National Pride

national pride is such a funny concept, right?

let me start with with a definition of pride:
"A high, esp. an excessively high, opinion of one's own worth or importance which gives rise to a feeling or attitude of superiority over others; inordinate self-esteem." - Oxford English Dictionary

the idea of national pride is a, in some cases, toned down form of nationalism that promotes the concept of national superority in a particular field. 
Normally, it's seen mostly in sporting events - e.g. soccer.

But if we dig deeper, where does it really come from? It's easy to brush this deeper exploration as pointless, people just want to feel a sense of satisfaction that someone from their country is doing well and promoting their country as a talented place, right?

I believe that national pride has ethnocentric connotations, particularly in ethnically homogeneous countries. These countries normally have issues with xenophobia, racism, or views of racial exclusion anyway, but it's just an interesting concept which has been normalised.

Posted: 16th September