Quote:
Originally posted by johnny:
What's wrong with patriotism ? Can't a nation be proud of what they have achieved and for what they stand ?
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I remember an article some years ago in German weekly "DER SPIEGEL" (it's like
Time or [i]
Newsweek, a bit more volume and a bit more seious though IMHO)
It was about "good patriotism" and "bad patriotism" which boils down to.
Good: My country rocks!
Bad: My country is better than yours!
They did a huge survey and it turned out the US were leaders in "bad" patriotism, meaning that in the US majority of the population considers their nation/country better than others and/or thinks that making all coutries lke the US would be for the best, etc.
Especially after Bush's diplomatic disaster with the Iraq war anti-Americanism here in Europe is on the rise.
The common stereotype Europeans have of Americans is being uneducated, following their politicians blindly, being gung-ho on going to war and being invasive on forcing their "culture" (which stereotypically Europeans think of in quotation marks) on others.
The main problem here IMO is that the average European perceives two things of the US:
1. foreign policy (which isn't that great at the time)
2. TV shows (which don't necessarily convey a very accurate image)
On this note I want to give a kudos to Michael Moore, who (regardless what opinion one may have in his political stance or the quality of his work) has managed to convince many Europeans, that Americans are the same people as Europeans, face the same or similar everyday troubles and aren't one-sided unpolitical followers of whoever shouts the loudest.
I figure, that a lot Europeans are critizising among Americans is the result of processes currently going on in Europe. It's easier to despise the result, than to work against it.