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Nationalism makes no sense (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 4 weeks ago by to c/politicalmemes@lemmy.world
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[–] 7 points 4 weeks ago* (1 child)

There is a utility in having some national pride, in the same way as there is in having some pride in your place of residence. If you feel some pride for your home, you are more likely to invest time and resources in caring for and improving it. If you don't care about your home you are unlikely to put any effort into taking care of it.

Nothing is quite as long-term damaging to a nation as convincing its own people to think poorly of it.

Personally I think a fair amount of the damage that the US is doing to itself now is a result of foreign influence campaigns repeatedly targeting the US's worst international blunders. These criticisms are valid and true, but they are not the entire truth and the selective lense is intentional.

A common response to self-loathing is a defensive, reactionary display of narcissism.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 weeks ago

    An alternative view is that National Pride reduces people's pressure to improve their country and especially reduces the pressure they put on the elites leading the country to improve it.

    Certainly were I was born - Portugal - the peak time of celebrating the past glories of the country (basically, the stuff that happened during the age of maritime discovery) was during the Fascist Dictatorship, when the country was in such a bad state that it received Food Aid from the rest of Europe.

    My own experience living in Britain also adds up to this impression: the people there who were most loudly proud of the country and its past where those doing the most to destroy it with Brexit.

    A very similar effect is visible in the US - those who are loudest at harping about the greatness of the country are those helping the present day elites pillage it, de facto bringing it down (there is no such thing anymore as The American Dream).

    In my experience National Pride isn't an incentive to do better, it's the very opposite.

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