Do you understand national pride?

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I don't get it. Why do countries have to feel like a team and feel pride when a total stranger accomplishes something and the only reason that you are proud is because their nationality happened to be the same as yours?

An example would be the olympics. When a Canadian athlete wins a medal, I don't really feel any pride or anything. Sure, good for them for accomplishing the medal. But the athlete is a total stranger to me. I know them as much as I know any other athlete who are from different countries around the world. Why should I feel any more pride because someone in my country has accomplished a metal?

It's because the people who won the medal are representing your country, and therefore it makes your country look good to the rest of the world.

Ok, no offence, but what you said is exactly what I don't understand. Why is whether or not a country look good reflected upon how well the athletes do? And why should I care if my country looks good. It seems as though the main point of my problem is I don't understand the concept of this "group effort". I don't know if this has to do with being an aspie but I seem to be a very individualistic person.

I never understood this mass mentality to brush a stroke on people only because of their nationality or teams of people who may represent but aren't the national majority. I've personally experienced this prejudice myself so no I don't understand "national pride". Thankfully from these experiences, I no longer call myself a nationalist or someone who feels proud of my country only because I was born into it.

In representative democracy, you elect people to be full-time legislators so that you don't waste time on it. Likewise, you have athletic representatives so that you can feel good knowing that your country is fit, so that you don't have to waste time on it. I think its like Jesus Christ, but instead of dying for our sins, athletes are competing for our unhealthy habits.
In case you couldn't tell, this was meant in sarcasm. I pulled this out of my ass and I completely agree with you-- sports don't have a point unless you are actively participating in them.

Exactly, why should I be forced to cheer for athletes in a country I did not choose to live in? For me, my whole family immigrated to Canada when I was almost 5 years old.

Alot of people just seem to overly care about athletics and sports..

No-one's forcing you to cheer for anything. Also, if you don't like the country you live in you could always take the radical step of moving to more amenable climes.

I don't think that's what jc6chan meant and neither I. I think we both are curious about this aspect revolving around national pride whether it be sports or other aspects regarding one's patriotism to one's country. Perhaps aspergers has something to do with it? I don't know but me personally, I never could get excited or even pretend to root for a team simply because they share my nationality. It's just always seem silly to me and I could never understand unless it was your child, friend, or someone you love. But to cheer for complete strangers you hardly know has always baffled me.

Also regarding what you said in bold, I think this statement is so far-fetched and generalized. I see it all the time and want to scream mainly because I wouldn't mind moving out. I'm sure there are many people who would love to get out of their country and gain citizenship elsewhere if only for their lack of wealth and education. I'm just saying.....I see this statement too much and it never seizes to sound ridiculous unless one is financially well off and prepared.

Last edited by MissConstrue on 15 Jun 2010, 1:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Thats not what I meant. And I never said not liking my country. I just not understand why people tend to support athletes just because they live in the same country as them. Obviously, there are many cases where this is not the case and people don't neccessarily cheer for their own country.

Maybe because they relate more to the team?

People, in general, like to be associated with success. We see it in a wide variety of fields:

Sport is about winners (and losers). When Canada wins more gold medals at the Winter Olympics than any nation previously, that forms an association between Canada and success. It applies, too, in league sports, where people will support teams that they perceive as likely to succeed.

But, equally, we can associate ourselves with success in many other ways--economic performance, human development, social policy, health indicators--indeed on just about any basis where we can compare ourselves to any other identifiable group of people.

Even in fairly mundane matters, the perception of success is important. When fundraising, potential donors respond much better to, "Your donation will help us continue our success," than to, "The Government has cut our funding and we will have to shut our doors without your help!" When shopping, consumers will be influenced by brand. Even where price is their most important criterion, brand will enter into the calculation, because of a perceived value represented by the quality of the product.

This sort of tribalism is not limited to nationality, either. Why do so many Aspies try to point to historical figures and fictional characters who share our traits? Because it gives a feeling a validation.

No, no, no! People aren't proud of athletes, because they're from the same country. They are proud, because:

Our athlete won.
Because s/he is best trained.
We did it.
Our training system is great.
All our systems are great.
Because we are great.
We are the best.


I'm not a nationalist, because it's somewhat silly to segregate people by ethnicity that's often mixed. I'm a local patriot and when I come back from faraway, I feel I'm home. I love my region and my local dialect. Am I proud of whole country, history etc? Not really.

Yes, sports don't have a point.

I can understand national pride a bit. I'm not really into it much myself though. It's should be good to be proud and supportive of one's own home.

Although there are times when national pride is taken to absurd levels...

I think that I'll take the radical step, and move to the UK.