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.
Well, not exactly.
The entire purpose of patriotism is the tribalism; honestly, I didn’t believe a government exists that doesn’t encourage “us vs them” thinking. Now, that’s not to say all nations are xenophobic; but just because it’s not taken to the extreme does not mean it doesn’t exist.
At the end of the day this is all part and parcel of the millennia old class war that has fucked up nearly every society on this planet in one way or another.
(The correctly used double negative was confusing for me at first, btw.)
You make a very interesting point I haven’t ever thought about before.
While I have always considered myself a patriot to a mild degree, I never associated it with tribalism directly. Even with the many faults of all countries, it’s OK to be proud of where you are from. (It does make perfect sense that tribalism is the end goal of state sponsored patriotism though.)
In my mind, the fine line after patriotism was usually nationalism where tribalism runs deep and hate-based rhetoric becomes extremely effective. The definition of a patriot is somewhat twisted at that point. (ie: unless you believe [insert something random], you aren’t actually a patriot and therefore an enemy of the state.)
I am not agreeing or disagreeing with you, btw. Your perspective is something interesting to think about, s’all. (I am leaning on the agreement side, FWIW.)
(For the people reading this that may not realize that I am using the word “nationalism” in a negative context, I am. If that chaps your hide still, replace it with ‘christian nationalism’ or ‘white nationalism’ and fuck off. Everyone else, sorry for the disclaimer.)