If a country needs to overly emphasise an ideal, that’s usually because that ideal doesn’t apply in that country (“Land of the free”, “Democratic people’s republic of …”).
If a person needs to subscribe to patriotism, it’s usually because they have never accomplished anything better in their life than being born in a specific place.
I don’t really feel that that’s the same point.
For example, I live in Vienna. Public transport here is amazing. Housing is pretty great. Education is free and good. Public healthcare is free and really good. I’m going to keep voting and contributing to keep these things good. If things turn bad, the wrong people get into power, and these things will sour, that’s sad. But then I can still move somewhere else.
And no matter what happens with my city, it will not change who I am and/or how good/valuable I am.
And also, it really doesn’t matter how other places are doing. That’s why I really, really disagree with the “patriotism” in the comic. “I’m going to work on my house because it’s the best house” is a pretty stupid thing to say. Does that mean if your house isn’t the best, there’s no point to work on your house? Does that mean you think all other houses suck?
What even is the point of having the “because it’s the best house” in there at all?
I improve my house because I live there, that’s the right reasoning.
That’s often the case, that’s correct. But that shouldn’t be done for the purpose of “because we have the best country/city/…”.
Be proud of the things you accomplish, not about where you accomplish them at.
I agree that the first panel is off; I would replace it with “I’m going to work on my house because I want it to be the best house it can be”, or something similar.
And, at least for democracies (or similar), one of their bigger failure modes is that people:
Consider how it is absurd for a normal person to run for public service, and how air quality has plummeted in so many places. I think it could be healthy to be proud of a group project you participated in. It’s a bit sad that countries/states/cities/neighborhoods so often fail to be such projects.
(Which I guess is all to say that we should gatekeep patriotic pride. That’s a weird stance I’ve landed in.)
It sounds like you’re proud of your country and want it to improve. That’s what the SMBC comic is saying is “patriotism”. They might have used simpler & fewer words than you did, but that’s only to dumb it down so it’s easily understood.
No. I am not proud of my country, that would be stupid. I am proud of my kids, I am proud of my accomplishments, but I certainly are not proud of things I took very little part in making.
Are you proud that air exists? I have better things to be proud of than a country.