Why are Americans so Patriotic?

[Tyrianth]

Occupied in 1944. Thus its government is not continuous. Nice try though.

Occupation doesn't strip the country of it's government, only takes temporary control. San Marino has been a continuous republic since 301 A.D. Nice try though.

But I'm sure you'll continue to invent ways or new definitions to make the US older than it is.

[Tyrianth]

But the US does count, despite the civil war?


Let's play a game!
It goes like this: If your username is Kangodo you win.
OMG I WON!

I'm sorry, but you lose. Only Americans can make up rules/definitions to suit their needs.

[Allybeboba]

But the US does count, despite the civil war?


Let's play a game!
It goes like this: If your username is Kangodo you win.
OMG I WON!

San Marino's government was not in control during that period, Nazi Germany controlled it.
During 1861-1865 the US government still existed.

[Tyrianth]

San Marino's government was not in control during that period, Nazi Germany controlled it.
During 1861-1865 the US government still existed.

San Marino's government was never eradicated, making it a continuous government. And I like how you failed to respond to the post about the UK being older.

[Trump]

Because we're awesome and we know it.

Exactly.

/10char

[THE Bigzoman]

But we're not.

Not by a long shot..

[Deleted]

So I recently made a post asking how patriotic the average american was (http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...erage-American), I didn't respond in that thread because I didn't feel that I had anything to add but after reading through all of the responses, I realized I should have expanded the question when I originally posted to ask why Americans are so Patriotic. I didn't want to edit the original post or add a reply with the question as it may have been overlooked.

So regardless of an Americans definition of Patriotism, my question now is why? I can see why you would be proud of your country and glad to be a citizen, but I saw a story that I cant wrap my head around, which revolves around the American Flag:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ican-flag.html

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.

How does one become Patriotic? It seems to me that people are taught to be Patriotic from a very young age in schools, which seems odd as its done when people are young and impressionable, they don't seem to get much choice in the matter because they don't have time to form their own opinions.

I don't want to offend anyone with this thread, I just want to understand American culture more because a lot of it seems very alien to me, having not been raised this way myself. If I have gotten anything wrong, please feel free to correct me, as stated already, I mean no offence.

They aren't any more or less patriotic than any one else is.

By "patriotism" you really mean "intolerant of any other race, nation or creed with a general inability to understand anything outside America and/or assessment of foreign cultures as being composed of sub-humans if not something actually demonic".

In terms of anything other than random xenophobia they don't really give a shit. They are generally speaking more ignorant than other nations when it comes to their own history and contemptuous of vast numbers if not the majority of their own people.

infracted - trolling

[fiestatastic]

The bar for patriotism is set VERY low in the US ... to be patriotic one does not need to serve in the military, or serve the US, or actually help the US in any way. It's an incredibly simple minded patriotism of simply latching on to symbols, revolving around ignorance. The US is filled to the brim with stupid people. I personally know people that failed algebra that consider themselves to be highly intelligent (you don't have to pass algebra to graduate in the US), and are very patriotic.

infracted - trolling

[Docturphil]

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

Yes, unfortunately this is true of every country in the world. Everyone knows that. I believe what he means is even many of the poorest people have those things.

[schwarzkopf]

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks"

One tends to need to reinforce that which one lacks - sometimes called positive thinking.

[Docturphil]

Have you not heard of the homeless?

Oh come on. I think you know what he means.

[Deleted]

We literally wanted nothing to do with it. But we also wouldn't take a hit like that sitting down.

No, US pacific policy (Oil sanctions) was such that the state department warned Roosevelt that it would lead to war.
There was literally nothing you didn't do in the prelude to that but declare war, to try to start the war.

- - - Updated - - -

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.

Nope.
This is an absurd position, utterly devoid of any trace of substance.

Oh as for the OP, It's because they don't have any nationalists.

[Docturphil]

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.

I mean can you really blame the US for wanting to avoid war in the first place? Many European nations wanted to avoid another world war at all costs as well. That's half the reason Hitler was able to secure so much power.

WWI was pretty nasty. So as expected, the US was very torn on whether or not to join the war for some time. It's not like they weren't already considering it. But to join another world war meant sacrificing a lot of American lives, and the US knew it.

[Mafic]

God Bless 'Murica

Mac And cheese.

What a combo!!!

[Cheerbleeder]

Why are so many americans patriotic?

