Why are Americans so Patriotic?

[JasonBurnout16]

Learnt why America is so patriotic recently in one of my lessons. It's related to the fact that religion is growing while in other developing countries religion is on the decrease.

Basically the USA is made up of different countries e.g. Italians, Irish etc who have fled from their home land for whatever reason. They settle in a new country which may seem scary and foreign to them - they therefore cling to their roots and with this comes their religion.

A foreigner can use their religion as a form of cultural transition when they feel threatened after having moved country. Their God therefore gives them somewhere to turn and to pray too. It also allows them to join a community and feel accepted - after all most people in a religious community get along simply through their love. In America this love is for Jesus.

Someone native to their country can then use their religion as cultural defence when someone from a foreign land comes to their country. Suddenly they stand up for their believes and for the freedom - or lack of freedom - that they have.

Because the USA is made of different minorities all therefore worshipping the same God, the God is then credited to that country (So christianity to the USA). Therefore the USA itself forms a sort of religious institution as everyone tries to fit in with one another. It's religious symbols being for example the eagle, the american flag and Abraham Lincoln.

However questions are therefore raised as to why this isn't happening in the UK at the moment, but I think it's simply because of different cultural times.

If any of this helped anyone, let me know ok. Hate to think it will go to waste.

 

[Jackle_666]

I could bang on about this all day but essentially people like Glenn Beck who want to manipulate the masses for their own conservative agendas and keep getting the money off of them tell them they are evil if they don't support American interests and a system that favours the wealthy elite at the expense of the less fortunate.

Yes there are other more noble reasons but those aren't the problems we need to talk about and absolve.

 

[kommando367]

I'm american and I'm not patriotic AT ALL.

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

Look guys (and girls), I live in a country that is (politically) about 18 years old. Historically, we've been around from 7th century. We are still recovering from the last war and genocides in Europe. (see here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslav_Wars and here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakup_of_Yugoslavia )
And I can't understand the point of *any* patriotism. It was patriotism that started most (if not all) wars in the human history. Because of Serbian and ours (Croatian) patriotism I was forced to grow up in a country that was (and still paritally is) based on coruption and hegemony. I just can't see the point of it.
And I've been to America during this summer and while (like previous posts have pointed out), most Americans just don't bother with it, the things we see (patriotism and such) as outsiders portray US as a very different nation than it actually is.

The most significant difference between former "Yugoslavia" and the USA is probably this: Your country went from freshly united Kingdom to being invaded by Axis powers to being abolished and being reinvented as a "Socialist Federal Republic" over the course of not even half a century. (Bad) things like this usually happened only to random countries on the, say, African continent or just way before the 20th century. All ex-yugoslavian member states had their own takes on religion, culture, language and, hell, even written language. During the commie years, congregating for christmas (catholic or orthodox) could be reason for ridicule or persecution. Obviously, socialism was not the proper glue to hold these rather different "tribes" together.

The USA, on the other hand, might just as well be another "young" concept, but since it meanwhile spans a large part of a continent, the only physical threats of outside influence and influx of "other" cultures would have to come from either up north (Canada) or the south (Mexico, Cuba, etc.)... in yugoslavia, communism artificially equalized different tribes and cultures, in the US, no such thing happened. In that respect, the US are still the land of the free. Granted, there are big issues that need to be addressed and fixed. The big bad boss that needed to be fought to feel free was the British Empire, in post-commie Yugoslavia the situation is still rather explosive. Your big bad boss fight would still involve fighting your neighbours, and there's still plenty of unresolved issues with, say, Bosnia-Herzegovina. It's twenty years after your last deadly conflict, and we've invented the term "Bosniak" in order not having to call them "Muslim"... official languages in Bosnia are currently Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian - they've all been considered "Yugoslavian", a language that, to my best knowledge, never existed. If you were to ask for the way in the streets of a Serbian or Bosnian town, how many would be able to identify your dialect as "Croatian"? How many would treat you as a fellow slavic soul, how many would consider you to be an intruder or subhuman? In a way, the USA have managed to get rid of all of this within, say two rather eventful centuries. The area of the former Yugoslavia hasn't had that pleasure in thousands of years of history.

So, I think that's a point for them Ahmurikuns.

 

[zehydra]

American Patriotism is taught to children from an early age, in both the family and in public schools.

I'm an American, and what they're doing here is essentially brainwashing.

