Regarding Pride...

With the American political landscape being what it is these days, I feel compelled to post about pride.  It's the backbone of every dissent, every tirade, and every misunderstanding in politics, and it spreads into other aspects of our society.

Republicans and the Tea Party separate themselves from Democrats, liberals, and (now) Coffee Partiers by stating--with over-emphasized conviction--that they are more patriotic, more proud of being American than their left-wing counterparts.  As if they're trying to paint Democrats and liberals as not being patriotic, therefore enemies of our own country.

Anyone who studied Greek tragedies in high school (or ever, really) should know a few things about pride.  And anyone who is familiar with Christianity and Catholicism--specifically, the Seven Deadly Sins--knows a thing or two about pride.  And I mean pride as a pejorative.  As a negative, a "sin" to be abhorred, a flaw of the human condition.  Which is ironic, considering how Christian the Tea Party and GOP claim to be.

Those of us who studied those Greek tragedies know this negative form of pride as "hubris".  Which is simply excessive pride.  Put another way, it's arrogance.  Narcissism.  Delusions of grandeur, call it what you will.

But if there's a negative form, there's also a positive form of pride.  It's a bit more specific, though.  At its best, pride is a result of an achievement; a great success worth sharing with people.  And it's very specific, like if a loved one--father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, uncle, aunt, cousin, etc.--does something wonderful like getting an A on a test, doing well on their school sports team, playing/acting well in the school concert or musical, graduating high school, college, getting a great job, making partner at the law firm, joining a branch of the military, getting high honors in the military, becoming a doctor, becoming a nurse, getting recognized at their job, etc.

Regarding a loved one joining a branch of the military...this is an important distinction.  For the most part, everyone supports our troops.  Nobody thinks ill of anyone in the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, or any other part of the military.  We're proud of particular people in the military, but we support everyone in the military.  Personally, I can't be proud of people whose existence is outside my awareness.  Heck, they might be rotten people who just want to shoot guns and kill people and be praised for it.  I'm not proud of them!

Typically, the GOP and Tea Party DO have pride in our troops.  All of them.  Which sounds nice, but are they really proud?  When Independence Day comes around, is anyone thinking of our troops?  Or do they just want to shoot off fireworks?  Is anyone truly proud of something of which they're told they should be proud?

Expanding on that, how many people are actually proud of being Americans?  I have a hard time believing Republicans and Tea Partiers are proud of their country but wouldn't be caught dead in Seattle, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and anywhere else that's more blue than red.  I know I'd rather shoot myself in the foot than go to Mobile, AL.  I wouldn't want to visit any place where most of the people are anti-gay, anti-Jewish, anti-atheist, anti-agnostic, and anti- a million other things that are perfectly rational and even beneficial to people.

That's sort of the thing.  Most Americans are proud of where they come from.  But it's very specific.  Chicagoans are proud of their city and think Chicago is better than New York.  And with New Yorkers, the feeling is reversed but mutual.  I think most of it comes down to sports.  People from one city may glibly think ill of other cities and it's mostly because of their major sports teams.  Heck, people who live in the north side of Chicago do not get along well with people in the south side, and vice versa.  And it's entirely because of the rivalry between the Cubs and the White Sox.  I have to wonder if New York is the same way with the Mets and Yankees.

What's more, have you noticed how the people of the United States don't care for soccer (known the world over as "football"), but the rest of the world think....well, the world of soccer?  We do have a large country and you can meet radically different people in one spot of the U.S. versus another spot.  There's probably more similarities between the Spanish and French than there are between Texans and New Yorkers.  I have to wonder if this fuels the right-wing conservatives' arrogance over the rest of the world, as if soccer unites most of the world and the United States chooses to isolate itself with their baseball, American football, basketball, and hockey...

Hopefully, you can see how "pride" can be toxic and counter-productive.  When Americans very loudly proclaim and advertise how they're PROUD to be AMERICAN, you can't help but notice how much they hate the rest of the world by the transitive property.  Personally, I was just born here.  I've never been to most of the rest of the world, so I can't tell if mine is the best country.  And wouldn't "best" be subjective?  It's easier to say who's the world's best guitar player, and even that is a matter of opinion.

The ultimate irony is how the far right use this pretentious sense of "pride" to distance themselves, thereby dividing themselves, from the left.  They're actively and deliberately committing a Christian Sin because they're so full of spite and there's nothing they like more than looking for more ways to divide the country.  Personally, it makes me sick.