SimonSawSunlight
Simon Fabel
ps: does "proud to be american" not include people from mexico, costa rica, el salvador, cuba, dominican republic, argentinia, honduras, guatemala, panama, nicaragua, puerto rico, venezuela, uruguay, paraguay, peru, colombia, brasil, chile, ecuador, bolivia and the carribean states as well?
is that what people mean when they say it?
is that what people mean when they say it?
mugent
Well-known
As a European (Scottish), I'm not proud to be a Scot, Brit, or European, simply because it's an accident of birth. I'm proud of my achievements, not my nationality, good hair, or anything else I had no part in creating.
I'm not sure if Europeans in general are less proud than US Citizens.
I'm pleased that my country is generally a fair one, with a good health service, a lack of institutional corruption, and unbiased media (TV,the papers are terrible), but since did nothing to contribute to these things, I can't really be proud of it.
MT
I'm not sure if Europeans in general are less proud than US Citizens.
I'm pleased that my country is generally a fair one, with a good health service, a lack of institutional corruption, and unbiased media (TV,the papers are terrible), but since did nothing to contribute to these things, I can't really be proud of it.
MT
mugent
Well-known
I just got back from the US. I can see where the proud-to-be-american attitude comes from, the TV news barely acknowledges there are other countries, if you were raised in this way, you'd think if you left US soil it was a barren wasteland.
MT
MT
Paul Luscher
Well-known
Well, I 'm about to step into this brouhaha, and I'll bet I'm going to be sorry I did.
I think the problem is that what many Americans call "patriotism" looks to Europeans a lot like "chauvinism," "jingoism." and "militarism". Thing is, Europeans know where that kind of "patriotism" got them....and this is something Americans don't really know because since the Civil War, America's wars have been fought in someone else's countries...I often wonder if Americans would be so vociferously "U-S-A! U-S-A!" if it was their houses which were burned to the ground, their towns and cities which were flattened, their loved ones who were raped and killed....
I think the truth is that we are in many ways a very innocent nation in our understanding of what patriotism means...dangerously so. And I think that's why Europeans might be decidedly more muted in their patriotism than we are... they've seen the harmful effects of swallowing their versions of American Exceptionalism and God Loves Us Better'n Anybody Else......tends to bring back memories of Ubermensch" and "Gott Mit Uns"...God Is An English Gentleman"......Vive L'Empereur"...and so forth.....
Y'know, it is possible to love one's country in a quiet way...and even while criticizing it. It's a bit like being in a relationship.You might love your significant other, but if you see them doing something wrong or harmful, you say something, in order to help them to avoid further harming themselves or others. Unquestioning groupthink is not necessarily patriotism is the best sense of the word....but it is quite often in the worst sense of the word...
America is not a football team, and being a patriotic American does not necessarily mean rah-rah and boola-boola, screaming down anyone who disagrees with you or who says something you don't like, and calling them "un-American." More patriotic, it would seem to me, to honor the Constitution--especially those first ten amendments....
Anyway, that's my $0.05 on this.....
I think the problem is that what many Americans call "patriotism" looks to Europeans a lot like "chauvinism," "jingoism." and "militarism". Thing is, Europeans know where that kind of "patriotism" got them....and this is something Americans don't really know because since the Civil War, America's wars have been fought in someone else's countries...I often wonder if Americans would be so vociferously "U-S-A! U-S-A!" if it was their houses which were burned to the ground, their towns and cities which were flattened, their loved ones who were raped and killed....
I think the truth is that we are in many ways a very innocent nation in our understanding of what patriotism means...dangerously so. And I think that's why Europeans might be decidedly more muted in their patriotism than we are... they've seen the harmful effects of swallowing their versions of American Exceptionalism and God Loves Us Better'n Anybody Else......tends to bring back memories of Ubermensch" and "Gott Mit Uns"...God Is An English Gentleman"......Vive L'Empereur"...and so forth.....
