Drew Brooks8 said:"Quote:"
Actually, research suggests that more religious countries tend to lean harder into national pride.🤷
"Quote:" Most Europeans seem to suffer from this weird combo where they have zero faith in God and absolutely no pride in their own country. It’s a strange way to live.
Back in 2000, that GfK agency out of Washington, D.C. ran a public opinion poll asking Americans how they viewed the U.S. compared to other nations. If you boil the whole thing down, it’s pretty bleak: 44% of people thought the U.S. was just an average country, 32% felt we were actually worse than others, and a measly 21% thought we were better. The U.S., Ireland, and Poland all sat at the top of those rankings. It brings to mind what Huntington argues in his book *Who Are We?*—basically, Catholicism is a cornerstone of Irish and Polish national identity, while that whole Protestant dissent movement is what really shaped the American identity. |
Look, it’s basic psychology: you can't really love someone else if you haven't figured out how to love yourself first. It's a prerequisite. If you don't have that foundation, you're never going to inspire any real belief or trust in the people around you.
Looking at the data, it’s pretty much the same old story: almost every nation in these surveys ranks itself as the absolute best on the planet. There are barely any exceptions to this massive ego trip. Only three groups didn't put themselves at the top. Germans actually placed themselves fourth—trailing behind Canadians, Swedes, and Australians. Then you've got the Poles and the French, both of whom seem to have an even higher opinion of Canadians than they do of themselves.
The author makes a point that Italians actually know exactly who they are, and honestly? They seem perfectly fine with it. It’s not some identity crisis. And you can see the payoff right there in the brand index rankings—basically everyone is more than happy to show some love to their brands.
"Quote:"| The "You Are America!" campaign is a textbook example of how to run a national drive aimed at boosting self-awareness and civic pride. The whole point was to shift the national mood—to actually lift people up and spark some genuine patriotism. It’s about motivating everyday citizens and government officials alike to step up, take ownership of their roles, and finally start pulling their weight to ensure the future of the country. |
Honey, what you’re doing right now is trying to equate pride with self-love, and ultimately with love itself, but pride is really just narcissism, which isn't exactly a virtue, and certainly isn't a healthy relationship with oneself or with anyone else.
Maybe what those studies are calling "pride" in highly religious nations is actually just a sense of contentment with what they already possess, and when you take that kind of satisfaction and combine it with a critical view of oneself—basically being aware of your own imperfections—you actually get modesty, which is a true virtue. Of course, it could also represent pride in the literal sense of the word, but religion isn't some perfect thing that is always right or capable of recognizing what is right, because let's face it, there is plenty of decadence within religion too, with Islam leading the way, though Catholicism and Orthodoxy are right there following close behind.