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Originally Posted by Neapolitan
I joke around a bit but like they say the is more truth said in jest. Yes it is disheartening for someone to say something negative about our own country or your fellow countrymen (Americans in this case)
You're from England right, if I said I was an Anglophile would that make me an authority of English culture and whatever I say is more accurate then a person who lives in England? You would know that wouldn't be the case. Would you think that a person from England has a wider, more accurate perception of the country they live in? That is why people don't like stereo-types, they don't like being pigeon-hole and that is why I don't care for the comment.
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I'm not sure how that's relevant. I'm not claiming to be an authority on American 'culture' or know more about America than Americans. You're confusing two separate issues here. Whilst I may not know more about America than Americans, I perhaps know more, or have more experience, of being on the receiving end of American Nationalism than any American.
As for pigeon-holing and stereotyping, I've not said that all Americans are like this. What I actually said, initially, was that out of all the Nationalism I've observed and experienced, the bulk of it came from Americans. There's not actually any real stereotyping there. Also, stereotyping is is usually born from pre-conceived assumptions and ideas and generalisations, whereas my comment was actually born from experience and wasn't suggesting that all Americans are like this.
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So I say something silly, that to me is better then how you respond, I'm none of those things you say about me.
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With all due respect, I disagree. Your response was fairly typical of what I was talking about in the first place. My honest experience of Americans, whether face to face or online, is that they aggrandise their country and their interpretation of their culture far more anyone else, often is a very weird chest beating macho way, but at the same time are incredibly sensitive to the even the slightest criticism.
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This thread is about Nationalism, but they're other things to talk about like Culture and History ect. I'm interested about Ireland saving Western culture then Irelands nationalism - I think there more there to talk about.
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That may be so, but as you said yourself, this thread is about
Nationalism. That's why people are talking about experiences and understandings of
Nationalism. Culture and history - whether real or imagined - may inform and influence Nationalism, but they're not the same things.