Patriotism

[awisler]

I have zero loyalty to any country, does anyone else feel the same way? Yes, my signature says proud German/American because those are my roots, but I have no loyalty towards them either. I only want to live in the country which provides me with the greatest chance of becoming wealthy, currently America. I view my citizenship as a mutual agreement, I pay taxes for their services, nothing more and nothing less. The only people I care for are family and friends, I feel absolutely no sympathy when I turned the news on to learn that a few hundred people I didn't know just died. Is that ethically/morally wrong? I'm not sure if this really belongs here just curious if anyone else shares that view.

[iudas]

No. It's perfectly fine. It's also fine to be loyal to a country - at least as long as countries are real. Hint.

[Caecilius]

Are you immune to feeling good when an American sporting team wins something? If you can at least watch a game of the USA beating someone at some sport you like and feeling good about it then I would say you are experiencing some loyalty to a country. And you are fortunate to be living in the one country in the world where the desire to make money seems to be all the loyalty required of a citizen.

[Tacitursa]

I will always be loyal to England and so will every other Englishman, it's in our blood.

[Arch-hereticK]

I'm only patriotic when drunk, but patriotism in this country has a strong correlation with terrorism and bad dancing (which are equally bad in my eyes), it's a complex activity to be Irish. Our romantic poetic symbol is the broken looking glass of a poor servant.

“When the Irishman is found outside of Ireland in another environment, he very often becomes a respected man. The economic and intellectual conditions that prevail in his own country do not permit the development of individuality. No one who has any self-respect stays in Ireland, but flees afar as though from a country that has undergone the visitation of an angered Jove.” James Joyce quote

[Tacitursa]

It's not in my blood. My blood is mostly the bodily fluid that transports resources around my body.

It's a figure of speech lol

[removeduser_487563287433]

It's a figure of speech lol

An inaccurate one.

[awisler]

Are you immune to feeling good when an American sporting team wins something? If you can at least watch a game of the USA beating someone at some sport you like and feeling good about it then I would say you are experiencing some loyalty to a country. And you are fortunate to be living in the one country in the world where the desire to make money seems to be all the loyalty required of a citizen.

Yes, I am. In the olympics I rooted for the country whos athletes I liked more, regardless of country. I based if I liked the athletes or not on random factors, just looks behavior etc that I had seen, maybe some background info. I rooted for the USA several times, and also rooted against it several times.

[removeduser_487563287433]

I have zero loyalty to any country, does anyone else feel the same way? Yes, my signature says proud German/American because those are my roots, but I have no loyalty towards them either. I only want to live in the country which provides me with the greatest chance of becoming wealthy, currently America. I view my citizenship as a mutual agreement, I pay taxes for their services, nothing more and nothing less. The only people I care for are family and friends, I feel absolutely no sympathy when I turned the news on to learn that a few hundred people I didn't know just died. Is that ethically/morally wrong? I'm not sure if this really belongs here just curious if anyone else shares that view.

My patriotism is more complicated than the patriotism most self-declared patriots would understand. Firstly I don't feel any right to feel "proud" of my country. I am 23 years old. I passed no exam to be born here. I have done little to affect the course of my country positively (although about 1000 times more than your average 23 year old).

Maybe if I get to sixty and take a look what me and my generation achieved then I can reconsider.

[removeduser_487563287433]

I'm a member of every Englishman. It's not in my blood. My blood is mostly the bodily fluid that transports resources around my body.

[Fiyenyaa]

I'll be patriotic for as long as and to the extent that my country deserves it.
I like living in the UK; it's a fairly progressive and tolerant country, fairly good prospects and the like; but should this situation change, should the UK become the new North Korea (not that this is likely), I'd feel no loyalty.

A country must deserve any patriotism you give it, and what patriotism you give it must not blind you to it's faults.

[jman47]

I too feel no loyalty or duty to any country anymore, least of which the one i live in, america.

now that washington has passed a healthcare bill that well over half the country doesnt want, i know the true colors of my so-called nation.

i remain in america not because i feel it is the best country in the world, but because i feel it is the least terrible of all the countries.

if I could renounce my citizenship and still work here, i would, but i cannot.

at this point nationality, color, creed, nor any other thing matters to me, the only thing left is money. if i can become rich i can avoid taxes through offshore accounts and charity like other rich people, and never have to pay into the failed system that is americas government.

when we our young we are taught that taxes go to make our lives better, but that is no longer true. we are taught to love america, and that its the greatest country. also false. to me america is now nothing more than the lesser of all evils, not the bearer of democracy it claims to be.

in a way even china's government is better, because they are at least honest about their malign intentions, while america and the rest of the western democratic world is not.

[vecordia]

Patriotism isn't inborn, we do not choose which nation we will be borned in, therefore it might be randomly stupid (patriotism). I know it sounds worn.
Perhaps it's an issue of human awareness and understanding of everyone's existence on the planet.

I think being patriot is so valued because it reveals sublime and nobleness sensation, motivates to courage and pride from who I am, creates a momentary strong state of mind. All depends on cultural and geographic differences. It is strongly philosophical/existential problem.

Am I patriot? Rather not... One human race, one society.

[basics]

" A country must deserve any patriotism you give it, and what patriotism you give it must not blind you to it's faults."

Fiyenyaa,

Whilst I agree with the second part I feel that patriotism is what makes any country. The proof of that being that others might share it, want to belong to it, be part of it. And when things go well we feel good about ourselves but when things get bad and hope seems lost then patriotism steps in.

We Brits have known this, have experienced this, many times. Four nations bound together with a single purpose became the greatest Empire the world has known and in a weird sort of way built more by benign influence than outright belligerency. We overcame yet we did not impose in the way that others have done and when we left we bequeathed organisations that still endure.

So us oldtimers remember these things with affection as well as despair and we are proud to be British because when push came to shove our patriotism always won through. It is unfortunate that some in this land don't want to remember these things with affection, wanting instead to break up our hard won nationhood to hand it over to peoples we have spent the last centuries having to save so that they too could enjoy the same freedom that we do.

[Elfdude]

I can recognize what my country did right and I'm proud of that, but I'm proud of the human race in general when any country gets something right so I guess that's not really patriotism. Not that I would betray it given the opportunity, but I might emigrate should another country provide me with a better opportunity.

[Monarchist]

I'm patriotic every single day. There is no rhyme or reason in it, but emotion. We can't be rationalist superhuman atheist scientists every moment of the day.

[Arch-hereticK]

We can't be rationalist superhuman atheist scientists every moment of the day.

Not with that attitude.

[Argeus the Paladin]

I think myself to be a patriot. Patriotic enough to support my country in times of needs, but also rational enough to realize that there are vastly superior civilizations than ours in existence, up until today.

Yes, I consider mine to be a good mix.

[Banana Jelly]

I don't feel patriotic to any country so far. As none have interested me yet. I havent made enough money to travel far across, from the land of desolates, to land's flooded by water.

[Argeus the Paladin]

What about your natural ethnicity then?