Should We Be Proud?

[Tarantism]

in my everyday life i see people who are proud of their heritage. i, for instance, am very proud of my irish and hawaiian liniage, while some others may be proud to be black, or white. what i have been pondering for a little while now is this: what reason do we have to be proud of our race's accomplishments? we bear no ties to them other than a color of skin or a relating place of origin. what is there to be proud of there? should we simply be proud of our achievements as a human race and not seperate it into race-related accomplishments. this same question could go for opposite sexes too, though i think to a lesser degree.

[hallenrm]

Humility is the greatest human trait, Pride not so!!:hihi:

[InfiniteNow]

We all seek to connect with something. We are social creatures. Finding some characteristic with which we can connect, one that cannot be taken away despite the level of power or authority one may have, is comforting. The feeling of belonging is deeply rooted within each of us, and sometimes pride is an externally emergent property of that feeling.

 

And if you understand what I just said, you should be proud, because I really don't! :eek:

[Turtle]

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. ;) - Proverbs 16:18

[Mercedes Benzene]

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. - Proverbs 16:18

 

Turtle quoting scripture. It's almost laughable! ;)

 

I believe that you should be proud in your culture or heritage. Like InfiniteNow was saying, it gives us a sense of belonging, and a sense of identification in an otherwise fairly structured and monotonous society.

I'm proud to be ofIrish heritage!

[HydrogenBond]

Pride in one's heritage allows to take credit for something one did not do. It gives one an ego boost based on the works of others. One can be poor, travel to another country, act like they are proud to be an American. The stereotype reaction from the host country may be "all americans are rich a-holes.This allows the poor man to swagger and take credit for being rich. The boo's from the other herd can almost be like applause for the ego.

 

On the negative side, the pride/ego boost, can create an unnatural attachment to one herd that can separate them from other herds. The members of another herd can only take credit for works of their own herd. This comparative pride between herds can lead to some ego deflation since it alters the zero point for the ego pride, i.e, averaged. Ego deflation is like an insult that can make one angry. The result is often the creation of negative associations, for the other herd, to help shift the zero point, allowing an increase in ego inflation. This makes one's herd subjectively better so the ego can feel a little extra inflation.

[Ananke]

To take pride in something you had no hand in is pathetic. You may as well be proud of the Grand Canyon. Its the most laughable kind of juvenile self-aggrandisement. It also demonstrates an astonishing ignorance of history and cultures, since all cultures are merely socially constructed, lacking in any substance, and all cultures are guilty of terrible evil as well as more admirable achievments. To identify yourself with the good and willfully ignore the evil is to willingly blind yourself to truth.

[sanctus]

There can be also more practical reasons to be proud, for example you can be proud that you live in the culture where women have most rights or where (almost) noone dies of hunger (even seen the price others have to pay for that you would have to be quite selfish...).

I'm always a bit scared of this country-proudness, it can (I emphasize can, it doesn't have to!) quickly develop to xenophobia (ie.:they don't come from such a good country as mine, what will they bring? Surely something bad) and racism (ie.:who wants people from such a low country?).

Jusst to make sure no one gets me wrong: I don't think the things in brackets are right!!

[Boerseun]

I'm part German, French, Dutch, English - basically every kind of European you can get. So, by all accounts I'm a European.

 

Where the pride stems from is a tribal kind of feeling, because to a large extent every single person of European descent is family of mine, albeit a racist view. But I don't think the primary move in this view is racism, it's simply a deep-seated longing everybody has of 'belonging' somewhere, and we're simply proud of our 'family's' accomplishments.

 

It's a tribal thing, and I think trying to change it will require some sort of artificial outlook on life. We want to be with people who look like us. Dogs hang around with other dogs, cats hang around with other cats. Whether the human expression of this phenomenon is a good or a bad thing is immaterial - it's simply how we're wired.