Attention European Escapist! Why do you hate your country?

[Helmholtz Watson]

So I've noticed not just on the Escapist, but on places like youtube as well that there seems to be an overwhelming amount of self hate from Europeans about their own country. I mean I get that you don't always agree with your politicians, I as an American can say I don't agree with everything my government does, but it seems that there is very little patriotism shown unless the Olympics or FIFA is going on. However with Americans, I seem to come across a fairly equal amount of Americans that hate our country as well as Americans that love our country. Maybe I'm not looking in the right places, but it seems like most Europeans don't like their government/country. Well European escapist, what do you think? Are there a fair number of people in your country that love it, or do most people think it's sh*t?

On a side note, when I say patriotism, I mean patriotism not nationalism, jingoism or racism.

 

[DarkRyter]

We hold a lottery every year to find out who to kill so we have enough supplies to last through winter.

It's kinda lame.

 

[dyre]

Huh? All I see on the internet from self-declared Europeans is how their country has healthcare and gun control and smart/skinny people and so on.

 

[Soviet Steve]

I think you'll find that after all nationalist rallied around the facists the whole concept of unfounded nationalism got tainted.

My major points of disagreeing with Denmark is that I am a republican (anti-monarchist) and I oppose the national-conservatives which ruled us for the past 10 years.

I'm rather fond of France however.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I don't know about the rest of Europe, but us Brits are renowned for our self deprecating attitude.

It goes happily with our dark and sarcastic humour.

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

Huh? All I see on the internet from self-declared Europeans is how their country has healthcare and gun control and smart/skinny people and so on.

ah yes, the "fuck you, Americunt" stance. That seems to be quiet common as well.

 

[OldKingClancy]

I'm a Scot (Which I'm fairly sure is part of Europe) and you'll be heard pressed to find another country so self-deprecating yet so patriotic at the same time. I'm guessing it's like the kid thing they talked about on Scrubs, you can make fun of your own country because you love it so much and you know the good points outweigh the bad yet if someone was to make fun of your country you have every right to be offended.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I don't know about the rest of Europe, but us Brits are renowned for our self deprecating attitude.

It goes happily with our dark and sarcastic humour.

But I thought that Canadians had the self deprecating humour! Oh well, we had to get it from somewhere.

 

[Ickorus]

I like my country, im just not too fond of the people who are currently governing it.

(English here)

[small]Edited to prevent derail.[/small]

 

[Hero in a half shell]

We tend not to have the same level of patriotism in European countries than American's are exposed to. For example, we don't sing the national anthem at regular sporting events, or salute the national flag, or have a pledge of allegiance. Also the American founding fathers have been practically deified, and events like Independence day and Thanksgiving are very geared towards how great America is, whereas we are taught about our nation founded on slavery and imperialism and celebrate the time some bloke failed to blow up the King. (But that's nothing. France celebrate the time they killed all their rulers!)

European countries tend to not have as big a patriotic invasion in their everyday life, and so we kinda have a more grounded view of our country
This guy says it best:

It's ok for him to say it, because he is British, so we can laugh about how crap we are amongst ourselves (It's just that sort of inclusive humour) However we do have pride in our countries, and we will defend it when others slag it off, (Universal healthcare and gun control FTW!) it's just that we understand we also have a lot of faults and corruption thriving here too.

 

[chstens]

I don't hate my country. Norwegian, and appearantly, Norwegians are the whiniest people in Europe, which I can totally believe.

 

[Matt Oliver]

There's a very complicated network of hate and general mistrust that encompass the entirety of Europe. It's what gets us through the day.

We all hate ourselves and we hate each other, our hate can be measured like a radiating pulse. Generally the countries closest to us garner most of our ire, but that doesn't mean we can't muster up some serious hate for countries a few county widths apart. But one commonality we all share, is a deep self loathing. We despise our own countries governments and would overthrow it at any given time, providing we could be bothered organising anything.

Nah, only some of thats true.

In honesty, we just like to complain. We all love pointing out flaws with where we live and the only thing that would change if we moved is we'd have to find different things to complain about.

Ahh the we hate everyone including ourselves just cause we can stance. LOVE IT/sarcasim. As an american, we love our state for various reasons and we can all take shots at other states cause we can,kinda like you guys across the pond... you ever come over to america and dis one single thing that most people agree on esp. in Texas you will get you ass handed to you

 

[Rawne1980]

I think it was said best by Andy Parsons on Mock the Week....

