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Should Every Country Think It Is Exceptional?

Should Every Nation Think Itself Exceptional?

  • Yes, of course, that's patriotism!

    Votes: 9 31.0%
  • It depends -- maybe the middle powers, like Italy or Egypt.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No, only the great nations really have a claim to exceptionalism.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No nation should think they're exceptional, it's nationalistic and dangerous.

    Votes: 14 48.3%
  • Each nation should think itself exceptional for some things, but not for everything.

    Votes: 6 20.7%

  • Total voters
    29
No. They, generally, don't consider themselves Canadian either.

I find BC people to be the least humble. Pretentious hippy ****s for the most part. Then again, I've only been to the Van area.
 
I would have though that every country already thinks that it is exceptional by it's populace...

...why else do people cheer for their homelands during the Olympics, etc. ??

A fatalistic sense of duty? The triumph of hope over expectation? On the sports field I don't think any British person thinks of their country as exceptional... except when one of our boys or girls is on a bicycle!
 
I find BC people to be the least humble. Pretentious hippy ****s for the most part. Then again, I've only been to the Van area.

The nicest people in Canada are in the Atlantic East - generally just all around great people - people in Ontario are generally very nice, but in the bigger cities can be a little aloof but that's just part of being humble and unassuming. People in the West, other than BC, are fiercely Canadian and very proud of who they are and what they bring to the country, and people in BC are one of God's experiments with the ravages of drugs on the human brain.
 
The nicest people in Canada are in the Atlantic East - generally just all around great people - people in Ontario are generally very nice, but in the bigger cities can be a little aloof but that's just part of being humble and unassuming. People in the West, other than BC, are fiercely Canadian and very proud of who they are and what they bring to the country, and people in BC are one of God's experiments with the ravages of drugs on the human brain.

Agreed. I've spent time in NB and NS. They're great places. People are extremely homely - a bit two faced - but extremely nice. It's a shame what's happened to that area in the last 50 or so years.
 
Mexico as "exceptional" ? :2rofll: :lamo

Mexico as a nation has an inferiority complex.
 
I think the Idea of exceptionalism tends to devalue other countrys in favor for your own.But I think it's important to be content with ones home if he or she chooses to live there and I believe that loving ones country and your fellow neighbor is an important aspect in day to day life. So all in all I think My country of vietnam is exceptional but I also think my new home and all it's chubsters are exceptional too
 
Agreed. I've spent time in NB and NS. They're great places. People are extremely homely - a bit two faced - but extremely nice. It's a shame what's happened to that area in the last 50 or so years.

Big fishing communities have been devastated with the reducting in fish stocks and transportation issues make it virtually impossible to get much in the way of investment there that's not directly serving the people who live there. However, Nfld is starting to prosper with offshore oil production and NB is hoping that with US blocking the Keystone pipeline that the west/east reversal of the east/west all Canadian pipeline will go through and their oil refinery industry will start booming again. It would be great if more young people in these provinces didn't have to leave and move to central or western Canada to get decent, permanent jobs.
 
I think the Idea of exceptionalism tends to devalue other countrys in favor for your own.But I think it's important to be content with ones home if he or she chooses to live there and I believe that loving ones country and your fellow neighbor is an important aspect in day to day life. So all in all I think My country of vietnam is exceptional but I also think my new home and all it's chubsters are exceptional too

A Vietnamese communist in Montana - now that's an interesting turn of events!!
 
Mexico as "exceptional" ? :2rofll: :lamo

Mexico as a nation has an inferiority complex.

People who need to ridicule other nations to make themselves feel better demonstrate a bit of an inferiority complex, as far as I can see.
 
A Vietnamese communist in Montana - now that's an interesting turn of events!!

an interesting change that's for sure but I love this country I even saw my first eagle a couple of weeks ago I grew up being told your national bird was a rooster
 
People who need to ridicule other nations to make themselves feel better demonstrate a bit of an inferiority complex, as far as I can see.

Can you provide a link to the source ?

While you work on that lets look at "cultural cringe."

>" Cultural cringe, in cultural studies and social anthropology, is an internalized inferiority complex which causes people in a country to dismiss their own culture as inferior to the cultures of other countries...

Mexico has experienced sustained cultural cringe dating back to the colonial period where European born people called Peninsulares or Gachupines, were privileged with access to the best positions of authority and commerce while Mexican born Spaniards, even if they were 100% European with no indigenous admixture, were barred from such privileges. This led to the suppression of Mexican developments in favor of importing everything from Europe such as: machinery, lawyers, governors, culture, art, science and the common world view among the colonists which was a facsimile of that of Europe.