In 1988 Congress sent a letter, medal and plaque to the original 6 Iroquois nations thanking them for their contributions into the Declaration of Independence which later formed the Constitution of the United States. Ben Franklin was highly inspired by the words and unification of the original 6 nations, that he challenged himself and others if they could form a more perfect unity. So you see, the Constitution is Indian Law and that's why I love it. Also, anyone born on North/South American soil is native American and has the right to be here.

Centuries ago, the ancestors foretold of the dawn of a better future time when the eagle of North America and the condor of South America would one day fly together again.

Everyone should honor the ones that came before them and be proud of where they came from.

[PatchworkBBC]

That's actually a pretty complicated question. The short answer is that American culture promotes patriotism because of its history and does so to the degree that it does due to the politics surrounding the Civil War, both World Wars, and--most of all--the Cold War.

Before the American Revolution, the American colonists were quite proud to be British, thankyouverymuch, but following their departure from the British Empire there was a concerted effort on the part of many to be different from Europeans (the differences between American and British English are deliberate departures, for instance), and such an attitude naturally demands a certain degree of pride in one's identity (The song "Yankee Doodle" was a British invention made to mock the colonists, who pretty much said "Fuck yeah" and ran with it.).

Eventually WWI came around, and American sentiment following that was that we had gotten sucked into Europe's clusterfuck (which, to be fair, is not an entirely inaccurate description of events) and that we'd be better off keeping to ourselves. Two decades of "not my monkeys, not my circus" followed until the Imperial Japanese decided to get stupid and execute a brilliantly successful attack on a country with roughly twice the population and orders of magnitude greater manufacturing potential while they themselves duked it out with everyone else in East Asia. Following WWII being an American was pretty cool: we had singlehandedly* saved East Asia and Europe** from tyrannical dictatorial rule and were pretty much financing the reconstruction of both regions because we were an economic and military juggernaut and THE premiere geopolitical power in... oh wait, Stalin's being a dick, so I guess we'll have to spend the next half century engaging in one-upsmanship until we're the last guy standing.

Basically you've got a little over two hundred years of either being different, being wildly successful, or being wildly successful while highlighting how we're different/better than our rival.

*Not really
**Well... half of it

[Sky High]

pretty much what you said OP. "we're the best because we're the best" is pretty much drilled into us from our schooling to our media.

[breadisfunny]

Why are so many americans patriotic?

In 1988 Congress sent a letter, medal and plaque to the original 6 Iroquois nations thanking them for their contributions into the Declaration of Independence which later formed the Constitution of the United States. Ben Franklin was highly inspired by the words and unification of the original 6 nations, that he challenged himself and others if they could form a more perfect unity. So you see, the Constitution is Indian Law and that's why I love it. Also, anyone born on North/South American soil is native American and has the right to be here.

Centuries ago, the ancestors foretold of the dawn of a better future time when the eagle of North America and the condor of South America would one day fly together again.

Everyone should honor the ones that came before them and be proud of where they came from.

let's just forgot about the complete genocide of the other tribes they clearly aren't important. nope the trail of tears never happened. no mass killing of buffalo to starve the native american's to death resulting in the buffalo almost being extinct. nope never happened. Those settler-native american shootouts i mean interactions were just hyper friendly culture exchanges right?
nah the native american's should be proud to be part of a nation that completely destroyed i mean resettled them onto unwanted swaths of land i mean reservations. also does anyone know about custer's last stand? yeah didn't think so.
all because they have a plaque from congress saying thanks for fighting for us. sorry about all the broken treaty's and stuff we cool now?

[Duravian]

I'm sorry, but you lose. Only Americans can make up rules/definitions to suit their needs.

Wow, I was born with quite a useful skill then.

[Tijuana]

So I recently made a post asking how patriotic the average american was (http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...erage-American), I didn't respond in that thread because I didn't feel that I had anything to add but after reading through all of the responses, I realized I should have expanded the question when I originally posted to ask why Americans are so Patriotic. I didn't want to edit the original post or add a reply with the question as it may have been overlooked.

So regardless of an Americans definition of Patriotism, my question now is why? I can see why you would be proud of your country and glad to be a citizen, but I saw a story that I cant wrap my head around, which revolves around the American Flag:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ican-flag.html

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.

How does one become Patriotic? It seems to me that people are taught to be Patriotic from a very young age in schools, which seems odd as its done when people are young and impressionable, they don't seem to get much choice in the matter because they don't have time to form their own opinions.

I don't want to offend anyone with this thread, I just want to understand American culture more because a lot of it seems very alien to me, having not been raised this way myself. If I have gotten anything wrong, please feel free to correct me, as stated already, I mean no offence.

You would understand if your country was as great as America.