(October 15, 2015 at 7:26 am)Lemonvariable72 Wrote: Before you judge too quickly you should know that the overwhelming majority of rape on Continental Europe are committed by Muslims.

Would hold some weight if there was some link to an official statistic. Which is impossible, since different countries use different methods of measuring violent crime, as Eurostat explains.

I would lose all respect, if this is based on muslimstatistics, which is a site related to the Sweden Democrats.

Nationalism is so obnoxious.

(October 15, 2015 at 8:17 am)Evie Wrote: Nationalism is so obnoxious.

And it is a made up concept. People seem to claim their country is the best in much the same way as they support the football team of the nearest city. It means nothing except that that is where they are from. Take pride in where you live, but accept that it is not because where you live is special.

I've always felt the same way.

But even then "pride" is the wrong emotion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OnWnwwxNPA

(October 15, 2015 at 8:21 am)Evie Wrote: I've always felt the same way.

But even then "pride" is the wrong emotion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MktlfjFb3j0

Maybe by take pride I mean to try and make it the best it can be as much as you can. Put the trash in the bin be nice to people etc. So maybe I mean "take care of" where you live.

(October 15, 2015 at 8:14 am)downbeatplumb Wrote:

(October 15, 2015 at 8:03 am)Dystopia Wrote: Pat is fundamentally right - It's amazing how he's not in jail, the EU is known for it's solely Pro-EU propaganda and discretely censoring people with anti-EU views - I'm not talking merely about far-right parties here, but all kinds of people with various degrees of political affinities who are anti-EU. Personally, I am pro-treaties with EU countries but without the EU as a political institution, Europeans have lots of differences between themselves and we simply will not get along.

The sooner Europe is one political entity the better as far as I'm concerned. The petty nationalism I see in my country is galling in the extreme to one who does not agree with the jingoism that seems to pervades facebook these days. The amount of hateful right wing propaganda I see all the time from people I thought were reasonable humans is getting me down.
Some of the comments are geting distinctly "third Reichy" and it seems to be getting worse every day.

The better for Germans, French and English, not for poor and weaker nations - Most countries never agreed to this and didn't know the drawbacks, the people didn't vote explicitly knowing what they were getting into and even if they did I think circumstances have changed. Aside from the less important linguistic differences, the EU will never work as a federation for historical and political reasons - A German citizen is different from a British citizen and so on, each requires different measures and political legislation. There is no valid historical reason to create a federation despite the possible advantages

(October 15, 2015 at 8:24 am)downbeatplumb Wrote: Maybe by take pride I mean to try and make it the best it can be as much as you can. Put the trash in the bin be nice to people etc. So maybe I mean "take care of" where you live.

Fair enough. I prefer the words "appreciation" and "respect"

George Carlin's premise is wrong in the beginning beacause it assumes you can only be proud of things you personally achieved - But since that is a very individualistic view of society, it doesn't work - When you are born into a group, family, institution, etc, you carry on the legacy - I think pride is a wrong word to describe patriotism and family pride, the feeling people have is more one of appreciation for one's own culture - Nothing wrong with that. I love living where I live for many trivial reasons like how the people are nice, the food, etc

Pride is the wrong word... it's not wrong to appreciate and respect and treat your country right, of course not. But to be "proud" of it has never made sense to me.

(October 15, 2015 at 8:20 am)downbeatplumb Wrote:

(October 15, 2015 at 8:17 am)Evie Wrote: Nationalism is so obnoxious.

And it is a made up concept. People seem to claim their country is the best in much the same way as they support the football team of the nearest city. It means nothing except that that is where they are from. Take pride in where you live, but accept that it is not because where you live is special.

I think you got one thing wrong - Nationalism rarely means thinking your country is the best in everything, it usually means just prefering your own country and people to others - Like a Portuguese writer said during the fascist regime, people love their country not because it's the best but because it's their own (i.e. Same way people love wives, husbands and families - My girlfriend isn't the prettiest or best person in the world, but I love her because she is my girlfriend)