Y'know, it is possible to love one's country in a quiet way...and even while criticizing it. It's a bit like being in a relationship.You might love your significant other, but if you see them doing something wrong or harmful, you say something, in order to help them to avoid further harming themselves or others. Unquestioning groupthink is not necessarily patriotism is the best sense of the word....but it is quite often in the worst sense of the word...
America is not a football team, and being a patriotic American does not necessarily mean rah-rah and boola-boola, screaming down anyone who disagrees with you or who says something you don't like, and calling them "un-American." More patriotic, it would seem to me, to honor the Constitution--especially those first ten amendments....
Anyway, that's my $0.05 on this.....
Spyro
Well-known
I'm not, don't know about others.
pakeha
Well-known
Lost my pride in country when the politicians allowed the corporations to rip me off every month. Guess where that economic model originated
gdi
Veteran
Yes, you just fabricated your own back story as a setup for a mini-rant against bankers, LOL!
bigeye
Well-known
Roger Hicks
Veteran
Dear Brian,
Can you give relative population figures for those absolute numbers, and (better still) an analysis of which countries had high numbers of losses, and which low?
That would give us a better idea of whether it was, in fact, a commonsense law, or, as I said earlier (perhaps mistakenly) a paranoid fantasy. I don't really give a toss about inconvenience: it it saves a reasonable number of lives, OK. But the first site you quote looks like an advocacy group that is light on hard numbera.
Cheers,
R.
Last edited:
raid
Dad Photographer
Proud to work on cancer cluster identification ... I really am.
Happy to have a family here ....
Lucky to have left Iraq when I was able to ...
Sad that my parents passed away.
Love our current home ...
Happy to have a family here ....
Lucky to have left Iraq when I was able to ...
Sad that my parents passed away.
Love our current home ...
Roger Hicks
Veteran
Dear Raid,
A superb analysis of the different ways to be happy (or unhappy) about things. Thanks. It very nearly brought tears to my eyes.
Cheers,
R.
raid
Dad Photographer
I thought that you meant to say "photogenic crotch" ....(whatever that exactly could mean): symmetry, glow, ....
raid
Dad Photographer
"America" implies "USA" for most people saying "Proud to be an American."
:angel:
The number of school bus related deaths in the US is quoted as being reduced by about 2/3rds since 1975 in the US. Population is up, that is an impressive reduction.
From this quickly googled source, it looks like kids in the US are safer on a school bus than other modes of travel:
http://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/The_Relative_Risks_of_School_Travel_A_National_Per_161028.aspx
From a second source regarding fatalities in the US, showing a large drop since the 1970s:
http://www.schoolbusfleet.com/Chann...02/23/Big-jump-in-danger-zone-fatalities.aspx
Statistics on the European fatalities are not as easily found. I can keep checking.
I will Email the European group and ask them why they have not suggested having drivers stop for school buses.
From this quickly googled source, it looks like kids in the US are safer on a school bus than other modes of travel:
http://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/The_Relative_Risks_of_School_Travel_A_National_Per_161028.aspx
From a second source regarding fatalities in the US, showing a large drop since the 1970s:
http://www.schoolbusfleet.com/Chann...02/23/Big-jump-in-danger-zone-fatalities.aspx
Statistics on the European fatalities are not as easily found. I can keep checking.
I will Email the European group and ask them why they have not suggested having drivers stop for school buses.
Last edited:
TXForester
Well-known
Proud to have your family here.
John Robertson
Well-known
I'm proud to be Scottish, (NOT SCOTCH !!! thats an american name for whisky ) but not the Shortbread tin image of one, those across the Atlantic seem to favour.
I saw more kilts and heard more bagpipes in Canada and the USA than I have ever heard or seen in Scotland.
As for the half Polish failure "Bonnie" prince Charlie don't get me started on that.
He cerainly wasn't "bonnie " effeminate probably!!
Went back to Rome and drowned himself in self pity and booze.
I saw more kilts and heard more bagpipes in Canada and the USA than I have ever heard or seen in Scotland.
