Club USA

Paris is so peculiar in all of its little nuances and attitudes. Americans have this reputation as being so proud of their country and being completely dedicated to the USA. When people tell me this and ask why we are SO proud to be American, I never really know how to answer. My general response has always been, "Well aren't you proud to be French?" I've never particularly noticed that Americans are any more or any less proud than the rest of the world. But the French have pointed out to me that it is just so bizarre that every morning before school American students pledge their allegiance to the American flag. Quite frankly I had never thought twice about doing it, and I never questioned the purpose of such an act. I never even associated the pledge of allegiance with pride to be an American, it was just something that we did no questions asked no justifications needed. Once all this was brought to my attention I started to subtly observe demonstrations of French pride in Paris and tried to figure out what it is that is so starkly different in the United States. And what I've been finding wasn't exactly expected, but not surprising either. Just different.

Point blank the French aren't an overtly proud people. Rather their pride is expressed through the things in their culture that are exclusive to France (the gastronomy, their scarves, etc). You would never see a French person running around yelling "I LOVE FRANCE IT'S THE BEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD" but instead the occasional eye-roll or bof to things or acts that just aren't (and never will be) French. However, that is not to say that I particularly find that Americans are vastly prouder than the French. Yes we are a prouder people in general but compared to other countries Americans might as well be French. Compared to Egypt, for example, Americans look tame and indifferent to their country at all.

Last night while walking down the Champs Elysées with one of my friends we saw riot police everywhere; patrolling the sidewalks in groups of 5 or 6, police cars and vans driving up and down the Champs Elysées pulling people over and trying to contain the public. I don't know how this event manifested itself, but I swear every single Egyptian on this side of Egypt bombarded the Champs Elysées running around chanting "Egypte, Egypte" raising havoc and making chaos. Everybody was hanging out of their cars waving giant Egyptian flags, honking their horns ceaselessly. It felt like we had just walked into a giant Egyptian parade on the streets of France. Stores were closing their giant metal doors to prevent them from entering, people were throwing their babies in the air. It was contagious, really. Had Brittany and I not been the only fair skinned, blond haired girls on a street full of Arabs I would have sworn that I too was Egyptian, just SO proud of my country for whatever reason.

The mood and the vibe that radiated from the scene is really impossible to explain. I have never experienced anything like that in the states, and I honestly don't know if I ever will. As it turns out, the Egyptians were going crazy because Egypt had just beat Algeria in a soccer game that put Egypt back in the running to qualify for the World Cup next summer. I guess being proud of your country in terms of a sport is a whole other playing field than just being proud of your country on a daily basis for no reason in particular. But even so, America loves its sports teams, but only on a national level. We don't really care how or what our country does on an international level, we care more about what goes on inside the border. Call it American ignorance but I think that is the defining difference in American pride versus the rest of the world. We're obsessed and proud of what we Americans do but not if other countries are involved. America is like its own exclusive little club that shuts the rest of the world out, literally. And personally, I'm not sure if that's something to be proud of.