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Since when did being patriotic become offensive behavior? I for one am proud of the accomplishment and realize that it took many people from lots of different c

Since when did being patriotic become offensive behavior? I for one am proud of the accomplishment and realize that it took many people from lots of different countries, but the reality is SpaceX, Tesla, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter the list goes on are all American companies. American and proud.

randyrand 11y ago
Chanting USA demeans and marginalizes other countries. Its quite offensive to people to support one country over another. /s
- vanattab 11y ago
  So do you think we should boycott the Olympics? Should I give the North Korean regime same level of "support" as South Korean regime?
  - tlrobinson 11y ago
    I think you missed the sarcasm indicator (/s). (That doesn't mean it was particularly funny, though)
pilsetnieks 11y ago
> it took many people from lots of different countries In a indirect way it did, (standing on the shoulders of giants, heritage of the people working there, etc,) however, unlike the other companies you mentioned, SpaceX only hires American citizens (because of government contracts and ITAR.) So it's basically an all-American effort.
- soperj 11y ago
  Yeah, I love Elon's American accent.
  - mikeyouse 11y ago
    His maternal grandfather is American and he took the citizenship oath in 2002 -- Which is why America is pretty cool, many millions of Americans have foreign accents!
  - SpaceX_Tech 11y ago
    I'm pretty sure Elon considers himself thoroughly American at this point. There are quite a few foreign born American citizens working at SpaceX, myself included. You may find this shocking, but seeing as English wasn't our first language, some of us even have foreign accents. I don't consider them, or myself, any less American.
  - varjag 11y ago
    You jest, but being an immigrant is a very American thing. Visit it sometime if you had not, it's quite a different place from what many people imagine from media dramatizations.
- lutorm 11y ago
  ITAR allows greencard holders, so not everyone's an American citizen.
  - SpaceX_Tech 11y ago
    Not only greencard holders but ITAR even has exemptions for non-US persons, that is those who aren't US citizens or Permanent Residents. I don't work directly with anyone like this but I know SpaceX has a few, not sure of the exact number, employees who are neither citizens nor permanent residents. From what I've heard the process of getting a non-US person ITAR cleared is extremely costly, both in time and money and is thus used very sparingly.
Strom 11y ago
It's not that offensive, but it did have a bit of a jarring effect. I was all happy with the success and saw it as a human achievement. [1] The cheering was wonderful. But then the USA chants made me feel left out, because I'm not a US citizen. I guess I just wished these people would share my view of it being a human achievement and not limited to USA with its 4% of humans. It's likely plenty of them do think that, but the USA chanting sure sends a different emotional signal and diminishes the moment a bit. -- [1] I probably wouldn't think much of a USA chant during a Facebook or Google product launch. While these companies do plenty of wonderful things, I view space travel as several tiers of importance higher.
- datamingle 11y ago
  A human achievement. Competition among teams is good though, team USA is ahead. Hopefully team <your country> can push themselves to move forward.
- adventured 11y ago
  It's a US achievement and it's an achievement that will benefit all of humanity. There's no contradiction between those two things. America gets bashed non-stop about pretty much everything, no matter what choices it makes or what direction it goes. The criticism is overwhelming sometimes, I get sick of browsing many sites like Reddit for example because of the extremely common US bashing. Quite frankly, I'll take the cheers and USA chants on this one.
- MichaelGG 11y ago
  I'm not American and I think it's great. Anytime I read stories of American engineering (like about the SR-71, or the Manhattan Project[1]) I feel a kind of pride for them. Strange feeling. But they accomplish some amazing stuff and there's no reason they shouldn't express joy for their own country. 1: Granted, that had some key foreign influence.
- Klathmon 11y ago
  That's kind of funny that you would find a USA chant at a Google product launch less "jarring". In this context it didn't phase me at all (I am a US citizen though...), but at a Google press event, it would be really unsettling.
mineshaftgap 11y ago
>Since when did being patriotic become offensive? Since the SJWs and identity politics erased all common sense.
renox 11y ago
Since people realized that the difference between patriotism and xenophobia is very small? John Lennon: "Imagine there's no countries.."
espadrine 11y ago
> Since when did being patriotic become offensive behavior? Patriotism can have a hugely different emotional response depending on where you live. It can connote “home!” or “remember, we have weaponized drones hovering above your head”. Imagine this video feed was from Iran, and ended in a patriotic arabic chant. Would you think, “it is good to see that they are Iranian and proud”? It is not about being offended. It is about political undertone and tacit military implications. (That said, I am proud, as a fellow human, of what was accomplished. Also, I live in a country pretty solidly allied with the US.)
- BetterThanYou 11y ago
  Iranians are not arabic in general.
- Klathmon 11y ago
  Now this is just my opinion, but I wouldn't see any of that if any country was chanting their name for an accomplishment like this. This is almost a universally good thing, and having pride that your country was able to do it isn't a bad thing to me! I would fully expect another nations company to be chanting their nation's name, and I would probably join along with them if I were there! It's a celebration, not a contest. (side note, I was born and raised in the US, so my view might be tainted by that)
  - nojvek 11y ago
    I second this. Even if Iran, N Korea, China e.t.c were doing this I'd be very happy for them. Space missiles and nuclear missiles have things common to them, but if the only intention of the folks working on it was to make space exploration cheaper, I'd cheer for them. What space X did landing in the middle of the ocean on a tiny little platform, was nothing short of genius.
- imaginenore 11y ago
  Persian, not Arabic.
agumonkey 11y ago
I understand both sides. I expected a SpaceX chant more than a USA one. And yes nowadays patriotism is devalued it seems.
fit2rule 11y ago
Its great if you're an American. If you're not, it just sounds like passive-aggressive bloviation.