As for the half Polish failure "Bonnie" prince Charlie don't get me started on that.
He cerainly wasn't "bonnie " effeminate probably!!
Went back to Rome and drowned himself in self pity and booze.
Ranchu
Veteran
ABout now, I'm thinking Cibo Matto
ABout now, I'm thinking Cibo Matto
Know Your Chicken
16 years ago, one day,
I was walking down the street
I was cruising in Brooklyn
You know what I mean?
Something was cooking,
but wasn't yet a chicken.
There was a man,
Selling chicks in a box.
He said, "2 for 1,
but 3 for 2."
I said, "That's not bad,
Here's money for you."
One was magenta,
The other was blue.
I know my chicken
You got to know your chicken
I know my chicken
You got to know your chicken
One day, the blue one went away.
The other grew up f@ckin' well.
She was noisy every night.
I had always chicken-bite.
Then I met a lover
One night, she made me dinner.
Licking finger, I wondered
Where she got the chicken.
Then I met a lover.
One night, she made me dinner.
Licking finger, I wondered
where she got the chicken.
I know my chicken
You got to know your chicken
I know my chicken
You got to know your chicken
I know my chicken
Spare the rod and spoil the chick
Before you go out and **** a brick.
Spare the rod and spoil the chick
Before you go out and **** a brick
I know my chicken
You got to know your chicken
I know my chicken
You got to know your chicken
I know my chicken
She went to college to study anatomy
I followed her father's butchery
We got 2 babies. Is it cool?
One was magenta, the other was blue.
I know my chicken
You got to know your chicken
I know my chicken
You got to know your chicken
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COMWwwv_MTk
ABout now, I'm thinking Cibo Matto
Know Your Chicken
16 years ago, one day,
I was walking down the street
I was cruising in Brooklyn
You know what I mean?
Something was cooking,
but wasn't yet a chicken.
There was a man,
Selling chicks in a box.
He said, "2 for 1,
but 3 for 2."
I said, "That's not bad,
Here's money for you."
One was magenta,
The other was blue.
I know my chicken
You got to know your chicken
I know my chicken
You got to know your chicken
One day, the blue one went away.
The other grew up f@ckin' well.
She was noisy every night.
I had always chicken-bite.
Then I met a lover
One night, she made me dinner.
Licking finger, I wondered
Where she got the chicken.
Then I met a lover.
One night, she made me dinner.
Licking finger, I wondered
where she got the chicken.
I know my chicken
You got to know your chicken
I know my chicken
You got to know your chicken
I know my chicken
Spare the rod and spoil the chick
Before you go out and **** a brick.
Spare the rod and spoil the chick
Before you go out and **** a brick
I know my chicken
You got to know your chicken
I know my chicken
You got to know your chicken
I know my chicken
She went to college to study anatomy
I followed her father's butchery
We got 2 babies. Is it cool?
One was magenta, the other was blue.
I know my chicken
You got to know your chicken
I know my chicken
You got to know your chicken
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COMWwwv_MTk
Last edited:
slm
Formerly nextreme
Are you joking around ?
raid
Dad Photographer
This thread is going into strange territories ...
Population in the US is given as 203million in 1970 and ~280million in 2010. So population growth would trend school bus fatalities to increase unless some other mechanism were at play. Given the dramatic reduction in fatalities, it is reasonable to assume that new laws regarding school bus safety have a positive effect.
The population of the EU is given as 500million.
I asked the European group about their numbers. Unless someone believes that they are off by a factor of 5, the fatality rate of children riding buses in the EU is much higher than the US.
This thread got strange within the first page. But I learned that stopping for school buses is something to be proud of.
The population of the EU is given as 500million.
I asked the European group about their numbers. Unless someone believes that they are off by a factor of 5, the fatality rate of children riding buses in the EU is much higher than the US.
This thread got strange within the first page. But I learned that stopping for school buses is something to be proud of.
- Status
- Not open for further replies.