"The Scottish hate the British, The Irish hate the British, The Welsh hate the British and the British hate each other".

Brits have a dark and self mocking kind of attitude.

We are the only country in the world to have a book released called Crap Towns and have enough people complain their town wasn't in it to warrant releasing Crap Towns 2 (again Andy Parsons).

Some Brits are known for hating their own country. To some of us it's not national pride that matters it's home town pride.

When someone overseas asks me where i'm from my first word isn't "England" it's Liverpool.

I'm not "British" i'm bloody Scouse and proud.

 

[GLo Jones]

Patriotism plays a large part in the US, more so than many other countries.

In general, people pick up on and make note of things they dislike or find annoying, mentioning them more often than things they're perfectly fine with. That might be why you see people complaining about their country more than praising it, while the patriotic nature of American society tends to lead to more Americans outwardly expressing the pride for their country (along with inevitable backlash among dissenters). That's how I see it, anyway.

Are you sure it's the european's opinions that are being the most influenced?

 

[ShindoL Shill]

Huh? All I see on the internet from self-declared Europeans is how their country has healthcare and gun control and smart/skinny people and so on.

those people are called fucktards.
i like guns.
i like scotland having lots of free stuffings though.
i hate how our weather is too inconsistent, but not too cold.

in conclusion, i wanna live in Canada.

I think it was said best by Andy Parsons on Mock the Week....

"The Scottish hate the British, The Irish hate the British, The Welsh hate the British and the British hate each other".

Brits have a dark and self mocking kind of attitude.

We are the only country in the world to have a book released called Crap Towns and have enough people complain their town wasn't in it to warrant releasing Crap Towns 2 (again Andy Parsons).

Some Brits are known for hating their own country. To some of us it's not national pride that matters it's home town pride.

When someone overseas asks me where i'm from my first word isn't "England" it's Liverpool.

I'm not "British" i'm bloody Scouse and proud.

yeah, being Scouse is something to be proud of. keep telling yourself that. the Scouse are greeeeat. i mean, you've even got your own tv show on E4!
yeah.
[sub]Hey guys, do you think he realised I was being sarcastic?[/sub]

 

[Stoneface]

"it seems like most Europeans dont like their own country" wait...where did u get that from? I mean europe is a big place, and far more culturally diverse than say...america is. So saying that all of europe is unpatriotic or self deprecating is plain silly, not to mention wrong. I mean in France for example, their nationalist part is the second largest, and Italys government is pretty nationalistic as well, thats not generally taken as evidence of a country hating itself. Germany is always a little bit self ashamed fair enough and so is Britain...buuuuut all Europe. No way.

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

Patriotism plays a large part in the US, more so than many other countries.

In general, people pick up on and make note of things they dislike or find annoying, mentioning them more often than things they're perfectly fine with. That might be why you see people complaining about their country more than praising it, while the patriotic nature of American society tends to lead more Americans outwardly expressing the pride for their country (along with inevitable backlash among dissenters). That's how I see it, anyway.

Are you sure it's the european's opinions that are being the most influenced?

Well my personal experience has been that East/South-East Asian people seem to not care one way or another, unless you make fun of their country in which case they dislike that. As for Middle Eastern people, most of the time seems to be spent trying to argue with people over topics relating to Islam. Finally for Central/South Americans, I don't see the topic of love or hate for their country come up that often.

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

"it seems like most Europeans dont like their own country" wait...where did u get that from? I mean europe is a big place, and far more culturally diverse than say...america is. So saying that all of europe is unpatriotic or self deprecating is plain silly, not to mention wrong. I mean in France for example, their nationalist part is the second largest, and Italys government is pretty nationalistic as well, thats not generally taken as evidence of a country hating itself. Germany is always a little bit self ashamed fair enough and so is Britain...buuuuut all Europe. No way.

This is just what I see when I go on sites like Escapist and Youtube, I realize that I'm making a generalization but I'm just curious about the (imo) lack of patriotism from Europeans who choose to comment.

 

[loadingmikke]

We love and we hate. I like my country.
i love it when it comes to landscape with fjords and mountains.
But on the other hand i also love the Gran canyon, the alpes, the mountains of himalaya, the rainforest.
So i have to say i dont love my country as one. But the whole Earth.
I feel patriotism for mother earth. "where are you from?" "Me? Earth, hell yeah!"