randyrand 11y ago

Chanting USA demeans and marginalizes other countries. Its quite offensive to people to support one country over another. /s

vanattab 11y ago
So do you think we should boycott the Olympics? Should I give the North Korean regime same level of "support" as South Korean regime?
- tlrobinson 11y ago
  I think you missed the sarcasm indicator (/s). (That doesn't mean it was particularly funny, though)

pilsetnieks 11y ago

> it took many people from lots of different countries In a indirect way it did, (standing on the shoulders of giants, heritage of the people working there, etc,) however, unlike the other companies you mentioned, SpaceX only hires American citizens (because of government contracts and ITAR.) So it's basically an all-American effort.

soperj 11y ago
Yeah, I love Elon's American accent.
- mikeyouse 11y ago
  His maternal grandfather is American and he took the citizenship oath in 2002 -- Which is why America is pretty cool, many millions of Americans have foreign accents!
- SpaceX_Tech 11y ago
  I'm pretty sure Elon considers himself thoroughly American at this point. There are quite a few foreign born American citizens working at SpaceX, myself included. You may find this shocking, but seeing as English wasn't our first language, some of us even have foreign accents. I don't consider them, or myself, any less American.
- varjag 11y ago
  You jest, but being an immigrant is a very American thing. Visit it sometime if you had not, it's quite a different place from what many people imagine from media dramatizations.
lutorm 11y ago
ITAR allows greencard holders, so not everyone's an American citizen.
- SpaceX_Tech 11y ago
  Not only greencard holders but ITAR even has exemptions for non-US persons, that is those who aren't US citizens or Permanent Residents. I don't work directly with anyone like this but I know SpaceX has a few, not sure of the exact number, employees who are neither citizens nor permanent residents. From what I've heard the process of getting a non-US person ITAR cleared is extremely costly, both in time and money and is thus used very sparingly.

Strom 11y ago

It's not that offensive, but it did have a bit of a jarring effect. I was all happy with the success and saw it as a human achievement. [1] The cheering was wonderful. But then the USA chants made me feel left out, because I'm not a US citizen. I guess I just wished these people would share my view of it being a human achievement and not limited to USA with its 4% of humans. It's likely plenty of them do think that, but the USA chanting sure sends a different emotional signal and diminishes the moment a bit. -- [1] I probably wouldn't think much of a USA chant during a Facebook or Google product launch. While these companies do plenty of wonderful things, I view space travel as several tiers of importance higher.

datamingle 11y ago
A human achievement. Competition among teams is good though, team USA is ahead. Hopefully team <your country> can push themselves to move forward.
adventured 11y ago
It's a US achievement and it's an achievement that will benefit all of humanity. There's no contradiction between those two things. America gets bashed non-stop about pretty much everything, no matter what choices it makes or what direction it goes. The criticism is overwhelming sometimes, I get sick of browsing many sites like Reddit for example because of the extremely common US bashing. Quite frankly, I'll take the cheers and USA chants on this one.
MichaelGG 11y ago
I'm not American and I think it's great. Anytime I read stories of American engineering (like about the SR-71, or the Manhattan Project[1]) I feel a kind of pride for them. Strange feeling. But they accomplish some amazing stuff and there's no reason they shouldn't express joy for their own country. 1: Granted, that had some key foreign influence.
Klathmon 11y ago
That's kind of funny that you would find a USA chant at a Google product launch less "jarring". In this context it didn't phase me at all (I am a US citizen though...), but at a Google press event, it would be really unsettling.

mineshaftgap 11y ago

>Since when did being patriotic become offensive? Since the SJWs and identity politics erased all common sense.

renox 11y ago

Since people realized that the difference between patriotism and xenophobia is very small? John Lennon: "Imagine there's no countries.."

espadrine 11y ago

> Since when did being patriotic become offensive behavior? Patriotism can have a hugely different emotional response depending on where you live. It can connote “home!” or “remember, we have weaponized drones hovering above your head”. Imagine this video feed was from Iran, and ended in a patriotic arabic chant. Would you think, “it is good to see that they are Iranian and proud”? It is not about being offended. It is about political undertone and tacit military implications. (That said, I am proud, as a fellow human, of what was accomplished. Also, I live in a country pretty solidly allied with the US.)

BetterThanYou 11y ago
Iranians are not arabic in general.
Klathmon 11y ago
Now this is just my opinion, but I wouldn't see any of that if any country was chanting their name for an accomplishment like this. This is almost a universally good thing, and having pride that your country was able to do it isn't a bad thing to me! I would fully expect another nations company to be chanting their nation's name, and I would probably join along with them if I were there! It's a celebration, not a contest. (side note, I was born and raised in the US, so my view might be tainted by that)
- nojvek 11y ago
  I second this. Even if Iran, N Korea, China e.t.c were doing this I'd be very happy for them. Space missiles and nuclear missiles have things common to them, but if the only intention of the folks working on it was to make space exploration cheaper, I'd cheer for them. What space X did landing in the middle of the ocean on a tiny little platform, was nothing short of genius.
imaginenore 11y ago
Persian, not Arabic.

agumonkey 11y ago

I understand both sides. I expected a SpaceX chant more than a USA one. And yes nowadays patriotism is devalued it seems.

fit2rule 11y ago

Its great if you're an American. If you're not, it just sounds like passive-aggressive bloviation.