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For me because those are the people I share commonality with, what affects me will affect them and what affects them will affect me. While we have differences we most likely uphold the same basic core values. They are people who impact and influence my life and my future and the people who are most likely to care about me. ...
That varies substantially from person to person. While I value peace and mutual deference with my neighbors and fellow townspeople, there's precious little that we have in common. I probably have more in common with Saudi clerics, Wall Street bankers, EU bureaucrats or developers of the Shanghai skyline. I feel my greatest upswell of kinship and camaraderie in airport lounges in Asia or Europe – and not on my local Main Street. I follow the BBC World Service and the Financial Times newspaper, completely ignoring our local paper or local TV.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pittsflyer
The USA has created a significant amount of intellectual property and we were the starters of the industrial revolution. Even in todays times there really are no other nations keeping up.
I had the impression that England started the Industrial Revolution. My mistake.
But you're right about the US being the modern leader of intellectual property, of innovation and cultural advancement. The US hosts some of the world's best universities, symphony orchestras, research labs, museums. Other nations may be building grander skyscrapers, but the architects and engineers of said skyscrapers are predominantly American. The biggest and most innovative scientific conferences are here - as is the funding to attend them. That's why it is all the more unfortunate, that "patriotism" has such tinge of blue-collar jingoism, instead of celebration of excellence at the top.
That varies substantially from person to person. While I value peace and mutual deference with my neighbors and fellow townspeople, there's precious little that we have in common. I probably have more in common with Saudi clerics, Wall Street bankers, EU bureaucrats or developers of the Shanghai skyline. I feel my greatest upswell of kinship and camaraderie in airport lounges in Asia or Europe – and not on my local Main Street. I follow the BBC World Service and the Financial Times newspaper, completely ignoring our local paper or local TV.
That would depend
First, it would depend on what you mean by 'fight with'. Do you mean 'fight against' or 'fight alongside'?
Second, it would depend on the attack. September 11th 2001 was an attack on the US. I did not fight alongside nor against anyone.
Also, suppose that the government was committing terrible atrocities across the country and the world. This would be a government that I strongly disagreed with. If a nation whose government was coming to depose of this terrible government I'd be more inclined to fight alongside them than against them. Though, I may not fight at all.
I don't understand this question.
Do I cheer for them to win? No.
Do I cheer if they make a good play? Sometimes.
I don't have a preferred political party.
I vote only on things of which I feel reasonably informed and I vote based on that information.
Yes.
The also affect people I will never know.
I consider the impact on both.
Those may not be things that I agree with.
As I stated earlier, I've been fortunate to have had the opportunity to live in multiple other countries. There are some freedoms, traditions and culture of this country that I value more than those in other countries.
However, you've ignored my point that freedoms, traditions and culture is not constant across the US. Hawaii is different than Alaska, which are different than Texas, North Dakota, Florida, New York and Maine.
There are also freedoms, traditions and culture of other countries that I've lived in that I value more than those of the US.
I answered you questions.
Why won't you answer mine?
No not really you went round and round the questions and made them much more complicated than need be. It seems to have totally gone over your head.
Are you saying that flying the Confederate flag is patriotic? The people who originally flew that flag were traitors to the American republic.
That poster praised the Greatest Generation in the same post they equate patriotism with flying a traitor's flag. At least you thought the same thing I did. My father was on an aircraft carrier in the South Pacific during WWII. I can tell you he hated the Confederate flag and everything it stood for. There is this whole mis-guided notion that it is patriotic to wish the Confederacy had won (among certain Americans). Boggles the mind.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying Americans are better than other people. But I'm not ashamed to say that I'm a patriotic American. Any American who feels otherwise probably just needs to study more history.
Millions of Russians died defeating Nazi Germany, and probably did far more to end Nazism than the US effort in Europe. The US didn't win WWII alone by any stretch. Check out how many German divisions were wiped out by the Soviet Union versus the US and UK.
They were not traitors. They attempted to secede from the union which was not in violation of the constitution. Anyway flying the American flag is patriotic. Our patriotism is to the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Solely your opinion. Millions of Americans in 1860 and to this day disagree with you. Why don't you read up on what James Madison had to say about the idea of secession.
Treason is defined in Article III of the US Constitution as levying war against the United States, which is exactly what the Confederacy did. Flying a Confederate battle flag is not an act of US patriotism.
The Constitution also states:
No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation;
Patriotism is a government propaganda. The utility of that patriotism is to keep the states united. The main goal of that patriotism is making people feel that USA is a special place. So, no one would like his state to secede from that special place called USA and everyone is happy to be a part of that union.
Nothing special about a "state" either as their boundaries were totally arbitrary as well. How about County level, city level, etc etc.
My cousin with a military and a police background has shamed me too often for not being patriotic, or more patriotic, for a variety of reasons, and I oftentimes have felt ashamed that I'm not. But, I came across some sayings recently, and now I feel much better now about why I shouldn't be patriotic.
George Bernard Shaw: You'll never have a quiet world 'til you knock the patriotism out of the human race.
Paul Leautaud: Love makes fools, marriage cuckolds, and patriotism malevolent imbeciles.
Bertrand Russell: Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.
Guy De Maupassant: Patriotism is a kind of religion, it's the egg from which wars are hatched.
William Randolph Hearst: A politician will do anything to keep his job, even become a patriot.
Luis Bunuel: God and country are an unbeatable team, they break all records for oppression and bloodshed.
Voltaire: It is lamentable that to be a good patriot, one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.
So, how do you view patriotism? Something to be proud of or ashamed of?
If you have to brag about it. . . you probably ain't got it.
I love my state far more than I love my country. Used to love the whole country. Now I'm mostly irritated by everyone.
All that being said, if someone invaded us, I'd be all, "Aw, HELL, NO!" and get in the muck.
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