National Pride.

[ladyloaf69]

i am proud to be an american.

[native texan]

Originally Posted by ladyloaf69

i am proud to be an american.

Good for you. Same here

[Skeleton]

I´m so proud that I´m Finnish.

[native texan]

That's great! I wish I knew more about Finland

[The Flying Mouse]

This was going a little off topic from the discussion about strange laws.
Split to new thread .

Incidently, i'm British and proud of it
We're so tough, we conqoured half the world
We're so nice, we gave it all back

[kirstynic]

i am proud to be british

[Vickip]

Originally Posted by ladyloaf69

i am proud to be an american.

And so am I
Thank you
Vicki

[ChrissybabezNI]

Thats good,

Im proud to be British too Very proud

[airhead]

I CAN HEAR THE GUITAR PLAYING GOD SAVE THE QUEEN...

WE GAVE YOU:

THE BEATLES

YOUR COUNTRY

THE ROLLING STONES

THE GENIUSES CALLED THE SEX PISTOLS

(THATS ALL I CAN THINK OF AT THE MOMENT)

BY THE WAY, WHATS IT LIKE BEING AMERICAN?

[native texan]

is that a serious question, or just a jab?

[CarylB]

airhead wrote:

We gave you .... your country"

Er .. not quite .. be fair .. they fought for it and won!!

I love Eddie Izzard on the topoic of "handing back colonised countries" .. "Come on Britain .. now what's that you're holding behind your back? The Falkland Islands .. what do you need them for?" .. answer .. "Er .. strategic sheep keeping purposes?" ..

[Rob The Badger]

. . .this is the single most offensive thing I will ever say here, do not read on if you care: Nationalism and patriotism is the most foolish endeavour in the history of man. These along with religion are the sole causes of war.

[Gez]

Mmmmmmmmm

[Rob The Badger]

Originally Posted by Gerry

Mmmmmmmmm

You can 'Mmmmmmmmm' all you want, it's the truth.

[heat]

Originally Posted by Rob The Badger

Nationalism and patriotism is the most foolish endeavour in the history of man. These along with religion are the sole causes of war.

I hafta say - i really do agree with you here, Rob. There are a helluva lot better reasons to hate someone then just because they belong to a different tribe than you do.

I really don't see myself as patriotic - i just happened to be born in England and live in Wales - but thats where i live..not who i am.

[native texan]

Originally Posted by Rob The Badger

. . . Nationalism and patriotism is the most foolish endeavour in the history of man. These along with religion are the sole causes of war.

I would have to disagree with you. First of all, I think it's a little simplistic to narrow the causes of war to those 3 items. How about ignorance, envy and hatred? Surely, those have caused wars, too. Second, there is a difference between nationalism and patriotism. And, there is such a thing as moderation. If patriotism, nationalism, religion, or anything else, are carried too far, then there's bound to be trouble. Simply being proud to be an American, or an Englishman or a Canadian, is not going to start a war. Kind of like the difference between being a fan and being a fanatic. Also, IMO comments like "you can mmmmmmm all you want, it's the truth" don't go a long way toward ensuring peace, do they? Regardless of where one is from, if one thinks one is right no matter what someone else says, that can lead to problems.

That's my 2-cents worth.

[Keep Rocking]

I think most Germans don't dare to say "We are proud to be German" because it always arouses negative associations.
I know that we cannot be proud at all about the Nazi area; I really,really detest what happend then (but I don't think that's a topic to be discused here)

But why can't we be proud of the development of the last decades or the great historical people (Goethe, Schiller, Bach,...) which were all Germans?!

I'm proud to be German (in the most positive meaning)

Yvonne

[airhead]

Originally Posted by native texan

is that a serious question, or just a jab?

No, serious, whats it like? I wouldn't jab ya.

[Rob The Badger]

Originally Posted by native texan

I would have to disagree with you. First of all, I think it's a little simplistic to narrow the causes of war to those 3 items. How about ignorance, envy and hatred? Surely, those have caused wars, too. Second, there is a difference between nationalism and patriotism. And, there is such a thing as moderation. If patriotism, nationalism, religion, or anything else, are carried too far, then there's bound to be trouble. Simply being proud to be an American, or an Englishman or a Canadian, is not going to start a war. Kind of like the difference between being a fan and being a fanatic. Also, IMO comments like "you can mmmmmmm all you want, it's the truth" don't go a long way toward ensuring peace, do they? Regardless of where one is from, if one thinks one is right no matter what someone else says, that can lead to problems.

That's my 2-cents worth.

I hate to do this. But here I am.

Fan is a derision(is that a word?) of Fanatic. They are the same thing.

I don't think you can be a nationalist without being a patriot or vice versa to whatever degree.

Religion causes ignorance and hatred and in some cases envy.
How else do you explain the death of Matthew Shepard.

Western conservative Christianity and Catholicism mostly are the (not definite article) sole cause of most modern hatred. I honestly believe that.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm a globalist. I'd rather celebrate what "we as a people" have acheived, rather than "we as a nation" have acheived. Far more important if you ask me.

NB: I apologise for brining Mathew Shepard up as a point to strengthen my argument, but I feel very strongly about this.

[Gez]

Originally Posted by Rob The Badger

You can 'Mmmmmmmmm' all you want, it's the truth.

MMMMmmmmmm again, MMMMMmmmma gain and again etc.

........and thats at fact!!!!!!

[Rob The Badger]

I realise I deserved that. . .anyway, I've made my arguments. . .

I'm a communist too.

[Gez]

He he Badger ........anymore of that and me being a PROUD SCOTSMAN will pull ma Kilt up

[Rob The Badger]

Originally Posted by Gerry

He he Badger ........anymore of that and me being a PROUD SCOTSMAN will pull ma Kilt up

*walks off to have a cold shower*

[Gez]

'Cold Shower'.....you peering through ma window

[badger]

To be honest I am not very patriotic at all.
I support my national football team, but that is about it. i think in England there is quite a bit of false patriotism. Like the rugby for instance, loads of people would never watch rugby, then, as soon as it looked like we were going to win something as a country, everyone became huge rugby fans!

I just am not that proud of our country. A lot of our history, more than many other countries, is filled with conquering and destroying othe rpeople, which is a shame. Plus English symbols, like the St Georges cross, are now linked so much with football hooligans and racism, i think it is such a shame.

All of my friends can't understand why I am not really proud to be english, but when I ask them why they are, nobody can give me a reason. As far as I am concerned, my nationality is just where I was born, I am proud of myself, my family and my friends, but a country is too big and I have few links with most of it, so I cannot be proud of it.

Did that make sense? *ducks*!