Why are Americans so Patriotic?

[Wyrt]

Smallpox demands credit where credit is due.
The genocide of the Native Americans was unintentional due to disease.
The systematic deportation, incarceration, and cultural destruction of the survivors on the other hand...

My state literally paid for people to go out and kill natives.

[Enthusiastic Steward]

My state literally paid for people to go out and kill natives.

The federal government paid bounties for the collection of scalps, yes. US army and cavalry soldiers massacred villages yes. The US governments behavior to the native population was (is) despicable yes.
The eradication of 80-90% of the native population, which enabled the following settlers/governments to act with impunity against the natives, was the unintended result of contact with Europeans due to disease.

Both of these things are true.

[Deleted]

Pretty standard for you Europeans, really. How many revolutions and wars have you had in the three hundred odd years since we stopped being colonies?

What? - The US has had a war every 20-30 years since it was formed.
And then i'm not including the century long genocide of the native Americans.

Okay. So? Why does that matter? Who cares?

I just see it as one of my duties as an European to inform the uneducated Americans.

[Flarelaine]

My other end to that, on a personal level, is damn near all of my family has served in the military. I served in the military. I've known a lot of people ranging back to our warriors from WW2 who have sacrificed so much for this nation. And I certainly won't be the one to let that sacrifice be in vain.

I do quietly admire such traditions. But it takes a military you can be proud to be a part of. All I can show is both grandfathers ending WWII as prisoners of war (one captured by Russians, one by Americans). Since them what we have for an army is really a laughing stock. My generation's experience with the army generally ends with evading the draft because it was piss easy.

[Shadowferal]

Smallpox used as a biological weapon

And had the Spanish been "clean" they would never had been able to take Tenoctitlan (Mexico City)



A Formal Apology from the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the ethnic cleansing of the Native American.


Lost track of the thread...

[TwoNineMarine]

I do quietly admire such traditions. But it takes a military you can be proud to be a part of. All I can show is both grandfathers ending WWII as prisoners of war (one captured by Russians, one by Americans). Since them what we have for an army is really a laughing stock. My generation's experience with the army generally ends with evading the draft because it was piss easy.

And I can definitely understand that end of it.

I think the key thing to perhaps take away from it is the intent of those who signed up to serve. My guess is their end goal was to defend their nation. It may not have always gone how they wanted but they were willing to put themselves on the line to make a difference.

[Shadowferal]

I ♥ NY

See that all the time...

[Deleted]

What's wrong with patriotism?

[breadisfunny]

I ♥ NY

See that all the time...

technically isn't patriotism since new york isn't a country.

[Shadowferal]

technically isn't patriotism since new york isn't a country.

On the contrary, every US state is de facto another country. That's why laws can be so different from state to state.

I ♥ [insert state] is seen in one form or another. I admit it's probably more for the sake of tourism.

[LaserChild9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminen..._United_States

Much like in the UK, if the government wants your land, they can simply take it for "just" compensation. Seems to me like your land belongs to a government that allows you to live on thier land. So how exactly is your land ownership better than anywhere else?

[Allybeboba]

What? - The US has had a war every 20-30 years since it was formed.
And then i'm not including the century long genocide of the native Americans.

I just see it as one of my duties as an European to inform the uneducated Americans.

As if Europeans are any better.

[Deleted]

As if Europeans are any better.

Really? Genocide, slavery and colonization was done by ALL European countries? You know that we're not just one country, right?

[Shadowferal]

Most "colonists" up until the 18th century in North America thought of themselves as citizens of their respective countries where they originated from. Not as Americans.

[Lupinemancer]

The smallest dog always barks the loudest.
America feels the need to patriotic cuz, that's all they have. Their country sucks, the people are trigger-happy morons who hardly knows there is an entire world outside their borders, and the politicians are corrupt mainacs who only cares themselves and no one else.
So they have to shout how great their country is, in the hopes that people might actually believe it.

Infracted - Nation Bashing

[stomination]

Or Handegg?

To be honest it was called football because they had to play it on foot and not on horse.

[Shadowferal]

The smallest dog always barks the loudest.
America feels the need to patriotic cuz, that's all they have. Their country sucks, the people are trigger-happy morons who hardly knows there is an entire world outside their borders, and the politicians are corrupt mainacs who only cares themselves and no one else.
So they have to shout how great their country is, in the hopes that people might actually believe it.

Your envy of my country is a sad but obvious thing...

[Deleted]

It is an interesting question really.

Maybe it was something they "pushed" and nourish to keep such a huge country together?

And I guess it mostly originates from better times.

[stomination]

The smallest dog always barks the loudest.
America feels the need to patriotic cuz, that's all they have. Their country sucks, the people are trigger-happy morons who hardly knows there is an entire world outside their borders, and the politicians are corrupt mainacs who only cares themselves and no one else.
So they have to shout how great their country is, in the hopes that people might actually believe it.

But in the end they saved us all in two wars.

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It is an interesting question really.

Maybe it was something they "pushed" and nourish to keep such a huge country together?

And I guess it mostly originates from better times.

The truth is....America is not as patriotic as they are portrayed. All you are seeing is a small sample size of millions upon millions of ppl.

[Deathquoi]

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.

Are you new to people overreacting on the internet? This is not unique to Americans.

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The smallest dog always barks the loudest.
America feels the need to patriotic cuz, that's all they have. Their country sucks, the people are trigger-happy morons who hardly knows there is an entire world outside their borders, and the politicians are corrupt mainacs who only cares themselves and no one else.
So they have to shout how great their country is, in the hopes that people might actually believe it.

So fucking edgy.