If you're over here, and you think we shouldn't be a union of 50 states, like I do, you're regarded as a traitor.

Hardly. Some of the Republican presidential candidates believe Lincoln should have let the Confederacy secede.

that includes me, but I wouldn't consider myself Republican.

But honestly, the ones that do aren't the viable candidates.

 

[el_kabong]

The best way I can describe it is like this:

You're sitting in a pub with your wife. She's pretty, she's not perfect, and she does some annoying things from time to time, but you love her with all your being. Then some dude walks up to you and says, "Your wife's a fugly c*** *****!"

Are you just going to sit there and say, "Yea, I guess you're right." Or are you going to punch his lights out? Neither response may be perfect in an ideal world, but it's the only way I can describe American patriotism.

Exactly.

Honestly, if you're seeing negative reactions by Americans, it's not because they're patriotic (a lot of other posts on this blog can attest to the self-critical majority). It's because you offended them as Americans.

I would probably assume that someone "bad-mouthing America" is not going to be something eloquently stated about America's state of affairs. For instance, saying "I don't like the grounds reason and failures of intelligence in regards to the Iraq war" is going to get a much different reaction than something like "America is trying to police the world and killing people unprovoked" (or simply "Fuck America"). One statement will most likely encourage debate (or agreement) the other one will prompt defensive attitudes.

Keep in mind that America is composed of a series of individuals who actively have an opinion (right or wrong) in what's happening in their country. The only time we can agree on anything is under threat (real or imagined). So, if what's said about America is threatening or derogatory, be prepared for a unified response from Americans ("Fuck you").

 

[bushwhacker2k]

I assume OP is joking...??

No country hates itself as much as America...

 

[Jake0fTrades]

Well, first off, much of the younger generation is actually very cynical about our government as a result of the public opinion surrounding the Bush administrtaion (yes, I'm aware George Bush is no longer president).

Secondly, why shouldn't we be? Yeah, our country isn't perfect, we certainly have our issues and shady past, but what country doesn't? As I recall, Gandhi's Salt March was a protest to the imperialism of a certain country who I shall not name here. If anything, any patriotism in Americans only shows that we accept and have faith in our country despite its flaws, and I consider that to be a good thing.

 

[BlackStar42]

Let them have their patriotism.

Their country is still new

Technically the U.S. is one of the world's oldest countries, comparing favorably to most of Europe.

Edit: And my captcha called for Cyrillic characters. I have a Cyrillic keyboard installed but still, fuck you.

How'd you work that out? Norway's existed since 872, Sweden since about the 6th century, England's been with us for roughly 1000 years, Britain since 1707, France since 987 etc.

 

[Twilight_guy]

You might not get upset when people bad mouth your country but we do. I'm sure lots of people do. Hell people go to war over patriotism. Americans considered themselves tied to their country and insulting America is an insult lobbed at them. If you want to know why, go study Anthropology and then sociology.

 

[CMDDarkblade]

?I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.? - James Arthur Baldwin

This is why I am so patriotic. I believe everyone should have a certain amount of pride in their home country. If they don't then they probably should consider living somewhere else. That doesn't mean people should ignore the problems in their country; it means they should have some faith in their country's ability to be able to overcome its faults.

 

[Engarde]

Eh, I don't get that feeling beyond silly stereotypes, I am sure most people are reasonable. Personally, I don't feel attached to where I live at all so I really don't feel very patriotic. So far all I get from Australia is heat and spiders.

 

[Orinon]

Now I'm No American but I do know some of America's history so here's my answer to that.
The U.S. was originally a British colony, however certain rules and policies made by the British angered the U.S., they weren't given a say in the mater, the Britain were giving them no freedom and it pissed them off.
So eventually they revolted, throwing off the British influence entirely.

Now I'm not going to criticize any of the U.S. right now, even if I want to I'm answering a fair question and I would like it if an american would read my post and tell me if I'm right.

Now the U.S.'s Culture is based off personal freedom, in itself a pretty decent thing to value. Democracy, Capitalism, these are signs of personal freedom and power to the people. In the U.S. you can control your destiny, you have a voice and you can be heard, you can make your fortune with the right luck and skill.

SO why the massive Patriotism? well like everyone else, value their Ideals, and those Ideals were built into their system, so their country, their government represents their Ideals made real.
SO that's my answer anyone from the U.S.A. mind telling me how I did?

 

[M-E-D The Poet]

Let them have their patriotism.

