Is National pride stupid?

[Mr Khan]

pokoko said:
I agree with Carlin. Pride clouds the mind and leads to people lying to themselves. It crushes objectivity. Even worse, it turns into something where the main purpose seems to be to divide and self-segregate. Am I proud to be white? I mean, seriously, the hell is that? It's skin color. People are proud of pigmentation. They're proud of where their grandparents came from even if they've never been there themselves. How does that make sense?

Most importantly, though, pride is the nose-ring by which the powerful lead the masses. That's always been the case. How many people throw their lives away for pride when all they are really accomplishing is to make the powerful even more powerful?

But national pride and patriotism can be invoked by leaders to do good things. For instance, if you're a proud citizen, you might be more willing to report corruption in, say, law enforcement for the betterment of the country, because you believe Americans/Brazilians/whoever should be better than that.

It's a political tool like any other, that can be used to positive ends. Other negative qualities can be turned towards good ends under careful guidance, like greed or envy.