Why are Americans so Patriotic?

[ArguesWithStrangers]

You asked a fair question, and were not snide about it as many of the similar postings on this forum so I'll give you a legitimate answer.

We're patriotic, those of us who are anyways, for the very reasons you stated. We've been born to, or immigrated to as the case may be a magnificent county full of natural beauty. The generations that came before us took 13 obscure British Colonies and built the mightiest and most prosperous nation on the planet. We're impressed by their accomplishments and want to celebrate them so that we might emulate them and carry their legacy forward.

As to to the flag, it is a symbol of particular cultural significance to people of this country. When people disrespect it, they feel the country they love and the legacy they are proud of is being disrespected. Now, after scanning the article you linked I agree that some people are jumping to conclusions with Kaley Cuoco, as it appears it was a. not her and b. not meant as disrespect. It is easy to understand though why they might have come to that conclusion with deuchbags like Colin Kaepernick going out of their way to disrespect the flag, the anthem, and the country.

[I Push Buttons]

*Unless you're poor

The poorest among us have houses, cars, internet, cell phones, access to medical care, and so much food obesity is an epidemic.

Yeah, life here is terrible, how do we get by?

---

On topic, American exceptionalism.

[Ornerybear]

Argh thats bad and getting only a small amount for going trough that is a disgrace.

yup. decades later and vietnam soldiers (and current ones) still getting screwed.

[Swag]

I always felt like American Patriotism was sort of pushed by geography, and the lack of international neighbors. "Us" and "them" is different when you only ever really experience "us". Most Americans have neighboring states, not neighboring countries in a relatively similar geographic footprint.

[JohnBrown1917]

The poorest among us have houses, cars, internet, cell phones, access to medical care, and so much food obesity is an epidemic.

The poorest among you are the homeless, they don't have houses.

[Shadowferal]

The poorest among you are the homeless, they don't have houses.

Yep.
They've nothing but the smelly clothes on their back.

[Mic_128]

The poorest among us have houses, cars, internet, cell phones, access to medical care, and so much food obesity is an epidemic.

Have you not heard of the homeless?

[derpkitteh]

i think it stems from back in the day. the ancestors that fought and died to make america free, american patriotism is like a trophy "yes, this here? we won this with our work"

i personally am patriotic to a degree, because i recognize this country is just about the best in the world, with only a few things to fix up. i'm lucky to have been born here.

[LaserChild9]

Quite rude.

But that aside you are quite incorrect. There has been a ton of people, WW1 and WW2 as good examples, that we didn't have to help. Not to mention the myriad of humanitarian operations we've been to throughout the world. It's to the point that people want the US to stay out of their business. But if we don't respond to a disaster of some sort we are evil and uncaring. It's a rather lose lose situation for us.

Make up whatever reasons you want for us joining but you'll prolly be wrong.

Just because someone is an ally doesn't mean you WILL help them.

Our only real threat at the time, during WW2, was Japan. We could have easily ignored Europe for a good while and been fine.

That's only half true from my perspective. True, the US could have continued ignoring Europe in WW2, but when they did get involved, they ONLY declared war on Japan in retaliation for Pearl Harbour, it wasn't to help the Allies. Subsequently Germany and Italy declared war on the US leaving no choice but for the US to become completely involved. And to put things in perspective Japan killed around 2400 people at Pearl Harbour, a tragedy. The US killed 39000 - 80000 in Nagasaki and 90000-146000 in Hiroshima so at least 129000 and at most 226000 in total. Even after this level of destruction the US government apparently planned a further 15 Atomic strikes on Japan. To my eyes, US involvement in WW2 was purely for revenge against Japan.

I'm not saying the US is evil for doing this, it was done with the consent of several other Allied Nations including the UK, but the reasons for US involvement remain one of retaliation.

[TwoNineMarine]

i think it stems from back in the day. the ancestors that fought and died to make america free, american patriotism is like a trophy "yes, this here? we won this with our work"

i personally am patriotic to a degree, because i recognize this country is just about the best in the world, with only a few things to fix up. i'm lucky to have been born here.

Basically this.

A ton of our fellow Americans have busted their ass and many have sacrificed everything to get us to where we are. You may not agree with the reasons etc but the fact is their hard work got us to where we are.

And frankly there isn't as much to fix up as some people make it seem.

[Allybeboba]

Our constitution is older, or is being occupied in your history a huge deal?

I don't know what your country is, I know that the U.S. is the oldest country with a continuous government. And that is a big deal.

[Wildtree]

The poorest among us have houses, cars, internet, cell phones, access to medical care, and so much food obesity is an epidemic.

Yeah, life here is terrible, how do we get by?

---

On topic, American exceptionalism.

is there something else than "food obesity" LOL
Seriously now. You know that being poor does not prevent obesity, right? On the contrary even.
Poor people cannot afford high quality food that would keep them in shape. Adding jobless to the mix, that gives a decent lack of natural exercise from just working.
So, nope. You've some things pretty wrong there...

[Allybeboba]

Have you not heard of the homeless?

