Give America the credit due

[Ulquiorra4sama]

Watch "Dancing With Wolves" and it'll kill any and all patriotism you might ever have felt for that country considering what it's built upon.

Because America was the only Western power during the 19th century that profited from colonizing and oppressing native populations right?

Things were different back then, with the USA being neither better or worse then anyone else.

I never said they were the only ones doing that. All i said was that Dancing With Wolves will kill all your patriotism for that one country. Other movies that depict history in the same way could probably kill that feeling for other countries as well, i just don't know of any others that do it as WELL as Dancing With Wolves.

 

[Lilani]

By America, do you mean the United States?

I've seen this nitpick a lot, and it bugs me. Tell me, what other country or continent is referred solely to as "America" when no other pretext or context is provided? Sure, it is TECHNICALLY vague, but only a moron wouldn't be able to distinguish what a person is referring to when they speak about "America."

Now that that's out of my system, I'd say we've got something special in our constitution and government system, and we shouldn't squander or spoil them. When it comes to the constitution, I'm a part of the "living document" camp. We should recognize and understand the context it was written in those 200 years ago, and then use our common sense and perspective to distinguish its place in our current society. What they have is very well balanced and written, and should not be drastically changed but under very desperate circumstances, but we should also not forget how much the world has changed since then. It requires a balance, compromise, and level-headedness, things which are slowly becoming less and less valued in the current political climate.

 

[synobal]

I can't get behind any sort of patriotism regarding the politics or the people of this country but I can get behind patriotism regarding the land and the Constitution though. Lets face it the actual land the USA controls is pretty freaking awesome, and as far as documents go the constitution is rather freaking important. Everything else can go up in smoke as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

I'm a Brit and I have a lot of love for the USA, which is decidedly uncool around here so I get plenty of stick for it.

I work with the public, so I'm fully aware that the kinds of people they parade in front of camera as proof of concept for the "Americans be stoopid!" videos are in no way unique to the US.

They have a great constitution, hell...the best constitution. I'm not convinced by the people who demonize them for their foreign policy either. They give a hell of a lot away in aid every year, despite having financial problems of their own. They actively oppose tyrants and I think that's awesome. People inevitably die in the ensuing conflicts that this policy creates... but I don't think strict non-interventionism is a particularly moral position to take either.

 

[SilentCom]

We choose America because everywhere else sucks... just kidding. Actually, I like living in America because this is my home. I grew up in this culture and rather like the ideas of freedom and equality and responsibility. Unfortunately these ideals have been sacrificed more than a little bit through out the years.

 

[Delsana]

You owe the internet to our military, now be nice.

 

[Death God]

I may not like American and agree with its politics, but freedom of speech and other personal freedoms giving to us in the "original" Constitution are pretty great. And America did become a super power in less time than some of the greatest nation of the world have so there is something in that.

 

[Megawat22]

The best and worst thing about America is how they turn everything they do into one big pissing contest.
Communist Russia? America's going to be so un-Communist it hurts!
A Ruskie looked at the moon funny? Spaceships!
Japan bombed Pearl Harbour? Well, you can see where this is going...

 

[enzilewulf]

I'm american and love everything about our history, I am proud to be from Massachusetts as well, I'm not from any famous town or city, but paul revere stayed a night in my town and Old Iron Side was partially built in my town as well.

Really, you love /everything/ about your history. You approve off every act your nation has ever taken?

Statements like that need to be made extremely carefully..

I'm British, I'm extremely proud of my nation, but I do not love everything about our history.. we've done some appalling things over the years.

To love one's country is to accept its accurate history, warts and all, but to want to make it better than its darkest points.

Im sure he didn't mean everything.. America has been fucking up on the world stage for a while now. I am very proud of some of our history, while others, such as our proxy wars from the cold war era and this current mess that is called a war on terrorism, I cannot approve of. That and as of late here in the states our politics are fucked up. No one cares as of late. They only care about campaigning over 12 months early.

 

[w9496]

The only thing good ever to come out of the US is a couple of games, that's it, if it wasn't for gaming I wouldn't care if the US disappeared over night. Oh and of course the movies too.

