Patriotic -Are You?

[SwiftStar]

Well, when the towers went down I became very patriotic, but not so much for my country as for the people in it. I was proud to be a New Yorker and an American because we seemed to come together to console and support one another. My gov't is a different story. It is hard to be patriotic when it commits so many wrongs and has been committing wrongs in other countries and at home for so long. If push came to shove though, I would probably defend my country because I want the people in it to be safe.

[hunterx]

Originally Posted by 7thMethuselah

In case you wonder this is the official flag of Flanders, the dutch speaking part of belgium, which I believe should separate from Belgium and become an independant republic

why do you want to split? just because you speak a different language?

[Kensuke]

I consider myself as patriotic, I support our icehockey team and all that... and I would go to war if my country was attacked.

Originally Posted by Laguna

I believe that indeed nationalism can lead into racism. I never really understood people who have so strong feelings toward something that doesn't really exist, that is nation.

Language and culture are something that binds otherwise different people together. But ofcourse this can still be used agains other people, especially immigrants or anything that people don't see as "we" or "us", or just to get votes (like some extreme right-wing parties in Europe) from discontent people by saying that all our problem are their fault.

Originally Posted by Laguna

Well, now that globalization is rolling towards, and world is getting "smaller" I believe that patriotism and nationalism in old sense will eventually dissappear..

I believe that too, I have put my hopes in EU. It still requires a lot of work, but it is also something that has never been done before, nations that have been enemies for centuries are working together rather than waging war.

[Cammie]

Originally Posted by SwiftStar

Well, when the towers went down I became very patriotic, but not so much for my country as for the people in it. I was proud to be a New Yorker and an American because we seemed to come together to console and support one another. My gov't is a different story. It is hard to be patriotic when it commits so many wrongs and has been committing wrongs in other countries and at home for so long. If push came to shove though, I would probably defend my country because I want the people in it to be safe.

Well said SwiftStar! I'm proud to be an american also! So, yes if my country needed me I would go to war, to protect everyones freedom in the US.

[Bean Sidhe]

I'm absolutely not proud of being an Italian *now*
I like my nation... but i don't like neither Italians, neither our Government.

I would have liked an Italy like the one before ww2, and maybe with that Italy i would have been patriotic. But not with this one.

Going to war for my nation? lol, better going to war vs my nation

[Serendipity]

I think that everyone remains patriotic to their countries, unless there are extreme circumstances...

I am from New Zealand, and though I live in Australia and have done so since I was 10, I still have patriotic attachment to my home country.

[samir85]

Im half German and half Irani, since I grew up in Germany I rather count me as a German.

Honestly, Im not really proud to be German. For me Germany is just another typical Western Nation, wich lost its culture and tries to be like America. Iran is something diffrent, I absolutely detest the Irani Gouverment and either I'm proud to be Irani because I'm not truly Irani but I admit Persian Culuture and I'm very interested in it.

I think the thoughts of the people in Germany and USA about Patriotism are very different. WW2 showed Germans that Patriotism can lead to a disaster. Nowerdays you rarely find Germans or even German Politicans who straightly say: "I'm proud to be German", if someone here attaches a German Flag on the house entrance, people become very skeptic, I've the impression that those things are normal in America


Regards Samir


btw: Some people may think, that I'm against USA, but that's absolutely not the case. I really appreciate Americans, I just don't like the fact that so many countries try to copy America !

[Ending]

Some people may think, that I'm against USA, but that's absolutely not the case. I really appreciate Americans, I just don't like the fact that so many countries try to copy America !

Pfeh, like everyone else had taken out a book for dummies: "How to be American."

Mayflower left from Europe, no?

[7thMethuselah]

Originally Posted by hunterx

why do you want to split? just because you speak a different language?

Because belgium just doesn't work. The two communities are just too different. While the flemish part leans towards Holland and Germany, the french part leans towards france (actually quite a few of them want to be a part of it).

