OT. Is the USA turning towards Jingoism?

[Laughing Cow]

Hi All.

Ever since 9/11 I get the feeling that a lot of Americans have become "Jingoist".

Which in my eyes is a very dangerous development.

How do you guys feel about it?

Are you a Patriot or a Jingoist?

[Stacey]

jingo? I'm a patriot. I know where i come from so im naturally tolerant.

[dezhen2001]

whats a jingoist? im not familiar with that term?

dawood

[Laughing Cow]

jingoism
noun [U]
DISAPPROVING
the extreme belief that your own country is always best, which is often shown in enthusiastic support for a war against another country
Patriotism can turn into jingoism and intolerance very quickly.

jingoist
noun [C]
DISAPPROVING
He was a confirmed jingoist and would frequently speak about the dangers of Britain forming closer ties with the rest of Europe.

jingoistic
adjective
DISAPPROVING
In wartime, newspapers tend to become jingoistic.
There were great celebrations and plenty of jingoistic flag-waving when the first troops returned from the war.

[Laughing Cow]

One entry found for patriot.
Main Entry: pa·tri·ot
Pronunciation: 'pA-trE-&t, -"ät, chiefly British 'pa-trE-&t
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle French patriote compatriot, from Late Latin patriota, from Greek patriOtEs, from patria lineage, from patr-, patEr father
Date: 1605
: one who loves his or her country and supports its authority and interests

[Stacey]

Jingoism demonstrates how well Terrorism is working.

[red5angel]

Laughing Cow, are you an american?

I think a good majority of people in all countries could be accused of jingoism. The paranoia that is spreading through the bleeding heart crowd that we are about to go on a Nazi-esque crusade against muslims or anyone else who doesnt agree with our policies is just that, paranoia.
In my neck of the woods things havent really changed much other then economically. People might be a little more leery about taking a plane but I dont hear any anti-muslim mudslinging, not any more then before 9/11, and while a war with Iraq seems inevitable, the American government has been smartin over the bad decision to not puruse it in the early 90's so in my mind, it was inevitable as long as Sadam was still in power.

I thnk I am going to go punch some midgets now......

[Stacey]

Paranoia? Tell me why even though so many other countries are strongly opposed to our menace of a president, they can't do anything about it?

Bleeding heart? I don't care for yin or yang, I just want clarity.

I think we should take out Sadaam, but we will also die for it. If not emediatly, Terrorism will grow dramatically and there will be no way to defend against it. No matter how much we try and pave the rest of the world, plants will still grow through.


Ironically there is an old Assyrian story that tells the same drama we are about to enact. Ironic because there still are Assyrians, living as oppressed Iraqi minorities. In the story the conquering king wakes up in the body of the defeated and suffers a humiliating execution. He then wakes up to realize that he was harming himself. He sees that he was equally vulnerable even from his position as the most powerfull man in civilization.

If your not willing to die to kill Sadaam, then don't vote for those who are. Do you beleive in this violence enough to cut off even one your fingers? the result of any "conflics" will be the loss of many more fingers and limbs. Those who see it will be strapping bombs to their chests and sitting next to you in Church or blowing up the mall of America when your Christmass shopping.

[Ford Prefect]

Definately not. If we were then there would have been huge public support for a war with Iraq, which there wasn't.

[red5angel]

Stacy, not trying to start a flame war or anything but you mention so many other countries opposed to our presdient, what countries would those be and where are you getting your facts?
There are alot of people in this country opposed to our president, it happens everytime we elect a new president, although some are more liked then others.

I dont think the war is necessary, for whatever that means when it comes to war. Containment seemed to work just fine, a small covert war may be more of what we should be looking at. If Saddam wants to fund terrorist, so be it, let us organize and fight him on that level, but I am not talking about blowing up civilians and crashing airplanes into buildings. Start sniping all of his close friends and supporters, generals, etc... blow up his mansions, and his government buildings.

The largest problems we face at the moment are that the current generations of muslim peoples in certain countries hold a hatred for america that they cannot get over and arent allowed to forget. Over time I think things can change for the better but you wont see any dramatic changes. They key is long term gals, that may recquire we take Saddam out of power, and we may pay for it with our own sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, but that is sometimes the way we human beings choose to deal with things.
Either way its going to take a long time to pave the road to peace and some of that is going to be cemented with blood.

[Souljah]

I think 9/11 just increased the 'jingoist' american attitude, it was always there, its very apparent from over here in europe and im sure most other countries notice it, but then many of these other countries have a large hatred against americans (because of this perhaps)

[red5angel]

Souljah, the subject of your post has come up in several other threads since I have been on these forums for a long time. while pointing fingers might make you feel better, it tends to feed ones own "jingoist" attitude. If you have been around a while you have probably seen this happen a few times, usually between europeans and americans on this forum in particular.
I believe that it is always wrong to do this. I know plenty of englishmen who could be accused of jingoism or elitist attitudes. I have met frenchmen who were just as obnoxious as they clame americans are. I dated a swedish woman who claimed americans were out of shape and complained alot, always while complaining.

The point is that while some of us may represent common generalities of our nations, those generalities are generally just percieved. You dont have to be from america to be obnoxious, from france to be a cultural snob, or from england to have bad teeth.

[guohuen]

Jingoism= those that espouse jingoistic rhetoric without any thought or action. Ie. all the dipsticks that had support our troops bumperstickers that never wrote anyone a letter, sent a carepackage, looked in on their families, ect.

[Marshdrifter]

Originally posted by Laughing Cow
Ever since 9/11 I get the feeling that a lot of Americans have become "Jingoist".

Become more jingoistic since 11 Sept?
LOL!
In the places I live in, the jingoism has always been there.
What's fun is the number of times I've been told "If you don't
like it, move to Canada" when I've critiqued how I thought our
country was acting on certain issues.

[ewallace]

For those of you who don't live in the states, I'll let you in on a little secret. Americans don't skip to work with bright shiny faces repeatedly saying "America is so great, we are so much better than everyone". In fact, the vast majority of the American population is no different from the working class in ANY civilized country. They get up in the morning, put in an honest day's work, come home, eat dinner with their family, spend time with their family or indulging their hobby, then go to sleep and repeat the next day.

It's funny to me that most of the folks I see or hear bashing us for our ignorance relating to the rest of the world are guilty of the same ignorance for developing their opinion of the U.S. based on what they see or hear in the news or magazines.

It's very similar to when I moved to Texas from Illinois. It was right after the Chicago Bulls won their first 3 NBA championships. Many down here hated the Bulls and Michael Jordan. Had they ever done anything to them? No. But their joy of winning and their confidence was constantly being displayed on the news and in the papers. Many people who aren't happy just hate it when they see others who are happy. Misery loves company.