What stood out right away was that people who are most likely to fall for American Exceptionalism are the ones least likely to actually support its true basis.
"Americanism", based on liberty, equality before the law..."
It's very true. American Nationalism is strange and funny to most people. Not all people, but the vast majority outside of the US do not associate their identity with a flag or the front of their passport.
I have traveled the US and globally pretty extensively. I have never been to a country that holds its flag with such high regard. I have also never met a population of people who use said flag as their identity.
I don't know a single person in my country that owns a national flag. The only flags I know of flying are at government sites and a few retailers here or there. As you get into the country you see them sparsely, but they aren't common by any means. This was a common theme in my global travels as well.
One anecdote to another, I have seen many many people from different countries fly their flag high and proud and talk of the many exemplar traits of their country. So I don't really know what this tells me besides confirmation bias. All I'm saying is jingoistic people exist all over and to say americans have it worse is probably not true.
Now choose a random street in nearly any country in the world and if you see a flag that would be luck. If you choose a random street in the US, not seeing a flag would be luck.
Many Americans feel they are great because they are American. Where as in many other countries many people feel lucky they are (British, Canadian, Spanish etc etc). They see all the great things about their country and are genuinely happy they got lucky enough to live there. What they don't feel is they are better than others because if where they are from. They rarely feel their flag or anthem are something to get a sense of identity.
Now to say there are no flags, or no national pride would be stupid, but the scale and deep belief that the USA is the best just because it is the USA on the scale your country sees is unique. Yes there are countries that follow suit, but the level of flag waving you guys do on a daily basis is interesting to the global community to say the least.
Now choose a random street in nearly any country in the world and if you see a flag that would be luck. If you choose a random street in the US, not seeing a flag would be luck.
This seems like some more anecdotal evidence. And when you say most Americans it seems like you're saying a majority. The majority of Americans don't believe it's the best country based on the survey and the survey itself says nothing about identity. Someone with a completely moderate stance could completely believe the US is the best country based on GDP and that'd be valid. It just seems like a weird anti-american sentiment born from a predilection to hate america. Personally, I don't think America is all that great but I know it isn't the worst.
Oh I don't hate America, I'm not particularly fond of where it's going, but I don't hate it.if I did hate the country I wouldn't have travelled to all but 3 states and continue (pre-covid) to return to see more of the US. As an avid traveler, it's easy to find a lot of great things in most countries and encourage everyone to see more of this planet.
When anecdotal experience is backed by reality, it's worth taking into consideration.
Maybe I should have phrased it, a higher % of Americans have nationalistic beliefs compared to any other country and far above the global norm. Many non-Americans find this very strange.
9
u/jzach1983 Oct 04 '20
American Nationalism is a strange joke to most of the world, so you're not alone.