You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
RE: Stroll through Prague (Day and Night, plus interesting odd things!) (Ulog #35)
It must be a different mindset, I feel pride in my country (mostly), but I'm quite happy to make fun at it! I think that tends to be the same for most of our people. The kids grow up with that same internal and contained pride...
... And with that cheering example, I guess that is at the heart of the difference? I would find it weird to cheer for something that you didn't find good! But cheering, just because it would be rude not to, and because everyone around was cheering... Strikes me as strange! So it is with the overt displays of patriotism!
Ha ha, Australia and Wales! Who would have thought! Although, it is interesting to see how the Australian accent has changed dramatically since WW2. It used to be more 'british'!
It's not that we're cheering for something we don't find good - It's not that we feel forced to. It's just that we wear our heart on our sleeves a little more. There isn't this cultural expectation to be "reserved" and to keep the "stiff upper lip" or to understate everything the way the Brits do. I know they still do this because I learned to do it myself when I lived there.
I guess one of the biggest differences between Europe and the USA is that we made our country - rather than inherit it. Although it wasn't my immediate ancestors who fought - even for the west, I can still tell you who it was in my lineage who helped establish this country. (I am the fifth generation of my line born in the state of Oregon - though none of my children, nor the cousins who shared that part of my lineage, were.)
As we get further and further away from our founders, US patriotism may change within the next 100 years, who knows?
When I looked into Welsh emigration to Australia, it turned out to be a very big thing - probably the greatest single influence other than the original forced settlers. Hence, even, "New South Wales"...