Idly

[sami]

I think Australia is a better country than the United States of America.

(Actually, I think Australia is a better country than just about any other country in the world, but the point I'm about to make largely applies only to the USA.)

I find it bizarre, now that I think about it, that some occasions when I have expressed this sentiment have offended and enraged Americans.

Some Americans - indeed, many Americans - seem to find the idea that anyone could think America was not The Greatest Country In The World to be insulting - and, on occasion, to believe that I didn't actually believe that, I was just trying to be offensive.

This is weird, because the thing is? I'm not American, and I have no obligation to love America. (I am, nonetheless, very fond of many Americans and many American-originated things, you understand. But I love American things on an individual basis and on merit as I perceive it, not as a default state of mind.)

I'm Australian, by upbringing and citizenship if not by birth. I grew up here. I don't remember residing anywhere else, and I love my home. There are many things about it to love, and many people here to love, too. Australia is a fantastic country - flawed, as are all things made by humanity, but nonetheless, a land worthy of love above and beyond the sentiment one naturally attaches to a place that is home.

I admit to a bias, because, as mentioned, this is my home, but nonetheless, I love Australia best.

But, like many other Australians, if someone tells me they think their country is better than mine, then my reaction will be: "Fair enough." Secretly, I will know that they are wrong, but I consider everyone to be entitled to be wrong about that. If for no other reason than that Australia can't actually fit everyone in the world in it, and we certainly don't have the water for that, and it would be terribly sad for everyone else to realise how much better Australia is and not be able to come and live here.

And I have the impression that as a rule, people from other countries have the same attitude. I've only really encountered people being angry that I love my country better than I love theirs from Americans.

It's weird.

Comments

[morgan_dhu]

I could have written this, only just putting Canada in where you've written Australia. :)

It is an odd thing about many Americans, they do seem to take massive umbrage at the thought that one really does prefer to live in one's own country and might actually think that life is better there than in the US.

[willow]

Something I've run into, is saying I love the country of my birth, and the countries I hold natural citizenship in more than the USA. Just love. Not saying they're better than the USA, but I love them more.

And many times the response I or others get, is that by not loving the USA more I am being ungrateful at the chance of living here. Some even think it means I don't deserve to live here anymore.

So, having strong positive feelings about one's non USA homeland, whether a sense of nationalistic pride or ethnic pride etc; is damn near a declaration of personal war. I've begun to ponder if it's the Imperial mindset. I do remember how the press and random people treated now First Lady Michelle Obam when she said her husband being able to run for President was the 1st time she'd been proud of her country. The kick out from that? Huuuuge.

The USA, to me, has been mentally stuck in a three year period post WW2, when everyone was supposed to love and admire it and grovel before it and absolutely forget they didn't give a DAMN about the Holocaust and what was happening in Europe, until Pearl Harbour. And also forget Japanese Internment Camps, Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and the fact that blacks were mainly allowed into active military service because things were more perilous than they'd thought - when they weren't involved and could sneer at the Europeans struggling in the fight, and also, they didn't want Hitler to point at them and laugh at their talk about 'freedoms'.

It's a selective idolatry and I've found myself thinking that saying you don't love the USA as much / or that you think your country is better? Is akin in their eyes to saying you don't believe in G-d to a devoutly religious person (while also spitting in their eye).

[rainbow]

Some Americans - indeed, many Americans - seem to find the idea that anyone could think America was not The Greatest Country In The World to be insulting - and, on occasion, to believe that I didn't actually believe that, I was just trying to be offensive.

as an american, i continue to hope that it's closer to some really loud, really obnoxious ones, but it may very well be many (especially given the size of our population and how horrible education has gotten here). :(

i've seen americans attack canadians for posting that they love their country and think it's the best country in the world, even though those americans say the same thing about the usa.

imo the attitude by some americans that the entire world should worship the usa as #1 in everything is incredibly arrogant (i'm american); i also think it's a sign of both horrible insecurity and the icnreasing lack of decent education and critical thinking skills in the usa (for the first, if you love your country and think it's the best country, whyever do you need people in other countries to not love their country best? for the second, good gravy. healthcare, education, crime, drug use, maternal and infant mortality, income inequity, poor use of resources, poor legal system, poorly managed political system controlled by the rich and powerful, "news" that's frankly entertainment rather than news...)

imo the american far right extremists actively fan the flames and encourage their supporters in the belief it's offensive of people from other countries to not admit the usa is best at everything.

insecurity, bullying, arrogance... *sigh*