MetaChat - The world doesn't work like you'd hope it does.

Pretty much every day. My government does not equal my country. And even with it's faults, I'm still glad to be here.

posted by jonmc 16 May | 10:45

All the time.
I am proud to be British.

posted by seanyboy 16 May | 10:46

OK, proud of my country.

posted by flopsy 16 May | 10:47

Hrrmmm interesting.

I'm often proud of my country.
I'm often glad I'm a New Zealander.

But proud to be a NZer? That's just an accident of birth. I know it's nitpicky, but there you go. That said, I will never ever become a US citizen, so obviously I feel some ties there.

posted by gaspode 16 May | 10:48

I got all sentimental watching the final West Wing. I'm like, damn, America is awesome.

I know, ultra embarrassing.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 16 May | 10:48

I am pretty much always proud to be a canuck. I love my country, which is sometimes pretty dangerous around here. We aren't known for our patriotism

posted by richat 16 May | 10:48

I think nationalism is kind of a curse and a deeply flawed idea, really. I'm hoping that we eventually get beyond it but it doesn't seem likely to happen anytime soon. I'd like to be proud of being human, and occasionally I am, although sometimes that's hard too.

posted by mygothlaundry 16 May | 10:49

Or our use of punctuation.

posted by richat 16 May | 10:49

I am still proud of what I consider the core ideals of America as enumerated in the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness": that's fucking brilliant.

I am deeply ashamed of both the philosophical depravity and monstrous behavior of those currently in power and all those who support them. They are all the enemies of goodness and it is to be hoped that history will condemn them thoroughly. I'm also ashamed that I haven't done more to stop these "people" from taking the name and values of America in vain, for their own soul sick uses.

posted by PinkStainlessTail 16 May | 10:53

I got all sentimental watching the final West Wing. I'm like, damn, they really shat on Sorkin's creation.

Hee! sorry, tps!

posted by gaspode 16 May | 10:53

I'm proud of many of the Enlightenment ideals my country's form of government was founded on, but I'm most unhappy with the way that actual people involved in the government are implementing, or more to the point, failing to implement, them.

On preview, what PST said much more eloquently than me.

posted by matildaben 16 May | 10:55

I got all sentimental watching the final West Wing. I'm like, damn, they really shat on Sorkin's creation.

Well, that, too. Plus, you never found out what happened with Charlie and Zoe!

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 16 May | 10:59

What's the deal with being proud of being an American/Canadian/Italian/whatever? Aren't you supposed to be proud of your own achievements, not the achievements of your forefathers?

posted by sveskemus 16 May | 11:03

I can never imagine saying or thinking that I'm proud to be British - simply because one of the things I like about this country is our differences. I don't want to see "us" as being a homogenous lump of humanity but a diverse nation of people with different opinions and goals.

This view wouldn't do you much good in a time of war, but then we haven't had a proper one of those in quite some time.

posted by dodgygeezer 16 May | 11:03

I was pretty proud when we elected our first female president.
Still am, actually.

posted by signal 16 May | 11:07

I wouldn't say that I'm proud to be an American, but I'm certainly glad to be an American.

posted by mullacc 16 May | 11:23

Day by day, I'm become more and more aware of bullshit like Agent Orange, depeleted urnaium and the arms trade. Haven't Britain/America/the West always done whatever they damn well please, rules, treaties and morals be damned? Can I not be ashamed of my country?

posted by flopsy 16 May | 11:29

When I lived in Italy, I first realized that (a) I *was* American, despite my frustrations with and dismissals of much of the country and (b) I was proud of what that meant.

The optimistic, can-do attitude; the sense that however bad things are, we can make them better; the general faith in our government (even with how bad things are now, we do not, like the Italians, start ignoring all laws because we assume the government is shitty); the belief in progress.

These are things that I definitely just thought were human traits before living in a society where they didn't dominate. And these traits are certainly not 100% positive -- there is MUCH to be said about stopping to think before you act, or realizing that sometimes *not* acting is the best solution -- but I'm glad they exist in the world and proud that they've had a role in influencing how I see the world.

posted by occhiblu 16 May | 11:29

nationalism : patriotism :: religion : fundamentalism

posted by Capn 16 May | 11:31

You know, even checking it on preview, I got it backwards. Just like a Canadian.

posted by Capn 16 May | 11:33

I am proudest to be an American right at the moment when they start in with the stereo panning effect of the drums in "Children of The Grave" by Black Sabbath. If being an American has taught me anything, it's taught me that inconsistency and contradiction are tremendously good.

posted by Divine_Wino 16 May | 11:37

To expand on my thought...

