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If a country needs to employ state-sponsored patriotism, it's usually because there's nothing to be proud of about the country. (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
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If a country needs to overly emphasise an ideal, that's usually because that ideal doesn't apply in that country ("Land of the free", "Democratic people's republic of ...").

If a person needs to subscribe to patriotism, it's usually because they have never accomplished anything better in their life than being born in a specific place.

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[–] 2 points 1 year ago* (2 children)

I agree that the first panel is off; I would replace it with "I'm going to work on my house because I want it to be the best house it can be", or something similar.

And, at least for democracies (or similar), one of their bigger failure modes is that people:

  1. don't feel like they (do/can/should) contribute to the place they live;
  2. do not value the work that others do for the place and community;
  3. take for granted the natural resources, and don't safeguard them for the future.

Consider how it is absurd for a normal person to run for public service, and how air quality has plummeted in so many places. I think it could be healthy to be proud of a group project you participated in. It's a bit sad that countries/states/cities/neighborhoods so often fail to be such projects.

(Which I guess is all to say that we should gatekeep patriotic pride. That's a weird stance I've landed in.)

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    That sentence would be better.

    I think it could be healthy to be proud of a group project you participated in.

    That's totally ok, but it's not really patriotism, is it? You are proud of an accomplishment. Of a real thing that you did/were part of, that actually changed something.

    That's pretty disconnected from patriotism, which means "I am proud of my country because it's my country". Patriotism is hollow. It's being proud of something by default without anything worth being proud of.

    Consider how it is absurd for a normal person to run for public service

    In my country it's quite common that normal people run for lower offices, like district or city level. I personally know at least 10 people who hold some lower level offices.

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