Wednesday 27 June 2018

Day 85: Pride

Today Germany failed to qualify for the next round of the world cup.  I can understand that this may be particularly tough for them.  After World War II you could argue that German National pride has been rebuilt around its economic prowess and its football team.  Many countries look for reasons for their citizens to be proud:

  • Invented democracy (USA, UK, France, Greece)
  • Oldest civilisation (China, Egypt, Persia)
  • Biggest (China, Russia)
  • Greatest democracy (India, USA)
  • Chosen by God (Israel, Saudi Arabia)
  • Best food (France, Italy, Thailand, Japan)
  • Safe haven (Switzerland)
  • Beer (Belgium, Czech republic)
  • Wine (France, Italy)
  • School system (Finland)
  • Vodka (Russia, Poland)
  • Technology (Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Estonia)
  • Inventions (UK)
  • Politeness (UK, Japan)
  • Equality (Sweden, Norway)
  • Different sports (Australia, India, Germany, Italy, Brazil, Argentina, etc)
Anyway you get the point.  But I wonder if pride in one's country is entirely positive.  I know we tell our children to be proud of what thy do and parents are always proud of their children however mundane their "achievements".  But I find that too often pride in one's country comes with a negative view of others.  Why can't we just all be proud to be human instead (We'll worry about the possible impact that may have on aliens when we get in contact). 
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4 comments:

  1. fred dijs28 June 2018 at 13:16

    i happen to doubt whether china considers itself to be the 'biggest' country... russia is the largest, by far... but canada and the united states of america are both larger than china... even europe is larger... all of which is well known in china... source: https://en.wikipedia.org

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fabien28 June 2018 at 18:24

    True I was thinking biggest in terms of land mass or population, probably could add oldest civilisation etc...

    Anyway you get 7 points for double comment plus bonus for being a new commentator.

    ReplyDelete
  3. fred dijs29 June 2018 at 22:22

    the really mind blowing fact is, that we are not able to imagine the united states of america with FOUR times as many people as they have got now... well, that is china...

    russia is a little bit less than twice as big as the united states, europe or china, but the population is less than HALF the one in the states, less than ONE-FIFTH of the one in europe and less than ONE-EIGHTH of the one in china...

    in my view it is important to think numbers and scales when we talk about those 'nations'...

    the united states with four times as much people would be hell... china is not hell... at all...

    ReplyDelete

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