It's certainly a fortunate accident that I was born American, so I think it's rather silly to feel pride for a country based on that accident. It would be just as silly to be proud that I'm white and male (though I am glad for being both). There isn't anything I could do about the gender or race I was born into, but I could reject the ideals upon which my country is founded. Since I have actually embraced Enlightenment ideals, I do feel pride in instances when our citizens serve as exemplars of those ideals.

posted by mullacc 16 May | 11:38

mullacc, you said it better than I could.

posted by wendell 16 May | 12:25

The USA has never quite lived up to her (great) potential. She has the ability, but doesn't apply herself. She's smart and very talented, but not at all studious, caring more about popularity than academic achievement. She excels in athletics, often taking a leadership role on the playground, but can be overly-aggressive, especially toward the weaker children. She does not like to share, and doesn't work well with others unless it is toward the gain of an immediate and obvious reward (esp. candy). Despite her swagger on the playing field, she has always shown a profound fear, even awe, of authority figures, and can be made to obey any instruction when threatened with even the slightest measure of physical punishment.

In short, the USA is a problem student, and we would do well to stop rewarding her continual C minuses with pats on the back and trips to the ice cream parlor.

posted by Atom Eyes 16 May | 12:40

Despite her swagger on the playing field, she has always shown a profound fear, even awe, of authority figures, and can be made to obey any instruction when threatened with even the slightest measure of physical punishment.

Are you talking about the individuals, or the country itself? What you said before this sentence seemed right on, but this one is confusing.

posted by mullacc 16 May | 13:08

Yeah, that part was more about Americans than America. Doesn't really fit, I guess.

posted by Atom Eyes 16 May | 13:28

Nobody's suggesting that we ignore our own (personal or societal) dark sides. As citizens who help shape our own cultures and communities, I think it's entirely reasonable to be proud of the parts that work well.

For the United States, occhiblu is spot on:

The optimistic, can-do attitude; the sense that however bad things are, we can make them better; the general faith in our government [...]; the belief in progress.

I'd also like to put in a word for a kind of zany general enthusiasm that drives all of those traits and also makes life a whole lot more fun.

I'm a dual citizen. The Canadian part of me is proud of making conscientious attempts to assess any question from multiple perspectives, and being willing in almost any situation to consider, pace Cromwell, that I might be wrong.

posted by tangerine 16 May | 13:31

"
I can never imagine saying or thinking that I'm proud to be British - simply because one of the things I like about this country is our differences. I don't want to see "us" as being a homogenous lump of humanity but a diverse nation of people with different opinions and goals.
"

that's why i am proud to be british. because we're a big lump of heterogenous humanity.
i'm proud to be british every goddamn day. hell, i'm proud to be english and fuck the nationalist parties who tried to steal that from us. i was in london for the golden jubilee, and the cup was on, and somehow we all sort of all together said sod it all: we've done some terrible things. we're doing some terrible things right now.
but we're good people.
let's put the cross of st. george on everything -- which, come on, you know us. you know we don't do flag waving. you know we don't get all proud and full of it. but we had shakespeare. we had rutherford. we've got tom stoppard, even if the czech's get him too.
we're good people. and i was over the g.d. moon when the 4x100m men's relay won gold over the supposedly invincible american-fastest men in the world team last summer.
come on enger-land

posted by sam 16 May | 13:33

As others have said, being an American is an accident of birth so I can't claim being proud of it. However, I am glad that I was born there rather than a third world country.

In a lot of ways America is a great country but it has a long way to go to live up to the ideals of our forefathers.

I'm eligible to become a Canadian citizen in July 2007. That makes me happy.

posted by deborah 16 May | 13:37

we had rutherford.

I really hope you're not talking about the New Zealander Ernest Rutherford there, sam.

posted by gaspode 16 May | 13:47

BUT at the same time, i'm also hella proud to be 1) virginian 2)a tarheel born and a tarheel bred and when i die i'm a tarheel dead* 3) a texan. yes eff you, i'm from texas. we all can be from texas even if we were born in london.
i like being from places.

* so it's rah-rah carolina-lina rah-rah carolina-lina rah-rah carolina-lina go to hell state.

posted by sam 16 May | 13:49

dude, gaspode, they told me he was british in high school!

my entire life is a lie. i have to go weep.

posted by sam 16 May | 13:56

Silly fucking Earthlings.

posted by Lipstick Thespian 16 May | 14:01

What does it mean, exactly to say one is proud to be American/British?

you're proud you're a native?
you're proud you live there now?
you're proud of your nation's actions?

I uh don't get it.

posted by chewatadistance 16 May | 14:23

You refer, Ms. Gaspode, to the Nobel-prize winning Canadian physicist, Professor Rutherford of McGill University, I presume? It's true that he was an NZ-emigrè and that he retired to fair Albion, but deep down, we all know that he was a Canuck. He was here for more than half-an-hour, you know.

posted by bonehead 16 May | 14:32

oh no you didn't bonehead. Sure, he was at McGill. He spent a lot of time in England too. But he was born and raised in NZ (and stayed here till he was 24), and as far as I know, never became a citizen of anywhere else.

I refuse to let you claim him!

posted by gaspode 16 May | 14:40

16 May 2006