Post by molukai on Feb 14, 2006 16:00:55 GMT -5
A perspective from a forum troll, which I suspect is also a fellow Political Scientist.
I'm an American, I'm proud, and honestly I really don't care that others hate us. Now before you say, "Arrogant American Prick", look at my perspective....
1) If I wasn't proud I would either stay and hate it, or move. However, being proud of one's origins isn't just an American ideal, I am sure most anyone in this forum is proud of their country. Soooo why is this frowned upon that Americans do it? Well...
2) We are a superpower and the world police. Like or not that is the truth. Why did we evolve into this role? Well because everytime we have taken an isolationist perspective other nations try diplomacy until some nation steam rolls their ass and then due to us being in the current state of "not engaged" we are able to roll in and steam roll the aggressors. This of course comes at a cost to us. Therefore we have taken the "moral high road" of protecting our citizens and our ideals by being the world police. The Monroe Doctrine's a pregnant dog, but hey if someone else had taken care of european affairs in WWI, WWII, Vietnam, and Korea I think we would still be isolationist other than in trade.
3) We are probably the most unique nation in the world. I think we are the only nation that is so diverse, yet so hell bent on not representing other nations, yet wanting be proud of our roots. Take, for example, the 3 generations of immigrants in the US. 1st generation is a true immigrant in that they still have much of their previous heritage that influences them, the 2nd generation trys to shed much of their heritage to be more American, the 3rd generation and on is completely American but trys to act like they are 1st generation. Because we are so internally diverse both in origin and generation I think we take an approach of understanding ourselves more than other nations.
4) We have 2 nations bordering ours, where as a European nation practically has 3+. All with different cultures and language. I find it humorous when Europeans talk about understanding World Affairs and culture when almost all the cultures they speak of are less than 6 hours away. If I drive 6 hours any one direction I'm still in the US. The culture in that state is different, but its still the US. All things considered equal, the US has so much diversity amongst itself and its 2 bordering nations that I believe this is why so little amount of people care about European affairs.
5) American is the center of the universe, in this egocentric view. All things come from this view because this is how I was born and raised. I like other cultures, and don't get me wrong I have had great trips in Europe, Asia and Africa, but everything I learn and appreciate has a point of reference from the US. Now a European would say they take in much more as a point of reference because they are more "cultured" and understand much more of other countries. However, I refer to (4) as to why we look at it this way. Most every person from Europe approaches things with Europe being the center of the Universe, It just so happens the the US is large enough that most American just choose our country for that point of view.
I'm an American, I'm proud, and honestly I really don't care that others hate us. Now before you say, "Arrogant American Prick", look at my perspective....
1) If I wasn't proud I would either stay and hate it, or move. However, being proud of one's origins isn't just an American ideal, I am sure most anyone in this forum is proud of their country. Soooo why is this frowned upon that Americans do it? Well...
2) We are a superpower and the world police. Like or not that is the truth. Why did we evolve into this role? Well because everytime we have taken an isolationist perspective other nations try diplomacy until some nation steam rolls their ass and then due to us being in the current state of "not engaged" we are able to roll in and steam roll the aggressors. This of course comes at a cost to us. Therefore we have taken the "moral high road" of protecting our citizens and our ideals by being the world police. The Monroe Doctrine's a pregnant dog, but hey if someone else had taken care of european affairs in WWI, WWII, Vietnam, and Korea I think we would still be isolationist other than in trade.
3) We are probably the most unique nation in the world. I think we are the only nation that is so diverse, yet so hell bent on not representing other nations, yet wanting be proud of our roots. Take, for example, the 3 generations of immigrants in the US. 1st generation is a true immigrant in that they still have much of their previous heritage that influences them, the 2nd generation trys to shed much of their heritage to be more American, the 3rd generation and on is completely American but trys to act like they are 1st generation. Because we are so internally diverse both in origin and generation I think we take an approach of understanding ourselves more than other nations.
4) We have 2 nations bordering ours, where as a European nation practically has 3+. All with different cultures and language. I find it humorous when Europeans talk about understanding World Affairs and culture when almost all the cultures they speak of are less than 6 hours away. If I drive 6 hours any one direction I'm still in the US. The culture in that state is different, but its still the US. All things considered equal, the US has so much diversity amongst itself and its 2 bordering nations that I believe this is why so little amount of people care about European affairs.
5) American is the center of the universe, in this egocentric view. All things come from this view because this is how I was born and raised. I like other cultures, and don't get me wrong I have had great trips in Europe, Asia and Africa, but everything I learn and appreciate has a point of reference from the US. Now a European would say they take in much more as a point of reference because they are more "cultured" and understand much more of other countries. However, I refer to (4) as to why we look at it this way. Most every person from Europe approaches things with Europe being the center of the Universe, It just so happens the the US is large enough that most American just choose our country for that point of view.
