My mother-in-law just came over to the USA from Albania. She goes walking constantly and can't get used to the idea that you can actually cross a street at a light without having to run for your life so you don't get hit.
Last week she saw a minor car accident and was astonished that the people involved weren't physically beating the hell out of each other. The very idea that these people had enough faith in police and the legal system that they could handle an accident rationally was incomprehensible to her.
It's amazing how a traffic-cop budget can transform a society. And to any of you police officers out there...
Anyone else have any non-partisan reasons that you love the country that you live in?
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
Supermarkets... I hate working at one, but they are a miracle. All that food in one place. It's something I marvel at all the time. And the melting pots and salad bowls... Those are always nice... having a sushi place next to a pizza and chinese and Indian food place... I'll think of less ridiculous things later.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Because my family came here with nothing, 3 generations ago (at least some of them), and my Grandfather was Vice-President of US Steel...
My dad was so poor as a child that his teachers took up a collection to buy him new sneakers (to replace his holey ones), and now he is a Manager for JC Penny's, and owns 3 homes. (One to be sold next year when he retires.) He barely graduated, and only had 2 years of jr college...and 4 years in Korea with the Army.
Because my Aunt Maureen was a full Colonal in the Marine Corps, and was in the second class of women to pass OCS; she later became the first woman to ever command a Nuclear Sub in battle school operations. (She wasn't Capt of it, but she was in charge of the OPP forces, and so had overall command of the sub, a first ever in Navy and Marine history!)
Kwea
Posted by WraithSword (Member # 6829) on :
Because my family came here one generation ago...wait a second, what does that have to do with anything? Besides, just as much of my family came here more like 10 generations ago.
Well, whatever. I love this country because you can tell your superior officers you're not proud to be an American and they don't shoot you.
Posted by Kama (Member # 3022) on :
I love my country too.
Posted by Chaeron (Member # 744) on :
quote:having a sushi place next to a pizza and chinese and Indian food place...
Hmm, methinks that's a partisan reason to love your country. I don't think that would be too apt a description of red America.
Incidentally, it's the reverse here in Canada, the Liberal party is associated with red and the Conservatives with blue. I just got back from up north working on a cattle ranch, and I must say, I am happy to be back in Vancouver, where I can have sockeye sashimi for dinner. That's not to say that I didn't have it up north, but that's only when I could fish it out of the river.
<edit> Alexa, on the basis of your list, you might feel more at home in Newfoundland or Nova Scotia. </edit>
[ September 09, 2004, 05:27 AM: Message edited by: Chaeron ]
Posted by jebus202 (Member # 2524) on :
I hate you all.
Posted by Kama (Member # 3022) on :
I love your country too, jebsy. In one year, when you're an adult, I will come and live with you.
Posted by TheTick (Member # 2883) on :
Posted by Sopwith (Member # 4640) on :
I'm just happy that we have the opportunity to shout at the top of our lungs what we like, or don't like, as the case may be.
Just the freedom to have and express an opinion is wonderful.
Let's face it, we've got it good here, and we've been extremely blessed.
Posted by Speed 2: Cruise Control (Member # 6765) on :
I'd just like to second Syn's statement. I love our supermarkets too. At risk of sounding like a broken record, I never realized how lucky we were until I took my mother-in-law to a grocery store for the first time. It was, by American standards, kind of a small and run-down place. We just went in to get her a toothbrush... and you should have seen her jaw drop. In Albania you'd go into a small corner market and ask for a toothbrush and they'd hand you one. The sight of a wall of toothbrushes of all shapes, sizes and colors, with different firmness, bendy handles, some even with motors, left her completely speechless.
