That "Netherlands Second" Video

Apparently there are now a bunch more, as European nations jump on the bandwagon.

They are strangely self-critical, these videos. They seem to be mocking their own patriots almost as much as Trump. At some point, the series becomes a mocking of the idea of patriotism itself.

8 comments:

jaed said...

Interesting point about patriotism. It's commonly said that Europeans—Germans especially—have a real problem with patriotism due to WWII, but I personally would frame this as "have a real problem distinguishing patriotism from wanting your country to conquer ALL THE THINGS". Really, the two are not even similar. Europeans often say they are frightened by even our milder shows of patriotism.

It's such a frequent cause of friction between Americans and Europeans that it deserves study and thought.

Tom said...

One aspect I think is part of this is that they blame patriotism / nationalism (and they can't tell the difference for historical reasons, probably) for the great wars of the 20th century. The real culprit, especially for WWII I think, was progressivism, which used patriotism / nationalism for propaganda. Then, after WWII, they used patriotism / nationalism as their scapegoat, banishing it from the tribe, in order to redeem their progressivism.

They can't let go of progressivism no matter what; they will commit national suicide first. It's the only religion they have left.

Of course, I could be utterly wrong about this. It's just a theory.

douglas said...

Patriotism, root patria- "smash the patricarchy", a favorite slogan of the left- there you go, of course they disdain it.

Grim said...

The Portuguese video, actually, has some real patriotism going on.

Tom said...

Portugal!? They're not in Europe! Or, at least, most people don't know they're in Europe, which is much the same thing. No, Portugal, and Finland, they get to be patriotic. And, of course, any former Soviet Block nation, which I guess includes half of Germany, but the other half has to be twice as anti-patriotic to balance it out.

Anonymous said...

I get the sense that most Europeans do not distinguish between patriotism and nationalism, in part because they have been yoked together for so long in Europe. You are a Hungarian patriot because you are Magyar, or at least have ancestors who have been in Hungary for generations, speak Hungarian, are Catholic or Calvinist, and are not [other ethnic group].

Probably because of being an American, my understanding is that patriotism is more inclusive, since I know a lot of people who are Americans at heart who just happened to be born in another country. A German or Italian would consider that the height of absurdity, and in fact, Germany recognized descendants of Germans as being German enough to have an immigration even if they had emigrated centuries before (Mennonites and Amish and German Brethren in the US, for example, who came here in the 1700s.) That was 20 years ago, so the law may have changed, but an Amish girl born in the US was legally more German than a fourth-generation Turk-Born-in-Germany.

LittleRed1

Ymar Sakar said...

They seem to be mocking their own patriots almost as much as Trump.

Logical, since what scares Europeans are their own "right wing nationalists". Trum is seen in this context alone.

Ymar Sakar said...

The EU interpretation of "America First" reminds me of Americans who get their Japanese translations from the AP, Yahoo news, and other Leftist bs pro arms.

It is translated in a way that pushes a political point, it is not an accurate translation of the meaning. And people fall for it, because how will they verify it, by re translating the language... They'll be the Catholics trying to read the Latin Bible then.

The context and connotation of Trum's line is that we will prioritize America over helping other countries or putting other countries ahead of our interests. That is consistent with his other so called positions sold to the conservatives and the non yellow dog non blue Democrats that voted Republican for the first time in their ever lasting life.

But it is popular to think America, via Soros prop, is going to make the US First by punching down every other country, like Nationalist Militant Germans, Italians, and Japanese did. Trum may go imperialist or isolationist, but that's more of a side effect.

The EU also thinks Trum is related to the KKK. Well every Democrat may have funded the KKK, since Demoncrats are the party of demons, run by demons, for demons. Most of the KKK are a joke now that they aren't funded by the Left. And if Soros is still funding the KKK or the Federal Reserve or what people call the Illuminati, then the KKK may still be dangerous, but without funding they are not what Forest wanted them to be, but they aren't that much of a threat either.

The Swiss should be more concerned about the Federal Reserve. Here's a hint. The government doesn't own it or control it.