User:Son of the Isles/Nationality of Famous Individuals

I have created this page, albeit without ascertaining whether I have the right to do so or not, to discuss with other users how the nationality of famous individuals should be written in their respective articles. Whilst, prior to my creation of this account, I was editing the page of the Actor James Nesbitt a small dispute occurred between myself and another member of this website, over whether the aforesaid person should be written as being a 'Northern Irish Actor' or a 'British Actor'.

I came to the legal conclusion. James Nesbitt has through all the virtues of birth, family, etc. a regular citizenship within the United Kingdom, thus making the correct demonym for him to be referred to as, British. However, a fellow user of this website stated that for non Political Figures and people who have explicitly stated they are British, that demonym is not to be used.

Here is where a major point of confusion has arisen. There is no such legal citizenship to the area of "Northern Ireland" therefore it is no legal basis for the example I've used, James Nesbitt, to be referred to as Northern Irish. He has presented and has indeed won many BRIT awards, he is referred to on most pages such as Newspaper Biographies, the Northern Ireland government website, and the IMDB as a British Actor. Why is there such a large stigma on Wikipedia attached to naming an actor or a celebrity British?

Someone on the Nesbitt talk page stated that it was common practice to not do so unless they specifically state that word as their nationality. However I use the example Emma Thompson who is happily listed as a British Actress, without any direct quote or citation to say she says explicitly that she is British and not English. It seems on Wikipedia that only people born in the England Constituent Country are labelled British and people born in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are not.

The United Kingdom is similar in a loose fashion to the United States. The United States is made up of 50 States: The United Kingdom is made up of 4 3 Kingdoms and a Principality. One would find Tom Hanks listed as a "Californian Actor" no, he is listed as an "American Actor" and rightly so. Why does this not translate over to British actors.

I feel that in a quest to try and find some kind of hyper-politically correct state, the users of Wikipedia have indeed done the opposite. Fair enough, Liam Neeson is Irish as he is rightfully allowed to call himself due to the Belfast Agreement, however it should work both ways. The users should not assume that James Nesbitt is labelled Northern Irish until explicitly stated otherwise; it is that James Nesbitt is a citizen of the United Kingdom and British, unless he specifically states otherwise as is his right to that agreement.

This is something that needs standardising across-the-board.

Son of the Isles (talk) 16:37, 28 December 2012 (UTC)