are you patriotic?

[bozo]

I'm not. Not particularly proud of my country and its imperial past. Not proud of its royal family. Hate its national anthem. Believe it equates with xenophobia for a lot of Brits. Hate the superiority complex that boes with being British.

I am a socialist. I am working class. Therefore I identify myself with internationalism and my class identity.

What about you?

[Tiberius]

I'm not patriotic for the sake of being patriotic. I think that being proud of one's birth country simply because it is your birth country is a ridiculous reason. I would be patriotic if my country did good things, and I cannot say that of the United Kingdom currently. I'm an anti-monarchist and a staunch libertarian, so until the country reflects that I cannot be proud of it. It's one of the reasons I'm hoping to emigrate to America once I finish my degree. I find the American system far more accommodating to my political beliefs that the UK.

[fr0d0]

Some call this the English disease (I don't think it applies to Wales, Scotland or Ireland). I have the same affliction. For all of those reasons. Plus I hate the football team . I now live in Wales and love the fact that most Welsh people are fervently patriotic.

[lilphil1989]

Nope, to be proud of where you were born seems ridiculous to me. I mean, there are hundreds of countries you could have been born in but just didn't happen to be.

In my opinion the very concept of a nation is detrimental to humankind.
I wish humanity had evolved, socially, past the need to "own" land before we developed ways to slaughter each other en masse.

so, to answer your question, I am resoundingly unpatriotic :p

[Rockthatpiano06]

Nope, not patriotic. If I was born in a different time in America maybe I would be, but I don't see that we've done anything in my lifetime worth being patriotic over. I hate everything America has become, a symbol of hateful religious nutjobs that work very hard to control the minds of americans to avoid further progression of our people.

I agree with you too phil, as george carlin would say, pride should be reserved for something you achieve not an accident of birth.

[Edwardo Piet]

I personally think patriotism is one of the stupidest things around - I'm not saying all patriots are stupid! Just like I don't say all theists are stupid! That would be stereotypical, false and prejudiced.
I mean I think patriotism itself is stupid (and of course I think theism itself is stupid. But I certainly don't think all theists are stupid. People vary.)

Being born in a country by accident of birth is not something to be proud of. Guess what - everyone is born in a country! And if you happen to be lucky because you're in a country that's 'better off' has 'more money' or whatever the 'reasons'.
You can't be 'better' than someone simply by sheer accident of birth. We're all born equally. And if you're proud and/or think you are better than someone else just because of the country you have simply happened to have been born in... - then all other things being equal - I think that kind of arrogance/ignorance/stupid, snobbish attitude might actually downgrade you a bit and make the other person a bit 'better' or whatever. By some definition. By being more sensible and modest and less ignorant and proud of something fucking stupid.

I think that being proud of one's birth country simply because it is your birth country is a ridiculous reason.

Agreed. That's exactly what I think.

I would be patriotic if my country did good things, and I cannot say that of the United Kingdom currently. I'm an anti-monarchist and a staunch libertarian, so until the country reflects that I cannot be proud of it. It's one of the reasons I'm hoping to emigrate to America once I finish my degree. I find the American system far more accommodating to my political beliefs that the UK.

Well I agree that if the country was better I'd feel better 'towards it' of course.
But I don't think that is patriotism. Funnily enough I think George Carlin made a good point in his last stand up special about this..

Pride is kind of a feeling I would think you reserve for something you achieve on your own. If your country is doing better or worse then that's not something you did. What are YOU proud of? Are you really that involved?
If the country starts doing a lot better I'd certainly be a lot happier. But why would I be proud? It's like: "Why what did I do? Why should I be proud? I wasn't really involved. I mean, I didn't 'fix' the country myself!".

Of course what really matters is the definition of 'proud'.
And I personally at least - think patriotism in essence is that - being proud of your country.

Simply being happy/grateful to be in your country - or thinking it's doing a 'good job' (if only relative to some other countries lol - or if things improved as you say) - I wouldn't call that patriotism.
It's not how I recognize it or define it anyway.

But this could still easily be a semantic thing.

Being glad to be in the country, happy to be there - rather than in a country (whatever your country is) worse off. Sure, but proud?
I actually think George Carlin puts it very well in his 14th and final stand up special.

I'm gonna put a video clip of it now rather than just typing the whole thing up (if I paraphrased it myself it wouldn't be half as good)

Warning: 'strong language'.

It would be out of place if I just created another thread. And since the video is not @ the first post it's probably better to just post it here...
Unless perhaps I should create a new thread for it and then link to it right here, (when this is my original purpose...?) perhaps?

Anyway - go to 5 minutes in here:

[youtube]r7LvUDCcNss[/youtube] if you want to see it.

EvF

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

Depends what you mean by Patriotic.

If you mean that appalling jingoism which passes for patriotism with many Americans,no,I 'm not a patriot in that sense. Nor am I willing to risk my life for a humbug political ideal. EG " to bring freedom to another country". I'm willing to fight if and only if my country is actually militarily attacked. That does not includead hoc independent terrorist attacks.

Do I love my country? Yes, I think Australia is beautiful,and our people accepting,casual and open hearted. BUT,I'm acutely aware of our faults and social problems. I'm also aware of and appreciate the rights and privileges I enjoy living here. I have absolutely no wish to live anywhere else.--AndI 've seen quiet a few other countries. (about 20)

[Kyuuketsuki]

A small island ends up pretty much ruling the world ... what's not to be proud of?

Am I actually proud of it? I'm not a monarchist but given that I'd rather be British than anything else and that I value being so yeah I guess I must.

Kyu

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

A small island ends up pretty much ruling the world ... what's not to be proud of?


Kyu

The UK has a great deal of which to be proud.EG its fine universities.(both of 'em) Unfortunately, not everyone would agree about the splendor of its imperial past.

The Irish are still thinking about forgiving England for Cromwell,and the Scots have not even begun to forget Culloden. I'm currently reading a book on the history of the British Raj. Not a whole lot there to boast about either.--and the less said about the British in China the better.

Personally,I'll never forgive England for inflicting America on the rest of the world.

[Giff]

Don't think I'm patriotic. Here in Sweden do we have some social issues, problems with racism and are not very strong united as a nation. I personally feel more like a Scanian (the province I live in) and many with me feel the same here where I live.

I'm patriotic for my province and city but not for my country. The only time when all swedes are united together and being really proud and patriotic is when some of ur national teams play in some major sport. Specially during football matches (soccer for those who don't understand regular english ).