What Do You Love About Your Country?

[Josiah]

I love the USA.

I'm fairly patriotic. I realize this kind of went out of style in the 1960's (to be revived a bit after 9/11) but I'm a fairly patriotic guy.

I KNOW the USA has it's problems (some very severe and tragic), I know we have some big black marks in our history, I' not ignorant - but I think all-in-in this is a great country and I love being here.

I've been to several other countries - and they are nice, too. Canada is clean, Danes are happy and just have fun, I can see great stuff in other nations, too. My American patriotism is not negative any other country (it's not USA Uber Alles, lol). My patriotism IN NO WAY makes me think less of other countries. Just as I love my wife. But that doesen't mean you should hate yours (if you also love your wife, I think that's GREAT). I don't have to knock other countries to TRY to make mine look better by comparison.

One of the things I LOVE about California is all the ethnic foods. We have neighborhoods where there might be 20 ethnic restaurants all within easy walking distance of each other.... Polish, Italian, Korean, Peruvian, Catalonian, French, 2 or 3 styles of Mexican, Cuban, Japanese (and a Texas steak house just through in for fun). Sometimes right next door to each other. I love this. Now, there is a huge "fusion" movement, to mix and blend to create new styles - and that's okay but I prefer the old-school "Just like grandma use to make back home." I can enjoy a great Irish stew with a mug of Harps Beer while by no means thinking less of the Vietnamese restaurant next door.

IMO, some of the stuff we come to love about "HOME" is simply because it makes us feel..... HOME. Like the comfort food Mom makes for us on our birthday. Part of our being because it has been part of our life. It reflects a bit of us because it helped form us.


BTW, my experience is that the Danes are THE most patriotic people in the world..... talk MUCH of their love for Denmark and their Queen, flags EVERYWHERE.... all while not saying bad about any other country.



What do you LIKE about your country where you live....


NO NEGATIVES HERE about any other country.... no calls for impeachments..... no rebuttals to what others say..... but if you'd LIKE to say something POSITIVE about another country, that's fine....




- Josiah

 

[Andrew]

I have never been to another state and have never been on an airplane but I have been to another country lol

 

[Imalive]

That it's flat and easy to bike, safe, cheap. It's the best, well, second best of course.

 

[MoreCoffee]

Good weather, interesting landscapes, decent people, English speaking, clean, good economy, nice quiet neighbourhoods

 

[MoreCoffee]

That it's flat and easy to bike, safe, cheap. It's the best, well, second best of course.

Which is the best?

 

[Andrew]

Tapatalk wth?

 

[MoreCoffee]

Tapatalk wth?

Cool, you get to see my avatar! yay

 

[Confessional Lutheran]

It's home. That's what I love about my country. I have my roots and a heritage here that goes back for three to four hundred years. I love the gently changing seasons, the brilliant colors of autumn and the velvet green of the land when it's summer. I love the mountains, the beaches and the cities of my homeland. I love that the British Empire had its start here in 1607. I love being a Virginian. I love tracing my roots here and I love the sense of belonging that that tracing entails.

 

[Josiah]

I love the USA....


1. I love the diversity... in culture, in geology, in lots of things. I feel this probably most of all in California but it's a part of all the USA. People have come here from all over the world - and brought their customs, culture, religion and more with them - enriching the "pot." It makes for a rich, broad milieu. And where I live - in an hours drive, I can be in the forest high in the mountains, at the beach surfing, in the desert, in the midst of one of the largest cities in the world and lost in the emptiness - all with an hours drive.

2. I life that this has been the land of opportunity, freedom, the "American dream." Many that came here (including my ancestors) came here with next to nothing, came here because there were virtually no opportunities for them in Europe, came here with a dream that here - with hard work - they could not just survive but thrive, and they did. I remember our next door neighbors when I was growing up, who came here from Mexico a generation ago with literally nothing, worked mowing yards, eventually had his own landscape maintance company and then landscaping company - a generation later, all the kids were college grads living a very middle class lifestyle. There's a LOT of that - even now. I knew SO many when I was in college (especially as a grad student) from Asia, from South America from so many countries - getting a low cost, high quality education here in opportunities they all stressed they could never get back home. Many of them will go home to improve things there. I like that a student who blew high school can still go to college (Community College probably), get up to speed, and with work, enter the University of California system - among the best in the world, even though he may ever even have graduated from high school and until maybe their 20's, was very aimless. A land of opportunity. Of second chances.

3. I like that it has often been a generous country. The Marshall plan, etc. Much of the budget of the UN for various things around the world comes from the USA. So much aid to countries for health causes, etc. comes from this country.


Much more....