However, the thing I find most funny about the US is that they came there about 200-300 years ago, killed allmost all the natives, and then have the balls to hate foreigners who actually most often than not adds something positive to the country.

The light bulb? Obviously unimportant.

OT: I'm rather patriotic, as in, I love my friggin' country. Our country has a very wide range of culture due to past immigration, and most people are willing to respect those cultures.

 

[DaysBefore]

You're seriously saying that without the Declaration of Independence and the formation of the United States humanity would have never harnessed electricity, or the automobile, or space travel? What kind of paint thinner are you drinking? Seriously, how can you think that if Benjamin Franklin was Mexican or Icelandic he would have never harnessed the power of electricity?

The United States is a line in the dirt. In some places a metaphorical line in the dirt, in other a literal line. Why would the nationality of a person garner increased or decreased respect? People do not invent great things or formulate wonderful theories based on their place of birth. Sure, maybe if Benjamin Franklin was Italian he wouldn't have flew his kite that fateful day, but someone would have. The United States did not move the world ahead hundreds of years, individuals did. The location of their birth, or the place they moved to is not the reason they did what they did. How you can honestly say that without the United States of America we would be hundreds of years in the past I will never know.

 

[SD-Fiend]

You're seriously saying that without the Declaration of Independence and the formation of the United States humanity would have never harnessed electricity, or the automobile, or space travel? What kind of paint thinner are you drinking? Seriously, how can you think that if Benjamin Franklin was Mexican or Icelandic he would have never harnessed the power of electricity?

The United States is a line in the dirt. In some places a metaphorical line in the dirt, in other a literal line. Why would the nationality of a person garner increased or decreased respect? People do not invent great things or formulate wonderful theories based on their place of birth. Sure, maybe if Benjamin Franklin was Italian he wouldn't have flew his kite that fateful day, but someone would have. The United States did not move the world ahead hundreds of years, individuals did. The location of their birth, or the place they moved to is not the reason they did what they did. How you can honestly say that without the United States of America we would be hundreds of years in the past I will never know.

um... excuse me but it would totally make a difference if a whole continent didn't exist

 

[emeraldrafael]

The best and worst thing about America is how they turn everything they do into one big pissing contest.
Communist Russia? America's going to be so un-Communist it hurts!
mUch of the western world was scared of the Communist movement. People the likes of Winston Churchill, Marie Carré, and David Lewis (A Brit, a French, and a Canadian respectively) even despised it.

A Ruskie looked at the moon funny? Spaceships!
I'll give you that one, then again, the thought was that Russia (looking at this fromt he US side), could launch a high powered missile from anywhere and hit anywhere.

Japan bombed Pearl Harbour? Well, you can see where this is going...

I get the first two, but this was an act of war. lets take France, or Canada, or the UK. I doubt any of them or other countries would have just brushed such an attack off.

 

[Hagi]

I hate patriotism and nationalism and any form of fundamentalist fervor--ironic, I know. But when it comes to our freedom of speech and other personal freedoms, this country is beyond par.

Not really....

The USA isn't horrible by any means. But it's far from the country with the most freedom of press and speech.

The reason why there's so much hating on the USA isn't that it's an actual bad country. It's this conviction that the USA is somehow the best country, which simply isn't true. There isn't a 'best' country, it's not a freaking contest.

The USA is just one of many countries. Your military and economical power are huge. Your education system and health system are quite bad. Some of your international actions were downright heroic, others were... questionable at best. The USA isn't better or worse, it's just another country.

 

[orangeban]

You're alright I guess, you aren't a terrible country, but I honestly can't think of anything that you seem to do better than anyone else. Or at least anything I could imagine being proud of.
I don't mean to be harsh or anything, but when it comes down to it I think Scotland trumps America in pretty much every fashion. Maybe not war, though I can live with that.

 

[Soviet Steve]

Things were different back then, with the USA being neither better or worse then anyone else.

Except the whole democracy thing that takes the blame from autocrats and places it upon the citizens.