Anywhere you go, if someone starts chanting USA! USA!, they are bound to get a big response from the crowd. Everyone always likes to root for the underdog or even who is on top. America has always been seen as western civilization's rebellious teenager. Ancestors revolted from English rule and common practices but, it's continued this pattern. We have underdog complex, with a need to prove ourselves and yet we rule the world! Constantly going against the grain has this strange cultural definition. It's fairly unique and discombobulated due to so much contradiction and suppression of native cultures.
No one is really an "American" unless they are a Native American Indian. We are such a jumbled mix of ethnic groups priding ourselves on rising to the top. Immigrants coming for the idealistic "American Dream". Once you have "transferred", you are referred to as Italian-American, Irish-American, Asian-American, etc. It becomes a weird middle ground identity where most Americans are 2% of this, 15% of that and so on. It's a mixture that doesn't deny the ethnicity or native culture, or completely embrace it head over heels and keep it up.
Throughout America there is extreme nationalism, I don’t think they feel it’s extreme but I feel it stems from a feeling to overcompensate. It almost becomes obsessive. A need to prove ourselves as true Americans, believes of liberty, justice, and freedom for all, to the rest of the world. We are a young country and not having a long history may be a reason. We don't have an extensive history(or many records before European settlements) cultivated over time to create a globally recognized identity. We are the baby of the world. In fact, historians constantly debate the pivotal moment in history where The United States of America "lost it;s innocence". But will we ever be seen by the rest of the world as something other than the rebellious teenager?
We are creative and resourceful, but we are a mix without a cultural identity and need the American identity.
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