Oh, and just for the record, a variety of restaurants is not a partisan issue. I live in one of the reddest states in the union, and we have some great restaurants... Persian, Korean, Brazilian, Tex-Mex, Tibetan, Columbian, Mongolian, Salvedorenian, Indian, Chinese, Italian, Greek, Bosnian... the end is listless, as they say. Maybe that's why Americans are so fat. We never run out of new stuff we have to try. I can't imagine living in a place where I'd have to settle on a single national dish, no matter how good it is. I'm sure I'd be skinnier, but I'd be much less satisfied.
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Speed...Salvadoran. And what, no Peruvian??? Horrors!
And yes, I was going to post in response to Chaeron's statement as well. I think that Republicans enjoy a good nosh as much as Democrats do. I suppose that was an "anti-immigration" reference, but really, even that's not a hard & fast rule.
But if it was a statement about the GOP being the party of white upper class xenophobes, I think it's an incorrect characterization.
Posted by Phanto (Member # 5897) on :
Oh, America, Sweet Land O' Liberty...
How I love my country...
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
By the way, Speed, I loved your first post in this thread. I work with lots of traffic cops and I think they would love to hear that kind of sentiment. Might I suggest that you send a note of thanks to your local PD expressing it just the way you have there. Those folks are often considered the bottom of the totem pole in police work. But I'm with you, an orderly society at the level of street traffic is an amazing thing and it probably helps us to avoid a lot of problems in other areas.
Traffic cops rarely get the kind of appreciation you just expressed.
I forwarded it to a law enforcement buddy of mine. I think he'll really appreciate it.
[ September 09, 2004, 11:20 AM: Message edited by: Bob_Scopatz ]
Posted by Kama (Member # 3022) on :
I love you too, Tick.
Posted by WraithSword (Member # 6829) on :
I gotta say, our law enforcement and justice system is one of the many things that I don't really love about this country.
Really, pretty much nothing that came after the 18th Ammendment really excites my interest. Of course, idiot things that I really detest go back all the way to the beginning.
But this isn't really the thread for it.
Posted by jebus202 (Member # 2524) on :
quote:In one year, when you're an adult, I will come and live with you.
Yea, as if I'm some desperate teen who wants to live with a hot, blonde, intelligent, long-legged, Polish girl.
The very idea is ridiculous.
Posted by TheTick (Member # 2883) on :
::swoons::
I'm sure that's meant in a sisterly way, Kama. Otherwise my wife will definitely think I went to Kamacon to flirt. Posted by Kama (Member # 3022) on :
Why, didn't you?
Posted by TheTick (Member # 2883) on :
No, of COURSE not.
It was a side benefit.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
quote:Supermarkets... I hate working at one, but they are a miracle. All that food in one place. It's something I marvel at all the time.
I will third this concept. My father made it a point to take my cousin to Xtra (a now-defunct chain of mega-grocery stores, the size of a Wal-Mart and open all night) when he came over from Cuba just to watch his eyes bulge! Imagine that all the groceries you ever bought were rationed, and that the stores were tiny (smaller than a Stop-N-Rob) and had bare shelves more often than not and you go, in the middle of the night, to a grocery store bigger than many apartment complexes! He about had a heart attack.
-o-
In the same vein for me, a totally predictable answer for those that know me: Disney.
My father took my cousin to Xtra. I took him to Disney World.
[ September 09, 2004, 12:55 PM: Message edited by: Icarus ]
Posted by Kama (Member # 3022) on :
quote: Yea, as if I'm some desperate teen who wants to live with a hot, blonde, intelligent, long-legged, Polish girl.
I never said I don't want to marry you, Falka. I just said I didn't want to marry you yet. I'm only 17, give me some time, please.
...
I think we need to have a KamaCon of our own, don't you?
Falka:
Well then what are you waiting for?
Jebus:
...for you to come over to Ireland...
Posted by jebus202 (Member # 2524) on :
Evidence? Hah, that'll never hold up in court.
Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
I love my country (just select "english" at the right side of the screen). I think it's one of the most beautiful places in the world, although we still have many problems that must be solved.
