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I think you're right. It just looks largely nationalistic to me.
I love the World Cup, and I always find a few teams to support. But, yeah, I have no understanding of 'I must go crazy in nationalistic support for my home country' sentiment.
I also find it strange when people show their sympathies that 'the U.S.' lost in the World Cup. Just because I'm born in the U.S., doesn't mean I MUST live and die for the 'American Soccer team' above all the others.
The last World Cup, I was strongly rooting for the African teams. I really wanted an African team to do well while it was in South Africa.
Generally though, I support Japan, South Korea, and Brazil for the World Cups. Supporting the U.S. team is an afterthought, although I did get into watching DONOVAN play on the U.S. team last World Cup.
Football/Soccer is the biggest sport on a global scale - most countries in SA, Europe and Africa have it as their primary sport, as do South Korea - and that is probably why it is kind of like a national past-time for us, just like Baseball is for you.
Why did you mention England in particular? I'd say England was by far the least patriotic nation in the UK. Apart from maybe during the World Cup. The other 3 nations are smaller and often overlooked so people get very defensive of their countries (i.e. if you confuse them for English) and so the people there tend to have a closer affinity to their county's 'culture' as a whole. There's still regional pride within cities and counties, but for England as a nation on its own I wouldn't call it patriotic compared to the rest of the UK.
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I would expect the English to be one of the most patriotic, considering the vast influence they've had/had. English is the world language, that's a pretty big achievement.
I think aside from the United States, the most patriotic countries honestly are hostiles nations like North Korea, Iran, Pakistan etc where people are radical about their country and religion and are willing to kill themselves wildly for it.
Now based ONLY on immigrants I've seen in the U.S., Russian immigrants tend to be the least proud of the old country. A few have told me that "there is nothing to be proud of being Russian" and some are embarassed to have lost the Cold War, though I believe Russians in Russia are probably quite patriotic. I never quite got this mentality since immigrants from Jamaica and El Salvador are alwayus showing their pride. And based on immigrants I see here, Mexicans are the most patriotic, always talking about how proud they are to be Mexican, waving Mexican flags and cheering for Mexico in sports even when they play against America, and they are also VERY proud of their language and many refuse to even learn English.
Remove USA from the border of Mexico, make Mexicans forget their hurting pride (since they are looked down upon by their Northern neighbors) and what will be left of Mexican patriotism I wonder?
Now in connection with Russia I'd make one interesting observation; back in Soviet times Russians used to be very patriotic, in many ways like right-wing Americans are. However when the ideas ( and ideals) of the Soviet times were gone, with them the patriotism went significantly down as well, giving place with time to nationalism instead. Hence my conclusion would be that it takes a bit more for people to be patriotic than just simply to be a representative of certain nationality. Apparently a nation has to stand for something, for certain ideas and that's what essentially makes people to be patriotic. That would explain why patriotism wakes up in every nation under the circumstances of upcoming war, colonial oppression or things like that.
There seems to be a distinction being made between "patriotism" and "nationalism." What's the difference between patriotism and nationalism?
Is there one? Is nationalism just patriotism with cancer?
Am I patriotic if I wear a U.S. flag pin every day, but you are nationalistic if you put a Canadian (name your brand) flag sticker on your back pack?
If I thump my chest about the incomparable greatness of Geo. Washington or Ronald Reagan, but you blubber about Dear Leader, am I a patriot and you are a nationalist jackass?
I would expect the English to be one of the most patriotic, considering the vast influence they've had/had. English is the world language, that's a pretty big achievement.
Strangely enough, I often find English to be quite self deprecating about their country, but as somebody pointed out earlier, you are obviously not allowed to share the sentiment if you are foreigner.
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