About a week ago, I had been to a Major League Soccer game featuring the LA galaxy & DC united. During the half time, there was an announcement on the public system that Mexico trounced Iran 3-1 in their opening world cup 2006 encounter. This address was greeted by a rapturous applause from the audience. Once the noise subsided, the speakers blared the announcement that USA takes on Czech in their first game at 9:00 am tomorrow morning. One might have expected this news to be received with a louder cheer, but to my surprise the applause was not even a tenth as strong as the former. Inspite of the fact that the city of Los Angeles has almost 1/3rd of its population of Hispanic descent and probably more than 70% of its soccer fans belong to this ethnic group, the above incident shocked me.
....and then I tried imagining what I would have felt if I were a citizen of this country (not a naturalised one, but someone born & raised here). Or for that matter how would I react if Bangladesh received a bigger cheer than India in Wankhede stadium during a Ranji Trophy game ? I am probably comparing apples to oranges here, as USA is very different from India, as the former in essence is a land of immigrants, whereas the latter bears no such attributes. But this fact still unsettled me.
There is a theory that the most progressive countries are the one whose citizens are most patriotic. Japan is often cited as an example to this rule. But then, how come a country like USA, which probably boasts of least patriotic population as a whole be a superpower ? Is patriotism essential to a country at all or pure economics can drive a country to riches ?
Also what differentiates loyalty to a country from allegiance to a city ? I have been in LA, for less than a year, but I have vociferously supported Clippers, Lakers, Kings, Dodgers and the Galaxies whenever I have seen them in action in the stadium or in a bar or my living room. However, after living in this country for close to 3 years, I still didn't feel like supporting USA against Italy last weekend in their world cup soccer 2006 encounter. For that matter I dont support team USA is any sport. Likewise I know a lot of friends who would willingly vouch for Penn State in any college sports inspite of being a student for only a year or two. But such things never happen when it comes to the country(USA in this case). What makes us join hand in hand with students of a school or residents of a city to support the local teams, but at the same time withdraw when it comes to the Nation to which these clubs and schools belong? Or is it because there can be multiple cities, clubs, schools but one and only one NATION?
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9 comments:
one cannot ignore the absolute apathy of the american media towards international sporting events .. maybe if the media were to whip a greater frenzy for international events where team usa competes against others there would be substantially greater fan following.
you cannot also ignore the very insular nature of the usa. calling the winners of nfl,mlb,nba as world champions is an absolute mockery of the word "world" -- it is of course reflective of what america thinks the world is. since the world is very very local, there is not going to be a concept of a nation, and nation competing against others -- it is always going to be very regional/localized passion.
i can see the immigrant angle adding a bit to the lack of a national identity but im not sure its as serious -- if the immigrant can adapt to supporting the local baseball/football teams and becoming loyal fanatic followers, theres no real reason that they cannot adapt to following national sport.
I have no idea what you are talking about. What's the point,pointy?
I am not sure if patriotism and country's economic growth is interrelated in any way.
@Nice Try..Ur point abt US whipping local frenzy is very true. I read this sometime ago. The athletes at tour de france were introducing themselves at the table...It went something like this
"Hi, I am XYZ from Spain"
"Hi, I am ABC from Germany"
"Hi, I am KLM from Italy"
"Hi, I am Lance from Texas"
...the entire USPS team bust out laughing, but Amstrong still didnt realise what was wrong....
@Totti..Probably the post wasn't clear..but if u read Nice try's comment along with the post, it should be very clear..
@Pallavi..Probably its not...for some reason I am still under the impression that if the majority of population of a country are really patriotism then that country would progress faster than in the absence of it
I don't know from where you got the notion that Americans are not patriotic. I feel Americans are one of the most, if not THE most patriotic people that I have ever seen. And thats one of the things that I love about the United States. Maybe the cheering in the Mexico-Iran match was because it was Iran that lost, rather than Mexico that won. With all the diplomatic sabre-rattling thats going on between the US and Iran these days, that could very well be the reason. Like nice try pointed out, interational sporting events don't get quite that much media attention as compared to local/college events. Concluding from this that Americans don't love their country is premature. Look at the Iraq war for instance. Regardless of wether an American supports it or opposes it, their stand on the issue comes solely from their love for the country. Like pallavi observed, I too don't see how pariotism and economic strength are related. What about WW2? If you have seen the series 'Band of Brothers' the main protagonist, Maj. Richard Winters, who is actully from a small town in Pennsylvania, recently came to Penn State for a guest lecutre. He told, in his tiny town, there were 3 young men who were of the right age to volunteer to fight in the war. Except him, the other two were rejected on medical grounds. The shame was so great for them that both of them commited suicide because they could not fight for their country. What is that if not patriotism?
I definitely don't think the cheers were for Iran. Given the make of the crowd, I wouldnt be surprised if there would have been a huge cheer for Mexico beating US 3-1
Talking abt patriotism, the American Americans...ie people who have been here for generations or born and brought up here might be as patriotic as anywhere else. But what I was getting at was the significant first generation immigrants who still are loyal to their mother nations. Thus if you take a general sample of people living in US and compare it with a similar random sample from other fairly developed countries, I think US wont rank very highly in terms of patriotic fervour.
You make a good point.
Good point. I would like to make another point here. Last republic day (Jan 26th), Hindustan Times conducted an extensive nationwide survey. In the rural population, (I don't remember the figures) could not recognize India's flag, didn't know who Gandhi was and didn't know when India's independence day was. So, my point being, is being educated a prerequisite for being patriotic? Can one still be patriotic even he doesn't recognize these symbols that define the country? Neverthless, the first generation immigrant point, though well made, I still don't think it equals a lost nation.
@Anarkist...I agree with you, but if you read carefully, I mentioned that US patriotism pales in comparison with developed countries.
You raise a good point about education and patriotism, and I think a basic education is pre-requisite for patriotic sentiments. But I think this point is debatable, and probably deserves an entire post :))
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