Let me remind our European members of one fact (because I find that Europeans are always confused by American patriotism and other attached things) that I have had to repeat many times being an American studying and living in Europe: Just because a government does something, does not represent the ENTIRE population of that country; especially an unpopular government (I cannot wait until November).
But don't trash on others for being overly patriotic. Europeans have it the same way with football: they go CRAZY over the game. Americans have their games, too, but we are also very patriotic and supportive of the people that serve in our armed forces. Our country was only formed just shy of 300 years ago, and the patriotism that was created when that happened has been a tradition in the American culture. Whether or not the American people popularly support the government in power when it has fallen from grace (as the Bush administration did), Americans always support the soldiers serving their country.
Europeans, for the most part, have conscription and patriotism has never been a part of the culture. That's fine, I am NOT BASHING on that in any way, it's just a difference of culture.
Personally, I feel bad for the soldiers of the UK. I met an officer in the UK Army (maybe the RAF, I can't exactly remember; but pretty sure the Army) and he commented that the UK soldiers have no where near the support back home that guys get here like the USO program and such. They come home, get welcomed back and that's it for the most part. It isn't a cultural support from what I have seen in news reports and what I have had related back to me from the Brits I've spoken with about the subject. But once again, it's a cultural difference. No biggy.
The thing is, because most Europeans don't have that part of culture that Americans have, they don't really understand it and think we're all big and stupid cavemen because of it. It's not that we like war or fighting or whatever, but we do have a cultural appreciation for the soldiers in our military (which is strictly voluntary, and that also has a lot to do with it).
If you want a good glimpse into that culture, I invite you to read books by Tom Clancy. He spells it out very well in his writing. I'm reading "Without Remorse" at the moment which takes place back during the Vietnam time period and if you're familiar with history, soldiers at the time didn't get treated very well because it was a totally screwed up war and the draft wasn't exactly popular. Anyway. If you have the time and are interested in reading some awesome suspense spy/military novels and also want to get an idea of what it is like, I invite you to read them. I don't know if they've been translated into Finnish, but the original language is always the best language to read something in.
But don't trash on others for being overly patriotic. Europeans have it the same way with football: they go CRAZY over the game. Americans have their games, too, but we are also very patriotic and supportive of the people that serve in our armed forces. Our country was only formed just shy of 300 years ago, and the patriotism that was created when that happened has been a tradition in the American culture. Whether or not the American people popularly support the government in power when it has fallen from grace (as the Bush administration did), Americans always support the soldiers serving their country.
Europeans, for the most part, have conscription and patriotism has never been a part of the culture. That's fine, I am NOT BASHING on that in any way, it's just a difference of culture.
Personally, I feel bad for the soldiers of the UK. I met an officer in the UK Army (maybe the RAF, I can't exactly remember; but pretty sure the Army) and he commented that the UK soldiers have no where near the support back home that guys get here like the USO program and such. They come home, get welcomed back and that's it for the most part. It isn't a cultural support from what I have seen in news reports and what I have had related back to me from the Brits I've spoken with about the subject. But once again, it's a cultural difference. No biggy.
The thing is, because most Europeans don't have that part of culture that Americans have, they don't really understand it and think we're all big and stupid cavemen because of it. It's not that we like war or fighting or whatever, but we do have a cultural appreciation for the soldiers in our military (which is strictly voluntary, and that also has a lot to do with it).
If you want a good glimpse into that culture, I invite you to read books by Tom Clancy. He spells it out very well in his writing. I'm reading "Without Remorse" at the moment which takes place back during the Vietnam time period and if you're familiar with history, soldiers at the time didn't get treated very well because it was a totally screwed up war and the draft wasn't exactly popular. Anyway. If you have the time and are interested in reading some awesome suspense spy/military novels and also want to get an idea of what it is like, I invite you to read them. I don't know if they've been translated into Finnish, but the original language is always the best language to read something in.
