Why are Americans so Patriotic?

[xPixelatedx]

Americans in particular have some terrible self-esteem issues, which is probably why we segregate ourselves into groupings so religiously. We want to be a part of something grater then ourselves, something grater then YOU. It's the only way we feel whole.

 

[Mxrz]

Yeah. Cause the rest of the world doesn't totally flip the fuck out during the World Cup or anything.

 

[Warforger]

it might be just an unfair stereotype, but it's generally believed that if you badmouth america, any nearby americans will go up in arms and get very angry, and i'm just wondering why. Just to clarify, i have nothing against america, but i hardly think it's anything to write home about. and don't say that anyone would be that way about their home country, because if someone came up to be and said "hey, england's crap!" i'd just say "yeah, it is a bit"

I've lived in America all my life and I haven't really met anyone who fits that stereotype, sure some would be proud of their country but they would admit it's not perfect. That's what pisses me off about these posters saying these stereotypes and in turn making themselves hyprocites so often. It baffles me how they think they're "smart" when they try to diss America the way they do.

I remember an American who came to our school once telling us that they had to repeat some sort of 'America is awesome' thing (I pledge allegiance? I can't remember, it's been a while) at school every day since he was young.

So basically indoctrination, that's why Americans are so patriotic.

No. The pledge isn't really cared about at all, most people get away with not doing it at all and it's just a remnant of the Cold War. It's not that big of a deal at all and holds about as much weight on the minds of Americans as some tree in America, sure it's there but it's not a big deal or anything that determines anything.

It's got nothing to do with whether the country is great or not, it's that the children are taught about how awesome America is before they can even talk properly. It's kind of like how Stalin or Kim Jong Il got people to think they were awesome, byt forming a cult of personality, only instead of a person, america do it to a country.

No in fact it's not different then what most nations do.

On a related and hilarious note (for me) he also told us that in his textbooks and lessons he wasn't taught that America lost the Vietnam War. When he started doing history at GCSE (we did Vietnam) he was genuinely shocked to find out that they hadn't done so good there. And this was someone who lived in New York and went to school there, not some backwoods Louisianna swamp kid.

That's the same with all textbooks across all nations. I laugh when British people rave about how they bombed Berlin and probably have never heard of a B-17 or whatever during WWII, when in actuality they took the night missions and America took the day missions as British bombers were less able to protect themselves. A better example would be how the Spanish armada isn't taught in Spain, or how the Armenian genocides is downplayed in Turkey, or how Japanese war crimes aren't taught in Japan etc.

Keep in mind this is the normal courses, if they were to take advanced placement classes even the US history one would talk as bad as it was in reality. For example I was under the impression when growing up that the North (in context of the Civil War) was black friendly and racist free, that they hated slavery, but as a matter of fact up until the late 1850's most didn't mind slavery, it wasn't that big of a deal to them, sure it wasn't a good thing but it was fine that some had slavery. I was shocked that there were many race riots and that blacks were discriminated against too often (by the average European standard of course) not just that but how many countries banned slavery after America and soon before, like how Spain did it in the 1840's and even then Cuba didn't do it until the 1880's even though being ruled by Spain. Nevermind the fact that Brazil still hasn't found all of the slaves it was supposed to free like 100 years ago. On top of this I found out slavery wasn't necessarily as widespread and bad as I had been taught before, sure there was mistreatment but those were rare and most slave owners (most owning around 2-6) weren't even as harsh as the laws of their state would ask them to be. On top of that slaves lived in generally more healthy environments than the factory workers in the North.

 

[Varanfan9]

Well its all caused by a thing known as the era of good feeling. After the war of 1812 Americans were feeling good about themselves after having beat the most powerful country in the world twice (though let's face it we barely won 1812) and a sense of patriotism emerged. I guess we just never let it go. But cmon it is like the ultimate Rocky story. Small undertakers defeats champion and all that.

 

[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?