Hey, even OSC loves Brazil. Ender married Novinha, who has brazilian heritage. So...Ender loves Brazil too. Everybody loves Brazil Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
I hate Brazil. Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
I stand corrected: everybody but Icarus. Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote: Ender married Novinha, who has brazilian heritage.
Eduardo, while I love Brasil too, I HATE Novinha. I hate her more than any other character in literature. She's not a very good poster child for anything positive.
Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
Aha...Novinha had brazilian "heritage", but she wasn't brazilian. She wouldn't have survived childhood here .
To tell you the truth, I also find Novinha very annoying. I just think it's cool that Ender's wife has brazilian heritage.
It's amazing how smart people can choose poor soulmates, isn't it?
Thanks god I'm stupid. Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
I'd rate good dental care as one of the things I really like about living in the US. Of course, all of the things that we've been talking about here are really more the plusses of living in a first world country rather than the plusses of living in any particular first world country, aren't they?
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
I love Novinha. I suspect I love Novinha for the same reason Ender did. I always liked her - she was passionate, she was in an impossible situation, and she got Ender.
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
I am in the midst of a compelling temptation to post something really acrid about health care in America.
I suppose to be fair I should say something nice. And I think ethnic food is my nice thing.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Don't you expect that most contries have plenty of patriotic songs as well?
Posted by jebus202 (Member # 2524) on :
I hated Novinha. Card only seemed to be able to write two types of main characters to me: Irrational or intelligent. The irrational ones like Novinha and Quara never made any sense to me. I didn't buy the tough background bit, they were both extremely intelligent and had lived many years happily and (maybe I'm being naive here) should have been able to overcome their problems. The intelligent ones seemed like different, lesser versions of Ender.
This is all purely from the SftD, Xenocide and CotM books that I'm speaking from here. All though mainly Xenocide and CotM, since in SftD Card was able to use simple "types" for the kids (the leader, the kind one, the religious one, the quiet one, the angry one).
Posted by Kama (Member # 3022) on :
quote: Don't you expect that most contries have plenty of patriotic songs as well?
No, you know, why would a country with hundreds of years of struggle for independence have any patriotic songs at all? Posted by WraithSword (Member # 6829) on :
Yeah, everyone has good songs. It's kind of lame to post "I love my nation's patriotic songs".
I think the correct response for Novinha is pity. We're supposed to be impressed with the fact that Ender feels compassion and love for her, while we have difficulty not wanting her eaten by...er...stupid planet with no large carnivores!
Quara is sort of a spin-off of that idea, I think. You know, to make us admire...eh, Miro, probably. Or maybe the entire family, just by contrast to how screwed up she was. I don't know, I just liked the teleporting Kung-Fu that Peter uses in the end. That would be the major draw in a movie version, Peter and Wang-Mu teleporting around and beating up entire battalions of security guards.
Too bad they already did that in X-2.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
quote:It's kind of lame to post "I love my nation's patriotic songs".
I disagree. I think it's kind of lame to criticize people for any answer to a "what do you like" question.
Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
Whooo hooo! Go Brazil and Poland and Albania! Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
quote: I have a feeling that the patriotism in America is a little strong compared to most other countries
Um..... ever been to Mexico?
Posted by WraithSword (Member # 6829) on :
Okay, well I love that my country has a breathable atmosphere. I also love me, one of the residents of my country. I really love grass and flowers, which...you know what's sad?
Grass, flowers, breathable air, and me really are some of the major reasons I love my country.
Crap. I'm so lame for posting that Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
WraithSword, you missed the point. She was not saying she loves the fact that America has patriotic songs, but that she loves the songs themselves.
Posted by WraithSword (Member # 6829) on :
I love the grass and flowers and air and me of my country. And while I should be ashamed to admit that these are among the important things that I think of when I think of how much I love my country, I suppose I'm not.
But I still should be. Or at least, I recognize that I'm pretty lame for loving those things better than so many other things.