Even homeless people own cars. They often live in them.

[McFuu]

is there something else than "food obesity" LOL
Seriously now. You know that being poor does not prevent obesity, right? On the contrary even.
Poor people cannot afford high quality food that would keep them in shape. Adding jobless to the mix, that gives a decent lack of natural exercise from just working.
So, nope. You've some things pretty wrong there...

Poor people can afford chicken and vegetables. Just because they choose to fill their pantry with fruit roll ups and waste their time at McDonald's doesn't mean they can't afford to not eat well. This whole passing the buck bs needs to stop.

Just looking up the amounts for households for the Snap card (ebt), my girlfriend and I eat on less than what the snap card provides.

[TwoNineMarine]

That's only half true from my perspective. True, the US could have continued ignoring Europe in WW2, but when they did get involved, they ONLY declared war on Japan in retaliation for Pearl Harbour, it wasn't to help the Allies. Subsequently Germany and Italy declared war on the US leaving no choice but for the US to become completely involved. And to put things in perspective Japan killed around 2400 people at Pearl Harbour, a tragedy. The US killed 39000 - 80000 in Nagasaki and 90000-146000 in Hiroshima so at least 129000 and at most 226000 in total. Even after this level of destruction the US government apparently planned a further 15 Atomic strikes on Japan. To my eyes, US involvement in WW2 was purely for revenge against Japan.

I'm not saying the US is evil for doing this, it was done with the consent of several other Allied Nations including the UK, but the reasons for US involvement remain one of retaliation.

And at times there is nothing wrong with retaliation. People deserve it.

And yes 2400 or so people died there but if our carriers had been there, as Japan had hoped, then our west coast would have been incredibly venerable to a Japanese beach landing.

Luckily for us it didn't work out that way.

The bombs were used as a deterrent. To dissuade Japan from forcing us to launch an air and ground attack on their mainland. More people on both sides would have died as a result. Not to mention greater damage to Japan as a whole. They lost two cities, which is incredibly tragic, but I think it's better then having fighting spread across the entire nation.

Either way it was shitty. But we didn't start it.

And yes Italy and Germany declared war on us but that really didn't mean shit. Eventually they could have possibly attacked us I suppose. But that would have been after destroying the Brits (which wouldn't have been easy at all. The Brits back then were some tough mother fuckers), stopping the French Resistance, and shutting down the Russians. Because Hitler still would have attacked them. He was too arrogant and prideful to want such a powerful entity on his backside.

So the chances of Germany/Italy launching any major offensive against the American mainland would have been years, perhaps decades, down the road. If ever.

[I Push Buttons]

The poorest among you are the homeless, they don't have houses.

Something that effects a fraction of a percent of the population, a huge portion of which is related to drug addiction and mental health issues.

Not that I am dismissing the issue, homelessness is serious and needs to be addressed... But if your example of why our country sucks is a million homeless people while the other 319 million people live like kings compared to the rest of the non-west world... Then there isn't really much to discuss.

[Shadowferal]

Even homeless people own cars. They often live in them.

Nah.
The remnants of vehicles...sometimes.

[Deleted]

It just seems to me that some of these responses were a bit drastic. 'Shame on you, Kaley. You lost a fan.' Really?? That person will no longer be her fan over an image of 2 dogs sitting on the flag on the ground? I understand that the American flag stands for a lot to its citizens, but at the end of the day it is just an inanimate object that can be made by anyone, its a flag.

Money represents not the paper it's been printed on, but value in local currency.
Just like that, the flag represents the values and achievements of the nation and not the cloth it was woven out of. By burning, desecrating, stomping or letting dogs sit on the flag you do those actions to the nation (not necessarily its people).
Which is, of course, why burning flags is a provocation of war. Your enemies, those who burn your flag, those who call for you (your nation, not your person) to go to hell, they want war.
Likewise, citizens letting animals desecrate the flag shits on the values of the nation.

Hyperbole, exaggeration and superstition? Sure, to you, but flags have always meant a lot for nationstates throughout all of history. I'm pretty proud of my danish flag which has roots in overseas conquest and is the oldest still-used flag to this day and has inspired lots of different flag with the same pattern - a symbol of our historic conquests. It's a source of culture and history.

[Shadowferal]

Something that effects a fraction of a percent of the population, a huge portion of which is related to drug addiction and mental health issues.

Not that I am dismissing the issue, homelessness is serious and needs to be addressed... But if your example of why our country sucks is a million homeless people while the other 319 million people live like kings compared to the rest of the non-west world... Then there isn't really much to discuss.

I think you're yet another person that has little experience with the impoverished, but wants us all to think that you do....they're just numbers to you.

[Wyrt]

I always felt like American Patriotism was sort of pushed by geography, and the lack of international neighbors. "Us" and "them" is different when you only ever really experience "us". Most Americans have neighboring states, not neighboring countries in a relatively similar geographic footprint.

I would think that would be changing somewhat for the younger people at least as the internet gives them access to people from other countries that people didn't previously have.