Their country is still new, they still have time to do a few more war crimes, maybe colonise some places, kill the natives etc.

You're only young once.


*sips tea*

Yes, quite.

ah fair has it they are so young and naive they thing the idea of patriotism and liberty is theirs and theirs alone

who the heck is napoleon and what is this revolution in france you speak of say they

 

[Lord Doomhammer]

As an American I think its important to make the distinction between the American Ideal, and the American Actual. To insult what america has devolved into in the past decade or two is perfectly logical and really makes sense... because everything is falling apart and nobody seems to care.

But to insult what America IS and what we as a country (at least try to) stand for. Well that's just silly. For fuck's sake we've been to the moon, we've saved the world and changed forever how nations interact. Any time something important has happened in the past century its been with america on the front page.

Like it or not, this is a very important nation and the people have a right to be proud of it.

 

[gim73]

Are we a young country? Can we really define what it means to be an 'old' country? Let's take a country like China.

Historically China was a mess of independent warring states that were eventually unified under the first Emperor. Several dynasties passed, and the borders expanded, eventually reaching all the way to the middle east. Attacks from Mongols, internal strife and outside influence eventually decayed the empire to a smaller piece than all of southeast asia that it had been. By the time WWII came around, Japan was able to stroll in and butcher millions with relatively little resistance. From the ashes a communist state rose up and took the title of China. You can argue that China is over 2000 years old all you want, but it doesn't change the fact that the Peoples Republic of China is less than 70 years old.

Another example is Egypt. It's been around since Biblical times. It has waxed and waned in power and has been conquered by several countries. It's latest incarnation was a post WWII state that had its president brought down by revolution earlier this year.

It's been a hell of a century for countries. The UK lucked out that they weren't eaten up like the rest of Europe and actually made it through in one piece. 300 years ain't too bad for the UK being around, but the US is gonna claim 220. Yeah, most Americans claim 1776 as the founding, but it wasn't until the 1790's when we actually 'became' what we are today. There really aren't that many countries out there who have had a stable government for as long as we have. A little bit of patriotism is good, but everything in moderation.

 

[Lord Doomhammer]

Now I'm No American but I do know some of America's history so here's my answer to that.
The U.S. was originally a British colony, however certain rules and policies made by the British angered the U.S., they weren't given a say in the mater, the Britain were giving them no freedom and it pissed them off.
So eventually they revolted, throwing off the British influence entirely.

Now I'm not going to criticize any of the U.S. right now, even if I want to I'm answering a fair question and I would like it if an american would read my post and tell me if I'm right.

Now the U.S.'s Culture is based off personal freedom, in itself a pretty decent thing to value. Democracy, Capitalism, these are signs of personal freedom and power to the people. In the U.S. you can control your destiny, you have a voice and you can be heard, you can make your fortune with the right luck and skill.

SO why the massive Patriotism? well like everyone else, value their Ideals, and those Ideals were built into their system, so their country, their government represents their Ideals made real.
SO that's my answer anyone from the U.S.A. mind telling me how I did?

Again, american here.

So, you got it partially right. But there is a big glareing 700 billion dollar part of this patriotism that you forgot about.

The US never loses, we fuck up sure, but nobody has ever beaten the united states into submission. We are taught this in school from a young age, and every american including the hippies are proud of the fact that our military is so massive that no other country goes to war without thinking "is this going to piss off Washington?"

Its this feeling of invincibility, and our self made attitude that makes us all think, "we did this ourselves and we did it better than anyone else ever" its called manifest destiny, we make our destiny and since we never fail it seems like its just how the world works to us.

Its a very flawed viewpoint I know, and its pretty obvious that it varies person to person, but watch the news and see the flag waving fat people and you'll get a pretty clear idea what I'm on about.

 

[amadhatter]

I think it's because chanting U.S.A. is easy and contagious.

 

[PorkChopXpress]

A true patriot would not defend the wrong doings of their country. A true patriot has enough respect for their country to point out its flaws and suggest solutions for the betterment of all.

I'm of the same opinion. I'm an American as well, and I really dislike what is going on in this country with big business and politics. Now, I strongly support those who KNOW what they are fighting for amongst the 99% on Wall Street and everywhere else, but the "casual protesters" aren't helping the fight.

I'm all for a good time if it doesn't hurt anyone, but drum circles are NOT going to create the change we need in this country.

THIS is what is truly important!

 

[funkzillabot]

Not all Americans.