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
I love patriotic songs from other countries more than I love my own. I think a key to me liking a country is how seriously they take soccer.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Wraith, I disagree. You like things thatae important to you for some reason, so it isn't lame.
Even if patriotic songs DO beat up flowers all the time...
We drive on the right side of the road here.
Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
Annie, than you must like Brazil A LOT! I mean...no other country takes soccer as serious as Brazil. German, Italy and Argentina try hard, but they play something that's not quite soccer .
About Novinha: not even the pequeninos tried to plant her. She would drive the father-trees crazy. And to tell you the truth, I agree with Porter. I wanted to beat her badly while reading the books.
About patriotic songs: I guess every country has many of them. Here I can remember "Fibra de Herói", "Hino à República", "Exaltação à Pátria"...
In truth, I must say that we don't have such a strong martial tradition as other countries, such the U.S. or Poland. Brazilian history is kinda bloodless if compared to what other people suffered (the military dictatorship in the 70's tried to 'mitigate' such difference, though) through the centuries. So, I guess "defend our country" songs were never a big hit over here.
There's also, like I said, the matter of the military dictatorship. For 20 years, we had to sing such songs every day before school, the censorship used such songs to fill in for shows they used to "cut" from tv and radio. Thus, older people now knida...hate military songs.
I prefer songs who tells about the beauties of my country, such as "Aquarela do Brazil", "Corcovado", "Cidade Maravilhosa"... could you tell me about some songs that tells about the beauties of the U.S. and not about wars or fighting? I'd like to hear them.
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
When I was little, Eduardo, my favorite patriotic song was America the Beautiful because it was inspired by and written in my home state of Colorado. Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
[ September 09, 2004, 09:53 PM: Message edited by: Icarus ]
Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
I've heard that song before, Annie, but you nailed it! It was about this kind of song I was talking about. I like these ones more than the "defend the motherland and kill the enemies" songs, although they have their uses.
Icarus: I liked the lyrics, but unfortunatelly, I don't know the tune.
[ September 09, 2004, 09:53 PM: Message edited by: Eduardo_Sauron ]
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
"This Land is Your Land" and "America the Beautiful" are not about war at all.
edit: Crap! I didn't realize that my answers were already on the 2nd page!
Well, at least I'm in good company.
[ September 09, 2004, 11:56 PM: Message edited by: mr_porteiro_head ]
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Eduardo, you can see a spoof of "This Land Is Your Land" here.
edit: So that you can hear the tune
[ September 09, 2004, 11:58 PM: Message edited by: mr_porteiro_head ]
Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
Thanks, Porter. Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
America the Beautiful is the first one that came to my mind...Shenandoah,This Land Is Your Land,God Bless The USA....just to name a few.
The link I posted above has a lot of songs that are "americana", but not all of them have links to the music.
We also have a lot of religious songs that are deeply rooted in our history...but that is a topic for another day.
Eduardo, check out the link above...both his version of The Star Spangled Banner and The Battle Hymn of the Republic are worth checking out....both are cool a capella arringments of classic songs from the USA.
Kwea
Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
I've known "The Star Spangled Banner" since childhood (my english teachers - all of them American - taught me the song). The Battle Hymn is very beautiful indeed. I found its .mp3 on the net.
Posted by Sara Sasse (Member # 6804) on :
I love the breadth of context in my country:
from the flux of Twain's Mississippi to the Grapes of Wrath dustbowl to cantankerous old guys eating clam chowder up in Maine, to the light and outrageous lively of N'awlins (with its seething, murky bayous like the ripe dark Everglades of Florida) and the stern righteousness of the Pennsylvania Dutch ... children of all tints laughing and hanging out in front of Halloween brownstones in Chicahguh, the deep roots and bedrocks of Peters' Hollow in the Appalachias, to salty wet Seattle, and then spread all out under the Big Blue Sky of Idaho.
