Does prode in one's nationality inspire intolerance?

Question

Does having a national pride in one's own country inspire prejudice and intolerance of others (in your opinion)?

I mean on a global scale rather than in the mind of the individual. It seems to me if we all thought of ourselves merely as people, rather than Americans, Brits, Germans etc etc then the world MIGHT become a better place.

Answer 1

It doesn't have to, but the majority of humans are at average intelligence. So they have a hard time seeing past surface ideas. Then net result is that intense national pride prob will foster intolerance.

Answer 2

People seem to function better in groups of various size: family, school, city, county, state, country (ethnic group somewhere in there), even continent. Nobody ever gets offended at a herd of elephants (unless they're stomping your garden), a flock of geese flying south (unless they dump on you!), or-- how about this?-- a bunch of spider monkeys swinging around at the zoo. So why do we get all bent out of shape when a peaceful group of people enjoys being just what they are?

Answer 3

interesting...

one problem....

there are so many people nowadays who dont have a specific nationality - theyre either from a mixed background, or from a random country like Northern ireland which doesnt really leave you with much of a nationality!

i guess you make a good point though. but people do have a lot of pride in their nationality (if they consider themselves to have one) so its not always a bad thing

Answer 4

Yes, I think it does. It's worse than that, though : people from neighbouring towns hate each other, people from neighbouring estates hate each other, even people who live on the same street hate each other! I think hatred is part of our genetic makeup, and there'll always be fighting.

My own personal pet hate is football team pride - I mean, how arbitrary is that? Chelsea fighting Arsenal, for Christ's sake. We're all f--king idiots and no mistake.

Answer 5

If pride is based on the good aspects of your countries achievements then not necessarily but if it turns into judging others against your own subjective opinions of your countries merits then yes it it could .

Answer 6

As soon as humans can form themselves in to more than one identifiable group, they wil start to compete with the other groups. This is unlikely to end any time soon!!

PS Samuel Johnson said that "patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel"...!!

Answer 7

No it doesn't have to . In the world we live in though nothing is perfect , or even close .