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To someone from a nation responsible for a large genocide in the 20th century and at least one world war, Germany, the notion that you could "love your country" has only become non controversial again, recently. For example, flags are really only displayed by the population for major sport events, like the world cup and not for National Day. In fact a major part of political indoctrination in school was that the idea of the nation state is largely a thing of the past, nationalism is "dangerous" and that the future is the European Union. The majority of the political elite can't wait to see a "United States of Europe" emerge and says so openly at various occasions. This is to illustrate, that the perception of the country you live in largely depends on the indoctrination you received in your youth and the overall agenda. In most countries of Europe strong nationalistic tendencies are inconvenient for long term political goals, so the emphasis is on international cooperation and adherence to international law. In fact German politicians rarely state they "love their country" and would be crucified, if they described their country as "exceptional". The US instead has been a rogue actor for much of its existence, basically ignores international law, routinely blocks inconvenient UN resolutions, has supported some of the most oppressive regimes in recent history (South Africa, Honduras, Egypt, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia come to mind) has constantly waged war and bullied countries in Middle and South America. Restricted to foreign politics there is little America justifiably can be proud of in recent history and yet there is this whole quasi religion around the USA as a nation, "manifest destiny" etc., that apparently serves as a mental block even among many educated Americans to coolly and rationally evaluate the appalling record of most of their administrations in the past 50 years and maybe come to the conclusion that you should have persecuted many, who claimed they served your country and "loved it" a long time ago. |