What I like about this isn't exclusive to the US, in the sense that we may not be the most diverse in immigration or even in quality of land, but it is the unique flavor of it. Ours, regardless of best or other ranking. Just ... what is ours. It tastes like my childhood and all I hoped to see when all grown up. I like that. I like that memory.
[ September 10, 2004, 12:43 PM: Message edited by: Sara Sasse ]
Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
Sara, you just wrote something very rare: a definition of patriotism that is NOT
a) holier than thou b) offensive to other countries c) steeped in warmongering
But instead is universal in its approach to people's pride and happiness in living in his/her country.
Kudos!
Posted by prolixshore (Member # 4496) on :
quote: I think a key to me liking a country is how seriously they take soccer.
ACK! It's the antithesis of all i stand for!
--ApostleRadio
"We'll bring you the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, and because we have soccer highlights, the sheer pointlessness of a scoreless tie"
--Dan, Sports Night
Posted by prolixshore (Member # 4496) on :
I would answer the above question, but I cannot put my answer into words that would make sense to anyone but me. It is a feeling that I get when I am outside walking around town just looking at all the other people walking around town with me.
But see, that doesn't make any sense because people walk in other countries (or at least I would be willing to bet money that they do )
But anyhow, in light of the fact that I cannot truly answer the question posed, I will say that what I love most about America is the Ice Cream, because at least that makes no sense on purpose.
--ApostleRadio
Posted by Sara Sasse (Member # 6804) on :
Thanks, eduardo.
quote:But see, that doesn't make any sense because people walk in other countries (or at least I would be willing to bet money that they do )
You don't have to interpret it as "Why I love my country as opposed to other countries" if you don't want to. I like your version just fine.
Posted by prolixshore (Member # 4496) on :
Hmm, good point Sara. Especially since I haven't exactly spent a lot of time in other countries.
SO my answer stands, my favorite part of life in America is the feeling I get when I am just out enjoying the day with a walk around town.
(Although I suppose this will only work in towns where you can walk around freely, it wasn't exactly the same feeling when I walked around inner city Houston as it is to walk around Columbia South Carolina.)
I just can't answer this question without some kind of asterisk after my answer. lol.
--ApostleRadio
Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
Sticking my neck out...
The Star Spangled Banner makes me want to cry...
hiding again Goody
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
I really like your points, Sarah and Ed.
I've grown really calloused in the past few years and even get mad when I see someone displaying the American flag. For me and the society I live in, displaying an American flag is a discreet way of saying "America is better than other countries. Americans are the people whose opinions matter above all else. Force and violence are justified in upholding the American image."
When I see the flag, it's stuck to the window of a pickup with a Charlton Heston bumper sticker or worn on the tshirt of a self-righteous redneck who has the gall to question my "patriotism" due to the fact that I study French.
I've taken to displaying a giant French flag in my window, not because I think France is an idyllic land with no problems of its own, but as a simple reaction to the stick-on stars and stripes that all my neighbors paid $2.88 for at WalMart.
I need to find out how to love one's country without loving a shallow political front or a suspect shaky set of convictions. I need to figure out how to translate my adoration for the sheer size and grandeur of the Rocky Mountains and the busy hubub of Chicago and the quiet serenity of the great plains and the lovely diversity of people who live here into something that I can recognize as patriotism. I need to restore my desire to participate in a system that I see as corrupt and pretentious. Maybe I can gain that back, but it may take some learning and re-examination.
Posted by prolixshore (Member # 4496) on :
That's quite sad for you Annie. I mean that genuinely and not in any looking down on you sort of way. I love America, and I want you to feel the same joy I feel about her. I am, at heart, a nationalist. I love living here, the smell, the taste, the feel. I love the culture and the movies and the wal-marts. I have an American Flag on the wall in my room. It is not on display, it is there because I want it there. I get a good feeling by looking at it, and it has nothing to do with feeling that other coutnries are crap. I believe that you can believe in the value of your country without devaluing all the rest. A true love of one thing does not have to include the hatred of another. When I see someone else displaying a flag, it fills me with joy to know that others feel the same way that I do. And truly, I am a cynical person when it comes to all other things, but I really love America, and that's all there is to it.
