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American pride is as American as well, Apple Pie. Every single day, we are surrounded by images and reminders of what it meaner to be an American, whether that is through pop culture, media, or education. Before children can even begin to comprehend what the word pride simply meaner, they are taught the pledge of allegiance, or told who the presidents on the currency were, perhaps even what they did, or they most likely had heard that America is the best country on earth.
Before they can understand any of the history or economics or laws that this country is mounded on, they are presented with basic information that will mold their opinion of the United States in a positive manner, regardless of anything else. This is common place. This constant, yet very subtle, barrage of American nationalism is an understood part of American society, because, well, America is the greatest country in the history of the world and we deserve to say that, right? American nationalism seems to be its very own breed of nationalism, perhaps even akin to Nazi Germany nationalism.
Now, most Americans could probably not tell you what nationalism even earns, however, they could give you a basic definition of patriotism, because every American knows what being patriotic meaner. Americans know that being a patriot meaner supporting the military, paying your taxes, and loving your country above all else. They may not understand the politics behind a military conflict, but they KNOW they should support the troops. They may not understand what tax bracket they are in, or how the government spends tax revenue, but they KNOW that they should pay their taxes.
They may not understand how America ranks in the world in education or GAP growth, but they KNOW that America is the greatest country on earth. Patriotism and nationalism are two very different things. Patriotism is an innate love for one’s country. Patriotism is not really based on much fact, because it doesn’t have to be. Patriotism is the love for one’s country based on nothing else except that it is their country. Nationalism should go deeper than that. In order to have a sense of nationalism, one has to have some level of understanding of the country that they call their own.
Nationalism is how each individual citizen relates to their country. In order to truly relate to something, even a country, a person must have a wide knowledge base of what they are trying to relate to. They must understand the politics and economics involved in history, not Just important events or dates. They must understand how their country relates and interacts with other nations, and understand how their country can benefit from the rest of the world or be a detriment to it. Once an individual has a deep and developed understanding of the inner workings of their country, they can then be nationalistic.
This is nationalism at TTS true form. American nationalism does not seem to follow this trend. American nationalism tends to stray far from an emphasis on understanding of one’s country, to an emphasis on innate love and rejection of anything alien. This causes a muddled blend of patriotism and nationalism that combined with key historical and economic factors creates a mass fade that America is more exceptional than any other nation on earth. The general consensus of the American populace is that America is the best Anton, out when compared wilt n ten rest AT ten world, It does not seem to De ten est..
The self-proclaimed Free Market haven of the world actually ranks 10th in the world for economic freedom and 23rd for wage distribution. An obvious discernment would be that the best country in the world would perform the best academically. However, the United States ranks 17th in educational performance in the world. A nation that boasts about being a paragon of freedom ranks poorly in freedom of the press, which happens to be in the first amendment of the American Constitution.
There is significant, concrete evidence that the United States is no longer the best ND most powerful nation in the world, although it was absolutely considered both in the past. If there is such resounding evidence that America is no longer the best, then why does the nation as a whole still believe they are? The answer lies in poor education. Ironically enough, American students perform the worst in American History in standardized testing. As of 2010, 13 percent of high school seniors, 18 percent of eighth graders, and 22 percent of fourth graders scored proficient on U.
S. History standardized tests. As a whole, the American population knows the LEAST about their win country. The American population is being poorly educated in their history, economics, and laws but they are being told from every other avenue that their country is the best, and they believe it. They believe that America is exceptional because they do not have the proper knowledge base to refute or confirm the accuracy of that claim, so they Just conform to the idea. A vital element of American nationalism is an inherent love or trust in the American government.
Our whole lives, we are told that the American government is the most progressive and sophisticated overspent in history, landmark by the system of checks and balances. The people are told that this system of checks and balances is so air-tight, that no aspect of government is immune to oversight. This instills a sense of comfort in the American people that their government has their best interests in mind. While the approval ratings of both Congress and the President have been sub-par, the public has continued to allow them to continue their business as usual.
The American people are and always will be the greatest check to the government, but decades of blind owlish has created a sense of mass complacency. This complacency towards what the government does has ushered in an age of domestic espionage with little effort or backlash. To put it bluntly, the American people blindly follow the idea that America is the best and their government can do no harm, and are ignorant to reality. This ignorance is what helped to give the American government its Orwellian issue power. Every privacy violation made by the government has been a self- inflicted wound by the American people.
Whether by ignorance or blatant inaction, the American people blindly gave the NSA and CIA all its powers. After 9/1 1, American nationalism surged. Compounded with the ideology that America is the best and nothing would ever dare harm her, the terrorist attacks ignited a fury of retaliation in the American people. The entire country voted to go to war, and shortly after ushered in the passing of the Patriot Act, the bill that gives legality to the PRISM Program and FISH courts. The Patriot Act was signed into law with no qualms from the people, because at that point, if you weren’t with America, you were against her.
So they believed that the American government’s Test Intentions were to protect ten people Trot Turner unarm. Over the course of the last decade, the United States government has practiced ever invasive measures to monitor the population for potential domestic terrorist attacks, culminating to the whistle blowing of the NSA and CIA spying programs. However, there have been clear signs of this happening, but the people were ignorant to the signs, refused to believe them, or Just did not care. In 2006, it was released that Verizon was releasing phone records to the NSA.
It was proven that the overspent was spying on our phone calls, but the people did nothing to end it. The FISH Amendment Act (2008) and the Patriot Act Extension Act (2010) all went through without opposition from the public. Even now that the curtain has been ripped on the ways that the government is violating our privacy, the people still have done little to stop the spying programs from continuing, despite outrage and dissent from many. American nationalism and patriotism have always been effective tools at uniting the country when it is most needed, but they do not come without folly.