# National inferiority complex or what? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 28, 2016, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-inferiority-complex-or-what/750461 "2016-03-28T15:02:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-inferiority-complex-or-what/750461/41 "2016-04-26T02:24:06Z")
> [@nicky](#): > > What you have to understand is that the attitude of western europeans to the usa is _disappointment_. Yous get a continent stuffed with resources and a free hand to start again yet there you go believing in fucking rubbish like Jesus and Magic Flags. Is that any worse than believing in Communism and Fascism? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-inferiority-complex-or-what/750461/42 "2016-04-26T06:34:24Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Because in the USA, we have a more than adequate supply of periods to use in paragraphs. The OP may come from a place with a tragic shortage of periods, but they have an abundance of commas and I believe commas are their major export. In fact the OP’s homeland is so rich in commas that apparently they’ll sometimes throw in two in a row just as a sign of national pride. > [@madsircool](#): > > You have never watched any international footie, have you? Euros are just as nationalistic as Americans. I think it’s more that Euros (and Aussies, and South Americans, and Canadians) are just as _ **sports-obsessed** _ as Americans. I blame beer. > [@msmith537](#): > > I don’t buy that. People in European countries have just as much national pride as Americans do. And it’s not like we Americans walk around all day wearing our flag and slapping each other on the back about how awesome we are. It depends what you mean by “national pride”. Citizens will generally share most of their nation’s values and will be loyal in defense of their nation against its enemies. I have no issue with patriotism. But patriotism in America has taken on stronger dimensions, typified by sentiments like “Love It or Leave It” with the undercurrent that criticizing national policies or values is somehow unpatriotic. To be fair, this was much stronger in the 50s and 60s than today, but what persists today, perhaps more strongly than ever, is summed up in the phrase “American exceptionalism”. And what it seems to denote is the broad policy doctrine that rules and principles that apply to other nations don’t apply to America. And IMHO this plays out in both international and domestic policy. Internationally, we get things like the Monroe Doctrine, the so-called Bush Doctrine, and interventionism in Iraq and throughout the Middle East and Central and South America. We get the US repudiating the authority of the International Court of Justice and one of only three significant nations refusing to recognize the authority of the International Criminal Court (Israel and Sudan are the other two). And of course the usual gang of lunatics demanding that the US withdraw from the UN entirely because, as far as I can tell, “we don’t need no steenkin’ badges”. This kind of thinking, neatly summed up in the policy proposals of the now-defunct Project for a New American Century by notables like Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney, has led to massive destabilization of the Middle East and consequent surge of terrorism. Domestically, we get the assertions that universal health care won’t work in the US even though it works fine throughout the civilized world, because American exceptionalism. We get assertions that meaningful gun control is neither possible nor desirable in America despite ongoing daily gun fatalities and the almost routinely periodic mass shooting spree, because American exceptionalism. We get assertions that if the wealthy have an ironclad hold on the political process and policy making it must be what God intended because American exceptionalism says money is speech, even if no other country on earth buys that nonsense. No one has a problem with patriotism and love of country, but the notion of a magical national exceptionalism is mostly counterproductive mythology. If people sometimes seem to have a problem with American patriotism, it’s not about waving the flag and celebrating the Fourth of July with fireworks and hot dogs, it’s about subsuming all logic to the mythical doctrine of exceptionalism and enduring its consequences. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-inferiority-complex-or-what/750461/43 "2016-04-26T11:42:53Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > I’m not sure it’s because they’re “irrationally obsessed” with another country. They might just think it makes them sound/look cool. It happens in the U.S. too. “Excuse my French, but that’s fucking crazy” is something you might hear. Also, Excusez-moi is sometimes said, as is Gesundheit and kindergarten. > > Furthermore, I see no problem with a fondness for American music. We had a whole British invasion here that lasted for years. The OP seems to be confusing cultural philies (which may not even be) with hatred of one’s own culture. Someone who thinks that anything coming out of the US is by definition great, and who is not himself American, is an americanophile. That doesn’t mean he hates his own culture, country or language. Someone may pepper English into his speech because they think it sounds cool, or due to professional deformation, or they may be using words which aren’t English, they’re neologisms their language acquired from English. I’m in IT and currently working in an actual IT company, instead of within the IT team of a manufacturing company. One of the tells that a conversation is about work is the amount of, ah, “English read by Spanish cows” one hears. If they’re mixing in English with English pronunciation, they’re probably talking about TV series they’re watching, which they happen to watch in English with hard of hearing subtitles as a way to improve their English (we’re required to speak English; we interviewed in English, work in international environments, company-provided training is in English). If they’re speaking in English, there’s someone in the group who doesn’t speak Spanish. If the only English words are _penalti, córner, míster_ and the names of English cities, they’re talking about _fútbol_. And if it’s all Spanish, none of the above. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-inferiority-complex-or-what/750461/44 "2016-04-26T12:50:42Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > The OP seems to be confusing cultural philies (which may not even be) with hatred of one’s own culture. Someone who thinks that anything coming out of the US is by definition great, and who is not himself American, is an americanophile. That doesn’t mean he hates his own culture, country or language. Exactly. S/He maybe just thinks American (or, UK, or, Cuban, or, wherever) culture/style/products/people are hip and fun or edgy or “cool” or exotic/sexy. Their own cultural referents? Why, that’s just humdrum everyday normal stuff, why make a big deal of it. (In China and Japan, are there people getting tattoos of words and phrases in English that they have no idea what they mean…?) > [@](#): > > If the only English words are _penalti, córner, míster_ and the names of English cities, they’re talking about _fútbol_. 😃 And if they very carefully talk about _balompié, penal,_ and _tiro de esquina_, they’re Puerto Ricans or US Latinos trying needlessly to prove they are not assimilated. Or annoying purist pedants. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-inferiority-complex-or-what/750461/45 "2016-04-26T21:19:54Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > (In China and Japan, are there people getting tattoos of words and phrases in English that they have no idea what they mean…?) That could be risky, if their friends or the tattooist likes pranks. Reminds me of the story from when I was in Jr. High School, and our class went to a Minnesota Twins baseball game. They had a new player, from Venzulia, who spoke very little English. So his teammates helped him out – they told hem he should start each game by greeting the umpire who stood near his position. And they carefully coached him to say “Good morning, motherfucker”. But the shocked umpire noticed his teammates snickering, and caught onto the joke. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-inferiority-complex-or-what/750461/46 "2016-04-26T21:41:41Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > I think you have this the wrong way around. Much of the rest of the world regards the American practice of displaying the national flag in contexts where other nations don’t find this necessary or appropriate - on bumper stickers, at commercial premises, etc - as suggestive of a certain insecurity in the American national identity. (I don’t share this view myself, but I think it’s not uncommon.) They comment on this by drawing attention to the practice. > > Quite simply, Belgians in Belgium don’t generally fly the national flag because why would they? They might display it at times like the present when they feel they are being attacked, but in normal circumstances it’s not necessary, in order to be Belgian, to say “I’m Belgian!” for no very obvious reason. I don’t see anything wrong with a little nationalism, and I certainly don’t take the jump from that to national insecurity. However, it’s easy for an outsider who doesn’t really know the culture to assume the negative. I’ll bet if you took a look at the demographics of who actually flies the flag regularly (aside from national holidays or marking an important death) that it’s dominated by Baby Boomers. As far as I can tell the custom has mostly faded away, but will never completely die. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-inferiority-complex-or-what/750461.md?page=2)