Emphasis on the word "proud". It is one thing to be grateful for something - I am glad that I was born in America, which, comparatively to much of the world, is a comfortable place to live. But I had nothing to do with its creation, nor did anyone that I have a close relationship with, so I cannot be *proud* of it, per se. Pride is defined as "a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's *own* achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is *closely associated*". Obviously, people use it more widely than that, such as with sports teams, but that either means that they're using it to mean some form of "glad", or they've over identified with the thing. With sports teams, this isn't much of an issue, but over identifying with a country can cause some serious problems, including ethnocentrism and blind loyalty. It also seems that the idea of pride in one's country is rather ambiguous. What are they proud of? A country is not one singular thing, and most are far from perfect. Are you "proud" that your country allows you to have freedom of speech, or access to opportunities that other countries wouldn't allow (a commonly cited reason for nationalism in America). This is not pride, this is gratefulness. So, to people who claim to have "pride" in their country, I would just ask them to clarify what exactly they are referring to.

What is a country? Is it the mass of land under the people's feet? Or is it the mass of people standing on the land? There is no such thing as a "country" without it's people, and I believe it's a moral obligation to find a prideful something in your motherland. After all, it's people created your grandparents, who created your parents, who created you in the end. Not physically, but emotionally, spiritually, and mentally created who you are. If you can't find pride in your country, then you aren't looking hard enough. I'm proud to be born where I was, because I'm deeply grateful to be a servant and representative of my country's wonderful people.

"Pride" as applied to un-earned things is an incredibly toxic word. I'm proud to be an artist. I'm proud to have made changes with my drinking. I'm proud of my safe driving habits. I am NOT "proud" to be a man who's attracted to other men. I'm not "proud" to have been born in America. I'm not "proud" to be Puerto Rican. I have no shame in these things, but I had no hand in making these things happen. These things just sort of "happened" to me. How could I be proud of them?

I completely understand arguements for this point. However I think the majority of those voters miss one key aspect. Whilst it’s true we had no influence on our countries history and creation up until our birth. we all currently serve a role within our country. We are all part of one big movement and project that our country is becoming. We are the ones currently making history, no matter how small or ‘unimportant’ we may be. I think it’s that, the working together in an attempt to progress and the emotional attachments we have to our own countries that give us a reason to be proud. Whether we disagree with our government, monarchy, or ethos, we all have some a role to fill and we all have emotional attachments. We don’t all HAVE to be proud, but it is certainly not foolish TO be.

It is good to be proud of the country of your birth, assuming you are still living in the country of your birth and the country of your birth has not done many things to make you unable to feel proud of it.. Although the country of your birth is completely out of your conscious control, it is good from a the point of view of having a healthy positive perspective mind set to have a positive feeling and perspective about where you live. Just being born in a country and growing up in it, does create a "loose association" with it's inhabitants and history which can bring a sense of pride. After all in a country we are living under the same laws and dominant culture and dominant social mores. We experience the same country wide hardships in times of national crisis. One can be proud of living in a country just because you are born there and have choosen to view your country in a positive light. So it not foolish, if you are living in it, on the country it is good for a healthy and positive mindset to be proud of it. Of course you can take this to a dangerous level, where your sense of pride makes you see other countries in a negative way because of their differences, that may lead to aggression and war. But a sense of pride in where you live is healthy and positive.