Also, I'd wanna see belgium split because it is the only way to preserve the flemish language and culture, right now the flemish are being oppressed by the french. When belgium was created (mid 19th century) flemish wasn't even considered an official language (even though 65% of the inhabitants spoke it at the time) It took us untill the early 20th century to be allowed to speak flemish, and it took many more years to be allowed to use flemish in schools. The flemish part has been discriminated on various other fronts as well.

An example : while the french speaking part is only 35-40% of Belgium now, they have a right to about 55% of all seats in parlament, not really democratic isn't it. Also french political parties can be voted upon in the entire country, while flemish political parties cannot be voted upon in the french part of belgium. In essence, the remaining flemish seats in the parlament are occupied partly by french as well.

Other example : Decissions which affect flemish people only (language issues for example) are blocked by the french even though they are not affected by it in any way!

More examples: through our social system about billions of euro's flow from the flemish to the french each year. Now when the flemish ask something in return, we usually get a no for an answer. Last time was the Kyoto accords.Belgium as a whole has to meet these requirements, now alot of industry is located in Flanders while the french part has alot of forests. So the flemish asked the french if we couldn't deal with these norms as 1 region, the french didn't need to do anything but the flemish industry wouldn't have to invest heavilly instantly (the idea was to give them the ability to spread the investment over a couple of years) while belgium as a whole would still meet the standards. They refused thus giving a troubled flemish economy even more worries.

More examples : french are slowly rewriting certain parts of history to make it look like the flemish cultural heritage is actually french, etc...

Last example : flemish administrators judges and other have to be bilangual, french do not, a serious handicap for femish to find those government jobs.

I could go on and on, I haven't even mentioned the worst things yet...

basically we are something of a forced marriage, two communities living next to each other while one is oppressing the other. I'm kinda tired of this, that's why I think we should shake hands and each go our separate ways.

PS I know it sounds unbeleivable, but when you are being treated like a lesser person because of your language and culture you'll know how I/we feel. If only you knew the kinda shit I go through at work every day (I happen to work under a french speaking, flemish hating boss)

[Iron Monkey]

Does skipping work to watch the Canadian Men's Hockey team win the Olympic Gold in the 2002 Olympics count as being patriotic?

Seriously though, I don't consider myself an extreme patriot. I don't fly the flag on my house, or have a Canadian flag patch sewn into my backpack. But I still consider myself fortunate that I'm a Canadian, will cheer for them in all major sporting events (along with China, cuz I am proud of my Peeps as well). So would I ever go to war for my country? Depends. If I was defending it, I would. But I would not join in any attacks on other countries (like that would ever happen. )

[ToiletDuck]

Patriotic? You bet your ass i'm patriotic. If mother earth is in a crisis, I will go above and beyond the call of duty to protect it. If there is a world wide economic disaster, i'll do my best to pitch in.

I will not fight wars that lead no where. Whats the point of fighting the very people we live with? Granted we may be seperated by seas, beliefs, backgrounds etc, but in the grand scheme, we are all under the same roof.

[MightyPenisLaser]

i'm from AUSTRIA (not Australia, most people don't know Austria at all) and I'm definitly NOT patriotic...

Although we were once a minor part of Nazi-Germany and these national ideas still hang around with the (usally workless or drunk) teenagers in Germany, I can hardly find a reason to stand behind such a country

BUT we've got Hascheeknoedel, Lederhosen, Dirndlkleidl and last but not least mozart and some other musicans and and therefor Austria is great! (i like the knoedel most)


PS: NO, hitler was NOT born in Austria... he was born in Germany

[Sun_Tze]

Originally Posted by MightyPenisLaser

i
PS: NO, hitler was NOT born in Austria... he was born in Germany

That's so true... If I'm not mistaken, he studied in Austria, right?

[_Sin_]

Originally Posted by Sun_Tze

That's so true... If I'm not mistaken, he studied in Austria, right?

Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 at Braunau-am-Inn, a small town near Linz in the province of Upper Austria, not far from the German border, in what was then Austria-Hungary.
Source: My history lessons and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_hitler


On topic: I'm not that patriotic but I would defend my country if needed nonetheless. Hell, I couldn't even be that patriotic if I wanted to because I would be frowned upon where I'm from (Germany) because people tend to mistook patriosm for nationalism which does not have a good reputation here ^_^''

[JOJOS'STAR]

Not at all. The Martix got us all.

[Dhomochevsky]

I`m not patriotic.
But I think "patriotic" to me has a different meaning than to many of you.
As it was said above, here in germany being patriotic isnt really accepted. If someone would call himself patriotic in the media here, hed have to add something like "but I`m not a nazi or against foreigners!". Uhm.. thats a bit exaggerated of course... But in general thats what most people would think of "patriots" here.
Its still a critical topic over 50 years after the nazi-dictatorship. If you look through the thread, all germans stated themselves as being "not patriotic".
That doesnt mean mean we would hate our country...its just that if you grow up here, you would learn that it is not ok to state it in public (except for international sports, like soccer wm ) . That will hopefully change soon, its kind of sad.



@7thMethuselah:
Are the two lingual parts in belgium really living in different parts of the country?
(If so, which part is living in the south-east of belgium? ...in my neighborhood )

What you`re telling there sounds really bad. But I dont think splitting up is a good idea (although you could say I dont know what Im taling about ).
I mean, it could get very bad for the french living in the flandern part and the other way around if they would suddenly live in a foreign country. Would you tell them to give up there houses and move away? (maybe even move them by force? that happened a lot in history, its a terrible thing)

Second thing, if all the industries are in the flandern part, then wouldnt the french part get very poor, if theyre on their own?

Wouldnt it be better to do something similiar to our german "bundestaat" system?
Its called a federal system, right? The USA have something like that, too.
Things like education and culture are handled on that sublevel and every country can decide such things on their own if they dont break the law of the central governement.

[sheanight]

i love my country, the USA! ... i have the right to disagree and to descend from the opinions expressed by any here. i have many rights, yet many laws to abide by, and many responsibilities. all the joys and happiness i experience living here i can attibute to one main undefinable entitlement, which is the right to gain knowledge upon a certain point, and thereby, change my mind .....

[srb]

Originally Posted by sheanight

i love my country, the USA! ... i have the right to disagree and to descend from the opinions expressed by any here. i have many rights, yet many laws to abide by, and many responsibilities. all the joys and happiness i experience living here i can attibute to one main undefinable entitlement, which is the right to gain knowledge upon a certain point, and thereby, change my mind .....

But if you voice an opinion that's not of the mainstream or, heaven forbid, the government, you're squelched and called a commie. GO FREEDOM!!!

Slightly overexaggerated, but I can't really agree with Americans saying they are proud of their country's freedom of speech.

I'm not patriotic, although I'm happy to live in a nice country like Sweden. I am though very proud of our achievements in sports, being a leading nation in many different sports which is not bad at all when you consider what a small country we are. I do have a pretty strong sense of belonging and pride to belong here, but I'm not patriotic. I wouldn't fight for it since I'm against war, but I can also see the need for a defense since the world isn't ready for global-wide pacifism (and unfortunately probably never will be), which makes me happy that there are other individuals who would defend what they have even when the government cuts back almost all funding to the military (anyone want to buy some tanks? Brand stinking new modified Leopard main battle tanks, we got the last batch a year ago and we have put all 161 of them in storage since the new budget doesn't allow for a tank battalione).

But yeah, Sweden's pretty nice, I'd recommend it both for vacationing (as the Germans here may know, Sweden is an excellent vacation spot) and living here. We have a low child birth rate, so move here and help out .

[Guts]

I'm an american, simple enough? People that don't stand up for themselves, usually get knocked down.

[Wandering_Youth]

I really don't know, but I guess I'm not. I don't have anything symbolizing my country in my house and I really don't feel proud living in the most free and powerful country. I like living where I'm at but I have visited other countries that were also nice to live at like Canada. I already turned down the Army, Marines, and Navy 3 times last year when they tried to recurit me so yeah....