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About this quote

What does it mean?
Shaw criticizes the concept of the 'hundred per cent American' as inherently foolish.
In plain terms
Calling someone a hundred percent American makes them seem ninety-nine percent stupid.
What can you take from it?
Absolute nationalism often implies ignorance or stupidity.

Where it applies

  • discussing patriotism
  • critiquing nationalism
  • analyzing identity

Putting it to work

  • critiquing nationalism
  • challenging stereotypes
  • promoting critical thinking

Questions to consider

  • Does patriotism imply ignorance?
  • What is absolute identity?

Another view

The statement generalizes all nationalists as foolish.

More from George Bernard Shaw

  1. God help England if she had no Scots to think for her!

    Permalink to quote #30

  2. An American has no sense of privacy. He does not know what it means. There is no such thing in the country.

    Permalink to quote #32

  3. One man that has a mind and knows it can always beat ten men who haven't and don't.

    Permalink to quote #29

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