Should you be proud of your nationality ?

old hippy

Itwasntme. wrote: »

I didn't reply to this thread before because I was afraid of sounding like a dunce but I am proud of my nationality and there's nothing wrong with that.

I was born in exile, where we were treated like scum. Being a refugee sucked. We fought long and hard and lost countless people in the struggle to get back to the homeland and I am proud of being Rwandan because our identity as a people is what kept us going when everything seemed bleak.

I suppose that's not a perspective that we often see on boards. Thanks for sharing that. I get scared when pride leads to people acting dominant over others.

C14N

It's one of those things where I actually often find myself proud to be Irish and of my Irishness but in reality it makes no sense at all. I didn't pick the country and any contributions I might have made, good or bad, are negligible at best. I think a bit of instinctive pride in your country is perfectly fine but people can go a bit overboard sometimes.

Kev_2012

I was born in the UK and grew up in Ireland since the age of 3. Im proud to be Irish. There are very few other nationalities that I find to have a balance of friendliness and banter as the Irish as a whole. I'm moving back to Ireland next year from Canada and the people are a large part of the reasoning behind the move! Just wish we could get rid of the scobes!

H3llR4iser

People should be proud of their own achievements, if any, and popping out of a vagina in one place rather than another one is no achievement in any sense. The only understandable scenario is the one Itwasntme explained, but it's fair to say that most of the people claiming to be "proud to be ..." did not experience such events.

The kind of nationalism that spawns from people being "proud" of being born somewhere specific is usually extremely negative and includes disrespecting and often ridiculing other cultures and nationalities.

Now, there's nothing wrong about identifying with a certain nationality, as long as people don't beat the drum into oblivion and/or have double standards about it.

For obvious reasons I can speak about Italians: nationalistic to the extreme while never admitting it, always disrespecting and ridiculing every other nationality and culture, well ready to mistake personal success for national success.

Yet, when it counts, they flock en-masse to buy German and French cars, not to mention the readiness to jump to accusations of chauvinism towards any other country (US, France and UK are the main targets, but it could really be any).

C14N

Personally, I hate in the Irish-language debates hearing "you should be proud of your heritage" as a reason to want to speak Irish. I don't consider that language part of my heritage or culture. I'd have to go pretty far back to find a relative who spoke Irish first if they even exist. None of my grandparents even know relatives who spoke Irish, and they were all from the west too. Seems like I could just as easily have Roman ancestors and I should learn Latin because of that.

lufties

yourdeadwright wrote: »

Simply question do you think you should be proud of you nationality ?
I ask because my veiw is you have no say in where you are born so why should you be proud of it ? everyone has to be born somewhere,
I don't mind being Irish but im not proud of it as i didn't do anything to become Irish ,
What do you people think ?
Should you be PROUD of your Nationality ?

That's an interesting question. I am proud of certain achievements and my positive traits, I do think as a collective for whatever reason, Irish people have a holier than thou attitude and its like a competition to be the most pure and wholesome one of all, which makes me cringe. 'Ah shur aren't we great, everyone loves us'. I also think our self serving government is a mirror on Irish society.

Sometimes I would prefer to be a different nationality, one of a progressive country that looks outwards rather than narrowly inwards, The Dutch could be an example as they are socially mature generally.

I think being Irish though we are very adaptable because of our poor history and have a 'can do' attitude, This doesn't make me proud of my nationality though. There is good and bad in every part of the world

lufties

Agricola wrote: »

Things Im proud of;

Ireland is recognised as a welcoming place full of friendly and hospitable people.

We gained independence and eventually fashioned a high growth economy which raised the standard of living hugely, sent thousands to 3rd level who would normally never have had the means to go and generally put the country in the bracket of affluent western societies. If you don't agree, go ask anyone over 60. Despite the recession we are a hell of a lot better off than people here in the 40s and 50s.

As far as I'm aware, when Ireland joined the EU the country took shape as they gave us so much money for infastructure etc.

You are right though, it would be great to get rid of the sleeveens in government.