 

[Confessional Lutheran]

I happen to like the crab cakes. My little corner of Northern Virginia's not that far away from the Chesapeake Bay, so we have some decent seafood. I mentioned that I love driving out to the mountains and I like the history those hills contain. I like the scenery you get out of driving Skyline Drive and the beauty of the Shenandoah Valley. There are plenty of people from all over the world around here now, so there's an endless array of international cuisine and folk festivals that happen annually. I like attending the Oktoberfest in Lovettsville, VA and the Scottish Games up in The Plains, VA. Monticello in Charlottesville is a good place to visit, as is Mount Vernon, a little closer to home.

 

[Imalive]

Which is the best?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ELD2AwFN9Nc

 

[Stravinsk]

Australia is a nice place to live, generally speaking. Of course there are areas to avoid (frequenting or living in), but that's pretty much the same in every country. Coming from the US it was a relatively easy transition (language) and culturally to some extent - when I moved here the US western junky type diet still featured rather prominently in my life - so burger places, tex-mex and other common western type foods were welcome to me at that time. When you get into or around the larger cities there are more choices now, even some vegetarian and vegan ones - which suits me.

One thing I noticed immediately is that there is less *nationalism* here than where I lived before. For the most part people are happy to live here (we like living here and defend this country in various ways (patriotism)) - but without excessive pride in being some dominant force in the world. There are some Aussies who I'm sure are proud of Australia's contribution to the "war on terror" (and I've spoken to a few) - but most of the people I talk to - at least now - are more wary of propaganda coming out of some western nations and are not at all comfortable with more war.

 

[Imalive]

American pride and Dutch pride are funny.





We are seriously proud of this, that our prime minister arrives on a bike.

I said to Snerf that our country was so much more social than his. I typed that while sitting in the train, bragging about us being so social. But the train was full, so I sat on the stairs and I was too occupied w my phone and ppl had to pass to get out, so one barked at me. Get out of the way!
Snerf said: they're as social as rats!

 

[Albion]

One thing I noticed immediately is that there is less *nationalism* here than where I lived before. For the most part people are happy to live here (we like living here and defend this country in various ways (patriotism)) - but without excessive pride in being some dominant force in the world. There are some Aussies who I'm sure are proud of Australia's contribution to the "war on terror" (and I've spoken to a few) - but most of the people I talk to - at least now - are more wary of propaganda coming out of some western nations and are not at all comfortable with more war.

Right. I would imagine that it would be easier NOT to feel or express much in the way of patriotism if the rest of the world doesn't give one's country a thought--at least not when it comes to anything political or economic, etc.

 

[Imalive]

Right. I would imagine that it would be easier NOT to feel or express much in the way of patriotism if the rest of the world doesn't give one's country a thought--at least not when it comes to anything political or economic, etc.

That's no fun, no pride whatsoever. At least w soccer or kings day you have to dress up in orange and look like a nutcase.

 

[Albion]

That's no fun, no pride whatsoever. At least w soccer or kings day you have to dress up in orange and look like a nutcase.

Yeh, I'm sure that there's at least a flicker of patriotic feeling to be found in every country.

 

[MoreCoffee]

In China patriotism is a duty.

 

[MennoSota]

I'm grateful for freedom of expression and the opportunity to freely travel and live wherever I choose. I love that the country is made up of ethnic groups from all over the world and indigenous people with a rich heritage. I love the great variety of geography from mountains to deserts to oceans to rivers and thousands of lakes. I am truly blessed.

 

[Stravinsk]

Right. I would imagine that it would be easier NOT to feel or express much in the way of patriotism if the rest of the world doesn't give one's country a thought--at least not when it comes to anything political or economic, etc.

Hmm. Well, I'm not going to be so presumptuous and arrogant as to assume what "the world" is or is not thinking at any given point with reference to Australia. I also noticed that you did not seem to catch the difference between nationalism and patriotism. I lived in the US most of my life. It was not until I moved and lived here for some years that I realized how much of an arrogant Statist the US media had made me. That arrogance is to some extant mirrored on the board with attitudes like yours - and also a far too willing attitude towards war and things that lead to war - sanctions.

 

[Albion]

Hmm. Well, I'm not going to be so presumptuous and arrogant as to assume what "the world" is or is not thinking at any given point with reference to Australia. I also noticed that you did not seem to catch the difference between nationalism and patriotism.

It's ironic that you should think that because I was involved in another debate online and it seemed that I was the only one who understood that there is a difference.

I realized how much of an arrogant Statist the US media had made me.

That may be where you made your mistake--allowing yourself to be guided by the media types who are neither representative of the American people nor nearly as smart as they are often assumed to be.