So I guess if you ever see me with a flag, don't look down on me because of it. I am not going to hate you because you speak French, in fact I will envy you your command of another language, something that I have no talent for. So please don't look down on all of us who choose to show our patriotism, it is not always a bad thing.
--ApostleRadio
Posted by Speed 2: Cruise Control (Member # 6765) on :
I just wanted to make something clear. When I made my first post, it was not meant as a slam on Albania. I actually like that country. I'm a bigger fan of it than my wife is, and that's her home. I'm excited to have children who are half Albanian, to teach them about the language and the history and the beautiful mediterranean environment. It has a culture and history that is totally unique among its neighbors, and it's the birthplace of people like Mother Theresa and the parents of John Belushi. It's a really fantastic place, and the fact that it doesn't have much in the way of traffic cops or supermarkets doesn't change that.
Countries are just like people. I don't know anyone completely sinless, and I don't know anyone who is utterly base and lacking any good attributes. Saying that you love your country is like saying that you love your mother. I appreciate the fact that my mother never lied to me in all of her life, but that does not excuse the fact that she sometimes tends to be overly critical or a religious zealot. And it doesn't mean that I hate anyone's mother that ever told them a white lie. It's not about excusing faults or criticizing differences. It's all about optimism. It's about finding the good parts of anything or anyone and being proud of them. Remembering positive qualities is an essential part of a coherent plan to deal with negative qualities. And it's an essential for our personal happiness.
All I meant to do with this thread is provide a small oasis of good vibes whenever we got overloaded with the critical but heavy task of hashing out negatives. I've really enjoyed reading all of the posts on this thread. Even Annie's . I hope no one took it the wrong way.
Cheers. Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
Annie, different people have different ways of showing patriotism. I've known people who proudly display the brazilian flag on their windows, and others who think it's silly. All these people (I know them very well) love Brazil and being brazilian. One of them (who proudly display the flag) is british by birth, but is very passionate about Brazil. What I'm trying to say, whith my faulty writting skills, is that you may love your country without waving the American flag everywhere, or dressing in its colors. I think you showed a lot of love for America in your post. And remember: a good citizen is also the one who can detect the worst flaws in his/her country and try to make it better.
I try to make my country better, everyday, little by little. I'm sure you do the same. Isn't it an act of love?
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Careful. Love the sinner hate the sin is frowned on by some folks here.
Dagonee
Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
Did I write something wrong, or innapropriate? If I did, sorry in advance.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
No. I agree entirely with what you said. I was just making a point to persons unnamed.
Dagonee
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
I know that not everyone who displays a flag is doing so for the reasons I listed. I totally understand your sentiment, prolix, and hope I can someday cultivate something similar. My bitterness comes from the local sentiment I'm surrounded with and experience with a very limited crowd of very sheltered people. I know that they are in the minority.
Posted by MattB (Member # 1116) on :
As a historian of it, I love my country for the ideals which permeate it. We could argue about whether Thomas Jefferson meant to include slaves in the Declaration of Independence, but the fact that he wrote the words "all men are created equal" meant that throughout our country's history, that has been the potential we have had, the possibility to which we can aspire. Regardless of our imperfections and our crimes, and the fact that we have occasionally not been aware of it, the United States remains certainly the most prominant nation on earth founded upon belief in ideals like equality and freedom of conscience rather than membership in an ethnicity or possession of territory. If we have been belligerent in exporting those ideals, it does not change the fact that they are, in and of themselves, admirable and worthy. And that fact should create in Americans a sense of civic responsibility and commitment to strive towards the promise that our country holds and regret for every time we fail to live to that high standard.
