Don't Chant USA...

[seer]

Anyway, I will say that when I see people chanting "USA, USA..." or saying "the US is number one!" my emotional response is to feel embarrassed for them. You're welcome to quiz other international posters here on what they think when they see/hear those things, if you think my own feelings are unrepresentative.

Who cares what these ingrates think, no other country in history has done more to keep the world relatively free.

[Sparko]

Uh, no, the exact opposite is true. People of other countries think you Americans are weird and nutty for your levels of nationalism. Chanting "USA" is a good example of that - when you do it people from other countries stare at you as if you're insane. No other country that I'm aware of has a practice of chanting the country name. Same goes with the "<my country> is number one!" that you Americans like to do, which also has people rolling their eyes / laughing at you.

So no one else in the world every cheers for their country, say in the World Rugby or Football Championships, or the Olympics?

[Sparko]

Um, well apart from getting rated the best country in the world or close to it on all sorts of international rankings from least corrupt country to best country to have a holiday in to freest market to general overall best country in multivariate rankings... NZ was first to give women the vote, the first Western country to introduce universal healthcare for its citizens, the inventor of nuclear physics (Earnest Rutherford) the first to climb Mt Everest (Edmund Hillary) and arguably the inventor of instant coffee (possibly not an achievement depending on your taste in coffee). But kiwis don't tend to brag about their country the way Americans do because our humility is strong I our culture and we also tend to travel widely so are aware that there's lots of other countries largely on par with us (Scandinavia, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, the Netherlands).

But it's strange to see America which typically ranks in the teens or twenties in best-country international comparisons behind the above listed countries and behind most of western Europe, has such a tendency to glorify itself, and pays so little attention to countries doing better than it.

But the issue in this thread isn't whether NZ is good or bad or best or worst, it's why Americans are so bizarrely insanely patriotic compared to pretty much everyone else in the world.

Woah! You sound like you are actually proud of New Zealand! Better be careful there!

[Sparko]

You're coo coo for coco puffs if you think the world would be under Communism if it wasn't for America.

I agree. It would probably be under Nazism.

[Sparko]

We seem to be in a weird middle ground in the UK. Personally I can understand pride in ones achievements etc, but not pride is something you had nothing to do with. WWII is a popular example- but almost no one alive today had any part in that war.

For example we currently have lots of flag waving Brexit nonsense, especially in the print media. Conversely, the same reason they're moronically beating their chests and waving their flags is the reason I'm a little embarrassed to be likened to them.

As I said, the country is a little conflicted at the moment..!

um, You guys literally riot and kill each other over football teams.

[Bill the Cat]

I agree. It would probably be under Nazism.

Or Japanese Imperialism

[seer]

Or Japanese Imperialism

If China comes breathing down their necks I wonder who they will turn to...

[Bill the Cat]

Um, you think that the world being fascinated by the ongoing clown-show that is US politics is envy?

Considering people are literally dying to try to get to the US, yes. The US gets more immigrants, both legally and illegally each year than any other country.

[Bill the Cat]

The Baseball 'World Series' is an example...

We have a Canadian team (And used to have 2).

[Bill the Cat]

We seem to be in a weird middle ground in the UK. Personally I can understand pride in ones achievements etc, but not pride is something you had nothing to do with. WWII is a popular example- but almost no one alive today had any part in that war.

For example we currently have lots of flag waving Brexit nonsense, especially in the print media. Conversely, the same reason they're moronically beating their chests and waving their flags is the reason I'm a little embarrassed to be likened to them.

As I said, the country is a little conflicted at the moment..!

I remember seeing the movie "Timeline" which was mostly set during the height of the Hundred Years War. There was a particular scene that stuck out to me where one of the men from the future was a Frenchman, and when Lord Oliver de Vannes found out, he slit the Frenchman's throat without batting an eye.

Every country has its share of nationalism in their history.

[Zymologist]

um, You guys literally riot and kill each other over football teams.

At least Green Street Hooligans is a pretty good movie.

[lilpixieofterror]

We have a Canadian team (And used to have 2).

And about 1/4th of baseball players are from Latin America or the Caribbean (than again, I sometimes have to remind myself that the Blue Jays are still a baseball team).

[Adrift]

Uh, no, the exact opposite is true. People of other countries think you Americans are weird and nutty for your levels of nationalism. Chanting "USA" is a good example of that - when you do it people from other countries stare at you as if you're insane. No other country that I'm aware of has a practice of chanting the country name. Same goes with the "<my country> is number one!" that you Americans like to do, which also has people rolling their eyes / laughing at you.

Ahem.

[rogue06]

Ahem.

But that's different

[seer]

At least Green Street Hooligans is a pretty good movie.

Loved that movie!