But... see... this is one of those, "no offense, but... I'm going to say something offensive anyway" statements. You can't, by definition, be proud of something, unless you believe that it is better than something else.
That is not what proud means. It's not exclusive. It's like the word love. If you say that you love your mother, does that mean you must by definition love your father less?
Now I agree that many people who _do_ see America in a simplistically positive light do use the phrase "proud American" as shorthand for that kind of sentiment (which, again, I would count as a cultural problem that America has). But it's not strictly what the phrase means, as I have been trying to point out. Patriotism is not the same as fanaticism.
And, you think implying that one country is better than another country is not bad? But what happened to all those things you said about anti-American sentiment? So you can say America is better than one country, but someone can't say anything bad about America? There's a contradiction there.
I didn't say America is better than any other country. I said I am proud of American achievements, and that I am proud to be an American. I explicitly said that by saying those things, I do not mean that America is better than other countries.
I do believe that making judgments and comparisons between countries is not an inherently bad thing. It can be taken to negative extremes, but making judgments is a necessary part of life. It can't be avoided. The best you can do is try to be honest and fair with yourself and others in making them.
I don't have anything against anti-American sentiment per se. Only the vitriolic and mindless kind that you often read on the Internet. It's not the anti-American aspect that I'm against. It's the mindlessness and vitriol.