[ September 10, 2004, 08:53 PM: Message edited by: MattB ]
Posted by Eaquae Legit (Member # 3063) on :
You know what I really like?
Bob Barker. Yep. We've got Mr. Spay-and-Neuter on our side. Okay, so he may or may not be Canadian, but the memory of all those stray cats and dogs that wandered the streets of Rome and Athens really bugs me. They're everywhere!
I also really enjoy our garbagemen. They're so underappreciated. What I saw of Europe was... trashy... There was litter everywhere! It looked like everyone just assumed the nearest ravine was a good place to dump a truckload of trash.
Oh, and the fact that a (small) bottle of Coke is less than $4.
Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
Over here a large bottle of Coke would be less than $1. Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
Since the thread has kind of sequed away from patriotic songs to things in general we love about our countries, I have to say that for me I love the Statue of Liberty: the way the money was raised by donations to fund its construction from all over the US and France, the torch that never goes out, and the inscription in the base:
quote: Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
It's also a reminder, too, that the fates of France and the US are often intertwined. Posted by Speed 2: Cruise Control (Member # 6765) on :
Okay, we've covered the patriotic music. What about the rest of the music.
Some say Jazz is the most uniquely American art form. Whatever it is, it's all us, and it's brilliant. Nothing can make me happier than some Miles Davis or Benny Goodman or Charlie Parker or Glenn Miller or Duke Ellington or Charlie Mingus or The Crusaders or Pat Metheny or Thelonious Monk or John Coltrane or Louis Armstrong or Art Blakey or Larry Carlton or the Marsalis family or Bela Fleck or Ella Fitzgerald or Dave Brubeck or Gary Burton or Sonny Rollins or... well, you get the idea.
There are many great things about jazz. My favorite is the versatility of the art form. It's always evolving and you never know what you're going to get from it. Even in its original American incarnations, you have everything from ragtime to big band to cool jazz to bebop to fusion, and even some American classical music has jazz influences. What's more, practically every other culture in the world has used jazz as a tool to explore their own native music. I have jazz albums from Latin America, Scandinavia, Nigeria, Great Britain, Tunisia, Iran, India, Lebanon and Japan (and probably some more I'm forgetting). They're all unique and wonderful, and they all say something about the culture of the country they're from while simultaneously reflecting the culture of America.
There's plenty of other great American music. I may just bring some more of it up later. For now I'll just stick with jazz.
[ September 12, 2004, 02:19 PM: Message edited by: Speed 2: Cruise Control ]
Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
I'll be always glad to Jazz, because there would be no "Bossa Nova" (Jazz+Samba) without Jazz.
But I think Rock is also quite iconic, isn't it?
Posted by Speed 2: Cruise Control (Member # 6765) on :
Bossa Nova's the goods. I just got the new Bebel Gilberto album. It's awesome. Another check in the "I Love Brazil" column as far as I'm concerned. Posted by Sara Sasse (Member # 6804) on :
Da Blues, too, baby. Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
Annie, some people feel the same way about anyone wearing a wedding ring. The flag is a symbol. What it is a symbol of depends on you. I do think it would do you some good to try life in a big city for an extended time. You've lived with a lot of big city problems, IIRC, though you are in a small town/rural setting. It's not surprsing that you are alienated from it.
I finally thought of something I love about the American lifestyle to share: we actually have a self-help book industry. Whether it works or not, I like that there are enough people genuinely interested in being a better person that it can support an industry. I guess the same goes for the sci fi book industry. People may complain that Americans aren't very sophisticated in the literary sense, but I think our country does have a very high literacy rate. Sure there are problems.
I was watching Spellbound last night, and there was a lot of discussion about how spelling bees are uniquely American. The pride immigrants can take in mastering our language is heartening. I think the "English Only" movement is tragic. People shouldn't be intimidated into learning English.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
*nod*
Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
"English moment" in english courses...sheesh...dread stuff. I remember... Posted by Book (Member # 5500) on :
Anyone else here find the Soviet national anthem to be a pretty impressive anthem?
