A new video by the group Campus Reform shows how college students feel about America – and it isn’t good.
Campus Reform shot a ‘man on the street’ style video At the University of South Florida in Tampa Bay, asking students whether or not athletes should protest against America, and if those students will cheer for our country during the games.
The answers from the students don’t bode well for our future, to say the least.
Watch the full video at the bottom of this article.
"The truth is, patriotism shouldn't be that strong,” one student said.https://t.co/vyAxCJKEM3
— Campus Reform (@campusreform) July 22, 2021
‘Patriotism Shouldn’t Be That Strong’
A few students said they would support individual athletes, but not Team USA.
“I’m not going to be rooting for any team just because it’s some country that I live in … because the truth is, patriotism shouldn’t be that strong,” one student said.
Another student said, “I don’t root for countries. I root for athletes.”
One student was asked if she thought it was “embarrassing” that some Olympic athletes representing the United States were not proud to represent their country. She replied, “I don’t think so because I don’t like being an American, either, even though I was born here.”
“I think there is such corruption and a crumbling infrastructure,” she continued. “Like, why is there no free health care?”
“Why are so many people suffering because of housing?” the student added. “That is such a great example of how f***ing corrupt it is here.”
Another student said, “I’m not proud to live in a country where I can’t even go down in my own neighborhood [without seeing] people putting up their Blue Lives Matter flags telling me that my life doesn’t matter.”
Some of the students Campus Reform spoke to agreed with American hammer thrower Gwen Berry, the athlete who turned her back to the flag while the national anthem played at last month’s track and field Olympic Trials.
One student said Berry was “100%” justified in her actions.
A student said, “Given what’s been going on with this country and how divided our politics have been, there’s not really a reason to stand for one within the country, anyways.”
One student said that American athletes “have a duty to represent their country athletically, but they don’t have any obligation to represent it good or bad.”
American Pride Ticks Up From Last Year's Record Low
Forty-three percent of Americans are extremely proud and 26% very proud to be Americans; the latter figure is up from 21% last year https://t.co/CwguncbQsn
— TreyLA ??? (@treyinla) July 1, 2021
Youth patriotism has declined steadily since the early 2000s
Gallup has polled attitudes about national pride for decades. Since the early 2000s, Gallup has found that American patriotism has trended downward over the last two decades.
This is especially true among younger Americans.
[totalpoll id=”236033″]
Gallup reported in early July, “In past years, there were only modest age differences. For example, in 2005, 10 percentage points separated the youngest (56%) and oldest adults (66%) in extreme pride, compared with a 27-point age gap today.”
“Thus, the decline in national pride seen today appears to result partly from younger generations being less likely to say they are proud of their country than the older generations who preceded them,” Gallup noted.
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