar159/status/867324031858618369
https://twitter.com/AndreaMann/status/867322394876182528
https://twitter.com/clrthrn/status/867325394705416193
https://twitter.com/Ross_Lawson/status/867322717091102720
https://twitter.com/MargoJMilne/status/867324687319261184
https://twitter.com/alistaircoleman/status/867333340378136576
https://twitter.com/Cromerty/status/867323187348066308
https://twitter.com/OwenJones84/status/867334024288763904
https://twitter.com/tomj191/status/867340495449714688
https://twitter.com/13EmmaLouise/status/867342342247895041
