The “pride talk” has gotten way, way out of hand.
Even John Hinderaker has fallen into it:
Most people, first of all, are proud of being Americans. That is a good thing.
Is it? Are you proud to be an American? Is “being an American” your personal achievement? If not, what are you “proud to be?”
- Negro?
- Hispanic?
- Homosexual?
I’ve seen all those “prides” bandied about recently. They’re all equally silly. If Smith is Negro or Hispanic, the “achievement” is Smith’s parents’ for not strangling the little monster in his crib. As for being “proud to be gay,” don’t you fudge packers, meat smokers, and carpet munchers claim that it isn’t a choice – that you were “born that way?”
Get it right, people:
Now, there’s a difference to be demarcated: the difference between “proud to be” and “proud of.”
I was born an American. Therefore, it is not my achievement. I am exceptionally pleased to be an American, and would never want to be anything else. So let’s can the “proud to be” BS and look at the relationship properly. I am proud of America, and I hope you are, too:
- For being explicitly based on individual freedom;
- For being the most moral and honorable nation in history;
- For several times fighting to save other nations from their own follies;
- For trying to maintain a government genuinely based on the consent of the governed.
Has the United States failed, now and then, to live up to its ideals? Yes. But every other nation in history has done so more frequently and to worse effect – and that’s if it had ideals in the first place. Them’s the facts, Jack. So much for the detractors and spittle-flingers.
Let all your “prides” be just.
There will be no commenting on this mini-tirade.
