Patriotism and Nationalism

[Hermit]

A Dariafag is a person who likes the 90's to 00's show Daria... It's not offensive, it's /b/ chat.

Offense is determined by the receiver.

Christians and muslims will be very happy indeed to hear your opinion. It is in fact the same one that several anti-blasphemy laws are based on, as well as extensions to anti-hate legislations.

Also, not many days ago I made a comment which was so absurd that common sense would immediately work out that it could be no more than a joke. Yet someone decided to feel offended on behalf of someone else, on the grounds that my remark was "cruel and ignorant".

Although offense means that someone is being offended, the criterion for what is offensive is quite obviously not solely determined by the receiver's emotional reaction to what was being said.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

This threads also gone off on a bit of a tangent.

You noticed that too, eh?

[charlou]

This threads also gone off on a bit of a tangent.

You noticed that too, eh?

Topic split to here: http://rationalia.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 92&start=0

[Xamonas Chegwé]

This threads also gone off on a bit of a tangent.

You noticed that too, eh?

Topic split to here: http://rationalia.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 92&start=0

I knew I could rely on you, Charlou!

[PairOfFeet]

I've said this before and I have no doubt I will say it again:

Being proud of your country is as ridiculous as being proud of your eye colour, skin colour, the length of your eyelashes or your height. It is an accident of birth - something over which you had no control. Save your pride for the things you do, not the things you just happen to be.

BUT

Like it or not, you are a part of the community of whatever country you ended up calling your own. What is not ridiculous is striving to maintain that which you feel is good about it, while striving to change that which you feel is wrong for the good of that community. The fact is that, unless you are a complete sociopath, that community, that country, is where your friends live, where your loved ones live, it is the place where you have invested time and effort. Just bear in mind that the members of every other community probably feel very much the same about where they live.

As Zilla says, think not "my country, right or wrong," but "my country, how can I help make it better and stop it being such a twat?"

+1 But I'm too lazy to change anything so I'll probly find a good place like Seattle or LA to move to to make myself feel better. If that doesn't help there's always Canada. The whole idea of being proud of your country like a lot of people are seems too much like a religion where the president is the god. I don't own anything with an American flag on it that I know of and in school I never sing the national anthem or put my hand over my chest during it. I live in this country and thats all, its not like I really have a choice right now.

[Meekychuppet]

Reasons to loathe England:

...
Richard Dawkins
...

wat

I SAID RICHARD DAWKINS.

[Hermit]

Reasons to loathe England:

...
Richard Dawkins
...

wat

I SAID RICHARD DAWKINS.

Which Richard Dawkins would that be? The elitist, emeritised Oxford Don with the dozen doctorates honoris causa, who hinted broadly that he would very much like to receive a knighthood from her majesty?

[Tails Turrosaki]

Reasons to loathe England:

...
Richard Dawkins
...

wat

I SAID RICHARD DAWKINS.

You mean the smart guy who wrote The God Delusion?

[Trolldor]

I am no more dedicated to my country than any others. It is a pile of dirt on which I happened to be born, and so long as people insist on having countries then none of them will ever be worth the time or effort.

[Epictetus]

Nationalism, racism, xenophobia, ethnocentrism, religion --these are some of the ideas/attitudes that have divided the human family from time immemorial, and have motivated some of the worst atrocities ever perpetrated.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Nationalism, racism, xenophobia, ethnocentrism, religion

...taken to unreasonable extreme . . .

--these are some of the ideas/attitudes that have divided the human family from time immemorial, and have motivated some of the worst atrocities ever perpetrated.

[Meekychuppet]

Reasons to loathe England:

...
Richard Dawkins
...

wat

I SAID RICHARD DAWKINS.

You mean the smart guy who wrote The God Delusion?

Correct.

[Robert_S]

[Epictetus]

Nationalism, racism, xenophobia, ethnocentrism, religion

...taken to unreasonable extreme . . .

--these are some of the ideas/attitudes that have divided the human family from time immemorial, and have motivated some of the worst atrocities ever perpetrated.

I'm afraid those ideas/attitudes are all inherently extreme concepts to begin with. Nationalism invariably leads to tension among other nations, if not actual war. Racism most notably led to the enslavement and dehumanization of millions of people. The same can be said for the rest of this doleful list. Whenever a new religion is invented it automatically excludes the majority of people living on this planet, who dissent from it, and who are looked upon as "unsaved", "lost", "infidels" --all terms of deepest contempt --ripe for destruction. As for ethnocentrism, witness the "conquests" of Cortes, Pizarro, etc. --anyone who doesn't fit into the mold of the conquering nation are deemed "savages" or "inferiors" and were usually worked to death for the greater glory of the conquering empire (whichever one it happened to be).

[Lozzer]

British patriotism is for football hooligans and contemporary fascists like the British. I can't be proud of a country full of idiots who believe their flimsy England shirts offend black people--all because The Sun said so. In my experience, the majority of 'patriots' are illiterate racist morons with hyphenated names. The toughest challenge Britian faces in its 're-patronisation' is its own people. They embarrass me.