Americans don't understand German patriotism. Patriotism in general is frowned upon and even in Germany during the FIFA tournament it was questionable to root for the German national team. That's because of their history and their rememberance culture, you simply cannot say "uh no that's not being a Nazi" because it's way more complicated than that. Germany is taking steps to being a rememberance society and slowly becoming proud of their country because they've moved on and are not scared of nationalism, which is what Nazism was to the extreme. They're being cautious which isn't something you can tell them is wrong
I mean they had literal Nazis that were all about Nationalism and patriotism... too much so. It's understandable that the people would be cautious about their perception especially since that history was so recent
And you somehow think that a reluctance to support the national soccer or Olympic team is not due in part to some indoctrination somewhere along the way?
Actually I can't quite back up jensensbooty's comment here, because whenever there's anything football related you'll find german flags everywhere. But that's the only exception. Otherwise yes, we don't dare to be patriotistic. It's just become kind of a taboo, but I don't really feel like missing out on something. For me it's enough to say that I like the country I'm living in and that's it. I see no point in patriotism anyway, as living in a certain country is nothing you've achieved. So why should I be proud?
I think it was in 2012 with the football thing, my professor lived in Germany and took a picture of posters that questioned the rooting of the team, it was like a satire on the official FIFA posters specifically commenting on Germanys nationalistic past
“I see no point in patriotism anyway, as living in a certain country is nothing you've achieved. So why should I be proud?” Why is it bad to be proud of something you didn’t accomplish?
In a way, that's kind of what Putin ran on. Ignore Russia today and look back at where it was in the late 90s. They had the fall of the Soviet Union and the move to democracy and capitalism was rough. Russia seemed less like it's own country and more like another government being run by Americans. They went from being on top to just another country. Putin promised to return to better times, at least for those who were left behind during the economic shift and bringing Russia back on top. How well he did so is kind of up for debate but the rise in prices of fossil fuels was a boon for Russia, since they sit on a lot of oil and gas. It's no coincidence that the fall of the prices has hit Russia particularly hard, not to mention sanctions from Putin's overreaching into Crimea. But a good portion of Russians seem to like this, even with its faults. There's a lot of controversy surrounding this and it's really complicated but I tried to explain things as non-partisan as possible.
Putin's focus in general is on the outside politics at the moment, because there is nothing he can offer otherwise. When the whole country became a massive income machine for him and his friends, the only logical step is to keep it that way, even if the country degrades from the inside. Now, keep in mind that Russia in general isn't particularly friendly towards U.S. and Europe, and you can see why it's in such isolation. The entire country right now is boiling with unrest and a desire to change the government, and even though an outside interference could help settle the issue, 90% of the people would be against it, just because of the history of Russia's relations with other superpowers and developed countries.
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Edited 7 years ago
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· 7 years ago
If Rome wanted to be great again, would they recreate the Roman Empire?
The Roman Empire IS recreated...overlay a map of the Roman Empire at its peak onto today's European Union (EEC). One currency, commonied laws governing business all the way down to acceptable rate of farm tractor windshield wiper wiping...
I was kind of hoping to get more information about the EU regulations on windshield wipers on agricultural equipment
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· 7 years ago
Remember that time Germany literally took over most of Czechoslovakia, and the whole world said, "Maybe if we just let them have it, they'll just stop"?
I imagine OP's prediction would come true online, but the UN wouldn't actually do anything.
Germany has a way different history than us you simply cannot compare the two and expect it to add up
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· 7 years ago
There's a great, concise book by Hagen Schulze—Germany a New History. I highly recommend it. From an American reader's perspective, it sheds light on some major differences.
Patriot = Person who loves their nation
Just clarifying. Are you German, or living abroad?
That was literally what he kept saying... Give Italy its empire by going back to roman methods
I imagine OP's prediction would come true online, but the UN wouldn't actually do anything.