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Only when sung in submarines.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
quote: I need to find out how to love one's country without loving a shallow political front or a suspect shaky set of convictions
Well, it might help to remind yourself that loving the country isn't the same thing as loving the goverment, or everyone who happens to be in the goverment at any given time.
I love this country because my great-grandparents came here to make a new life for themselves and their families, and did so in dramatic fashion. I don't know if they would have done as well anywhere else in the world....adn it doesn't matter, really. They chose here.
I love this country because of it's size....not because we are bigger than most other countries, but because of the variety of both the landscape and cultural influences. These are a blend that you only find here in the USA...you can find elements of it other place, but here it has it's own flavor, a flavor seeped in our own history and truths.
Politically speaking, I like a lot of our system, and I think that it is strong enough and flexable enough to weather the good and bad members that have served in it.
I like that for the most part you can worship whatever you want here, and be left alone. More people have died over that than any other issue in the history of the world, I think, but here we tend to take it for granted.
None of my reasons are insulting towards other countries, or breast-beating patriotism, but they are what works for me. I am proud to fly the US Flag because I am named after my father, who was named after his own brother.....who died on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.
And above all else, I am proud to be an American, even though I may not be proud of some of it's actions these days. The goverment isn't all of American....and in some ways it isn't the most important part at all.
(edited to add great grandparents...my grandparents were American-born.. ) Kwea
[ September 13, 2004, 01:38 PM: Message edited by: Kwea ]
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
In about October 2001, my work handed out American flags stickers to everyone.
I put it on my car.
This puzzled me, at first. I wasn't quite sure why I was putting it on there. It wasn't social pressure, it wasn't war-mongering, it definitely wasn't a desire to lump myself in with the secretary at my office who thinks those who don't want "Under God" in the pledge are unAmerican. But I did put it on my car, and I still have it on my car. I don't want to take it off - it's okay for it to be there. What other people have done with the symbol doesn't change what I think of the symbol - refusing to show it because of them is letting them have as much influence as showing it as an effort to fit in with them would be.
Of course, I also have a "Go-Kat-Go" sticker from Banna on my car, so keep that in mind.
I am an American, and for good and ill, this culture, land, and people are a part of me.
[ September 13, 2004, 12:17 PM: Message edited by: katharina ]
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Kwea, that was very well said.
Dagonee
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Thanks
I don't think in order to be patriotic you have to fly a flag, or have a better-than-thou attitude towards other countries.
But I have a problem with people telling me I souuldn't, without knowing what it means to me, or why I fly the flag.
Most of my life my family only flew it on holidays, and I didn't know why it mattered. As I grew older, and met people who had immigrated to the US, I began to understand a bit more.
When I found my uncles war medals, and my dad's service stuff, it meant a bit more to me.
And when I went into the Army, for completely selfish reasons, I saw a lot of good things along with some of the bad.
The more I learn about the US, the more I love it. I wouldn't want to be Brazillian, or Canadian, or French...not because they are bad, or because they have nothing to offer. They do, and they have contributed to making America what it is today.
But I like where I am. And I understand that most other people may not want to be American...and that is cool too. It is as it should be...
America isn't the only place to have its own flavor...they all do. They all have something to offer, and they are all special.
America means something different to everyone, and that is part of what makes it special.
At least to me...
Kwea
[ September 13, 2004, 01:47 PM: Message edited by: Kwea ]
Posted by Speed 2: Cruise Control (Member # 6765) on :
Kwea and Kat:
Very nice.
[ September 13, 2004, 04:48 PM: Message edited by: Speed 2: Cruise Control ]
Posted by Space Opera (Member # 6504) on :
"Turn on the Dawnzer." (the one with the lee light) - Ramona Quimby
space opera
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
I love the land of my country. I can feel it in my bones, and I am proud that my bones will eventually add calcium to it.
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