Today cultural cringe is still prevalent throughout Mexico where foreign cultures, attitudes, technologies, arts, and academics are seen much more favorably than Mexico's own indigenous scholars, technologies and artists. The result of this has been brain drain as competent and talented Mexicans choose to move abroad, mostly to the United States, where they can develop their skills and practice their talents. In the Mexican popular media, news anchors and variety show hosts, Telenovela actors and actresses are distinctly white despite the fact that most of the Mexican population is Mestizo or Natives. This phenomenon still resonates with the old colonial attitude of the caste system which favored the European image, culture and aesthetics over Mexican development which it perceives as inferior or substandard.

This attitude is commonly known as malinchismo and its bearers as malinchistas in reference to La Malinche."<
Cultural cringe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


:attn1:
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Countries don't think. ;)
 
I find BC people to be the least humble. Pretentious hippy ****s for the most part. Then again, I've only been to the Van area.

Sounds about right to me.

Lived in Van 2 years, really didn't like it.

My favourite part of Canada is the East Coast.

Good people out there.
 
Agreed. I've spent time in NB and NS. They're great places. People are extremely homely - a bit two faced - but extremely nice. It's a shame what's happened to that area in the last 50 or so years.

LOL, did you mean "People are extremely homely" in the British sense of plain or ordinary but pleasant - or in the American sense of 'lacking in physical attractiveness; not beautiful; unattractive'?

But to return to the topic - exceptional is strictly defined as 'being an exception' or 'uncommon'. But in common usage it almost always means being well above average, and extraordinary in that respect.

If one genuinely thinks this of one's own society - common sense (not to mention good manners) dictates that one keeps this to oneself. If for no better reason than that there is no such animal as the best country in the world, and it is seldom gratifying to be considered a self-aggrandising loony by one's peers. :mrgreen:
 
Hello everyone!

It's par for the course that big and powerful countries think they're exceptional. Britain, France, America, Russia, Germany, China, Japan, and other powerful and important nations all think they're the best.

But what about Albania? What about Zimbabwe? Or Honduras, or Laos?

Should these nations, like the great powers, think of themselves as exceptional, a cut above the rest?

Why, or why not?

Thinking you're exceptional is what leads to starting wars, bombing whoever the **** you want, imprisoning non-citizens without trial, and a general disgust in the international community for you.

The US is a great nation, but we're not so exceptional that we can just **** over whoever we want for any reason we want. We need to learn to work with the other human beings who occupy this planet with us.

I voted #4.

Exceptionalisim in respect to geopolitics is something very different than thinking your country produces exceptionally beautiful women or is exceptionally clean.

It means that your country is so far ahead of/above the rest that the normal rules don't apply, it means that the international community should make exceptions for you because of your greatness.

I don't think such inflated opinions of the national self hold a great deal of water.

We've all seen (at least in a history book) what happens when a great nation begins to consider itself exceptional and starts running roughshod over the community of nations.

In a nutshell, the international community bands together, firebombs the upstart's cities, and occupies that nation for 40 or 50 years.

No single part is as great as the whole.

Not even the United States.

You said what I was trying to say, but better.
 
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Well, America is exceptional at imprisoning its own citizens. We are the tops in that. We are also good in the Entertainment Industry if you allow the vapid pap that runs as entertainment.

Also where it comes to Education at the College or higher level there is no other place that has as many virtually worthless degrees than here. And I am not talking about basket-weaving either. I'm talking about:

English Lit (A classic Von-Newman type of reproduction),
Fine Arts (If you were any good wouldn't you go to an Academy instead?),
Law (There are already too many lawyers and unless you have connections or are really good then forget it.),
Education (Just forget it. No one respects teachers and you will never get to use your innate abilities to do the job as long as the government is in control of it.),
History related (Unless your goal is to teach history or do research, real research which cannot be found readily in sources, do not bother),
which leads to Ethnic Studies ( You must have a dead certain plan to put this to use or you are fretting away both your time and money),
and Philosophy (Look, unless you think that you would be able to contribute to the work of Philosophy, then leave it to the professionals since you won't become one.)

America might have the most variety of foods but most are an exception rather than the rule.

I suppose one area that Americans are most noted for is the ability to overcome obstacles in our way though the increased government assistances are weakening that over time.
 
But what about Albania? What about Zimbabwe? Or Honduras, or Laos?

Should these nations, like the great powers, think of themselves as exceptional, a cut above the rest?
No. They're all ****.
 
Exceptionalism is idiotic and stupid. Jingoism and nationalism does no one any good. Every country has their areas which they strive in and areas which the suck at. After all we are simply members of earth and we are divided by class and imaginary lines in the dirt/sand.
 
an interesting change that's for sure but I love this country I even saw my first eagle a couple of weeks ago I grew up being told your national bird was a rooster

I live in Canada, but I appreciate your thoughts.
 
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